Product Description

Phil is a respected psychotherapist and couples counselor. Eric is a successful attorney. They have lots of friends, tons of money, and host pool parties complete with appropriately flamboyant friends. Phil and Eric are anxiously waiting to adopt a baby. In the interim, their friend, Gloria, a resourceful child service case worker, talks them into taking in two juvenile delinquent brothers who turn out to be foul mouthed, liquor cabinet raiding terrors! Originally, she assures them that "It's just for one night." As one night stretches into many, the "father-son" conflicts escalate. Things become even more complicated when the alcoholic, prostitute, junkie mama arrives on the scene to retrieve her babies--- until she sees the mansion and the open bar! What results is a lively and touching comedy that explores what we think love looks like, and the unlikely places we find family!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96458 in DVD
• Brand: ARIZTICAL ENT
• Released on: 2003-04-29
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 93 minutes

Features

• The perfect designer couple meets the foster kids from hell. They're the "perfect" hot, handsome couple. Phil is a respected psychotherapist and couples counselor. Eric is a successful attorney. They have lots of friends, tons of money, and host pool parties complete with appropriately flamboyant friends. Phil and Eric are anxiously waiting to adopt a baby. In the interim, their

From the Back Cover
Phil and Eric, a hot gay professional couple with a fabulous Beverly Hills home, want more meaning in their life. They make a move to adopt a baby and end up with two foster kids damaged almost beyond repair: TJ, a twelve-year-old alcoholic, and Brian, his younger brother. The couple's social worker, baiting them with a baby, blackmails them into taking the boys for one night, which turns into many nights, and all hell breaks loose.

Customer Reviews

A new perspective on modern family values.
Phil and Eric are a Beverly Hills gay couple who have it all - looks, money, friends, professional success, and a solid relationship. The next step appears to be bringing children into their family, so the couple begins the process of adopting a baby. This process is often a long, drawn out one for prospective parents (especially gay parents), which can lead to frustration. When a child caseworker friend suggests that the men take in a couple of young brothers while waiting for the baby they want, Phil and Eric agree to foster the boys "just for one night." As the promised one-night-stay stretches into two nights, then three, then on and on, the two boys reveal themselves to be streetwise, somewhat homophobic, and more than a little interested in the contents of the liquor cabinet. Further complicating matters, the boys are tracked down by their mother, an alcoholic prostitute who lost custody of them. She initially wants to take the boys away from this "unwholesome" setting, but after witnessing the benefits of their current living situation firsthand, changes her mind and seeks a permanent place in the arrangement. The resulting stress threatens to tear the couple apart, as one partner develops a soft spot for the boys and their mother, while the other just wants them gone.

The film is a solid first effort by writer/director Max Mitchell. He deftly touches upon issues including the importance of compromise and communication in a relationship, how to get through difficult stretches without self-destructing, and what it takes to make a family. As a school psychologist, I have worked with children in the foster system, as well as others in broken and highly dysfunctional homes, and the portrayals of the two boys in this film are spot-on. Their behaviors may seem outrageous and unbelievable, but when you look at the abuse and neglect such children go through all their lives, it's easy to understand that their acting out is their attempt to reject adults before they can be rejected themselves. Why would they want to start caring for and counting on another adult when that adult is just going to walk away and leave them behind soon, the way all the others have? I find "Get Your Stuff" to be an involving, funny, moving study of those who have a lot but are still missing something, and those who have little and just want a chance in life. If you're interested in a gay film that focuses on exploring family values from a new perspective, this is the film for you.

Mix And Match
What do you get when you mix a successful gay couple with two foster kids from the streets? Well, you could get Get Your Stuff, a cute film about the good times and bad times that might happen if you mix the two mismatched ingredients above. Farce? No, it never reaches that state, but it is frequently funny.

The story is about Phil (Cameron Watson), a couples counselor and Eric (Anthony Meindl), a lawyer. The two want to adopt a baby (mostly it seems from the prodding of Eric's mom), and are just approved to be foster parents in the meantime. Through some coaxing and borderline blackmailing, they agree to take in T.J. and Brian for one night. That becomes one more night and one more and, well, you get the picture.

The kids are actually decent actors and, at times, out-act the adults. T.J. (Grady Hutt) is the optimistic one and tries to get his brother to straighten up so they can have a home. Brian (Blayn Barbosa), on the other hand, is not as accepting and wants nothing to do with Phil and Eric until their case worker, Gloria, talks them into working the couple to make themselves more appealing.

The film deals with all these problems with a light touch -- never wanting to truly offend anyone. So they are played up for laughs; however, the message still gets through. In fact, it takes its toll on Eric who wanted nothing more than a baby and not an entire family of problems and promptly leaves in the film's worst scene that includes Phil screaming and pulling a gun out on his clients and doing the same to Eric as he drives off.

But that type of scene is, thankfully, not the norm. Most of the picture is feel-good and enjoyable. More so when Kimberly Scott is on the screen. She plays Gloria with sass, determination and heart. The movie is made better by her tough love portrayal -- especially the scenes with the kids. There is one at the beginning of the film where the kids arrive at the house while Phil and Eric are having an anniversary party. Brian goes for the wine and argues that kids in Europe drink it. Gloria responds with, "They can also speak three languages. When you can speak three languages, then we can talk."

Get Your Stuff doesn't set the film world on fire, but it is a fun jaunt. It's something to pass the time in world that touches on reality, but doesn't actually ground itself there.

An entertaining movie w/ timely themes
I saw this movie as a benefit for our local gay/lesbian film festival a year or two ago, and loved it, so I'm happy it's finally available on DVD.
The story deals with a gay couple who want a child, and are conned by a social worker into becoming foster parents to two "at-risk" boys, one of whom turns out to be homophobic. Things get complicated when the boys' real mother (a substance-abuser) decides she wants to come back into the picture.
All things considered, this was a fairly-compelling, often humorous "feel-good" piece of gay cinema, achieved with a cast of mostly unknowns. I think this would be a good addition to anyone's collection.