Boys Life 3

This third collection of short films about the travails of being a gay man runs the gamut from sprightly humor to biting social commentary and, of course, eroticism, but overall it's mostly smug and generic. David Fourier's French farce "Majorettes in Space" is the funniest and most provocative, drawing parallels between a young man with AIDS and the pope -- neither has long to live. "Just One Time" is a throwaway blip in which a heterosexual couple toy with tit-for-tat threesomes. "hITCH," Bradley Rust Gray's homoerotic road trip, is artsy but leaden with its sidelong glances and heavy breathing. The contrived but appealing "$30" puts a new twist on the hooker with a heart of gold (Sarah Gilbert): a father brings his son (Erik MacArthur) in so she can make him a man, but instead she helps him come out. The 27-minute "Inside Out" is the longest and worst entry, a comedy of sorts about the son of a Hollywood celeb beleaguered by tabloid exposure and scientology. Jason Gould, son of Elliott (who pops up in a cameo), directs. Each short here has some merit, but not enough to justify the tedious roll of credits between segments.

-- Tom Meek