Formula 17

Formula 17
3.7K ratings
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Format:  DVD
item number:  VX23
on most orders of $75+
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DVD Details

  • Rated: Not Rated
  • Run Time: 1 hours, 33 minutes
  • Video: Color
  • Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
  • Released: November 29, 2005
  • Originally Released: 2005
  • Label: Strand Home Video

Performers, Cast and Crew:

Starring
Directed by
Screenwriting by

Entertainment Reviews:

Rotten22%

TOMATOMETER
Total Count: 9

Upright73%

AUDIENCE SCORE
User Ratings: 2,616
Presents such a barrage of grotesquely mugging, swishy stereotypes, coupled with a total lack of wit or style, that mere minutes into it, you are groaning and peering at your watch. Full Review
Film Journal International
Mar 1, 2007
Rating: 3/5 -- A silly-sweet, gay romantic comedy aimed primarily at teenage and college-age audiences.
New York Times
Aug 25, 2005
Rating: 2.5/5 -- It's total escapism, and, for a movie about losing one's virginity, surprisingly chaste Full Review
Filmcritic.com
Aug 30, 2005
A fresh, sweet-natured affair with an attractive young cast. Full Review
Variety
Aug 25, 2005
Rating: C+ -- Not for the cynical, this is one of those flicks where love happens at first glance and the cad has a heart of gold. Full Review
E! Online
Aug 19, 2005
FORMULA swoons with youthful innocence.
New York Times
Aug 23, 2005
Rating: 2/4 -- The only real surprise about this cheerful gay romance is that such a silly movie was such a smash hit in its native Taiwan.
New York Daily News
Aug 26, 2005

Product Description:

Directed by 23-year-old Yin-jung Chen (AKA DJ Chen), FORMULA 17 puts a lighthearted, humorous spin on gay life in Taiwan, painting an idealized portrait that contains no mention of the difficulties associated with the gay community. Ponderous topics like AIDS, societal pressures, or coming-out issues are absent, and there are no women or straight people--only beautiful young men with hearts more or less made of gold. This candy-coated depiction comes off as a refreshing celebration of the simple joy of being young, gay, and in love.

Tien is a 17-year-old country boy who has just arrived in Taipei to meet an internet friend he has been corresponding with. It soon becomes clear, however, that the prospective man of Tien's dreams--whose online handle is "Beast Man"--is only out for one thing, so Tien flees to a nightclub where his childhood friend, the flamboyant Yu, slings drinks with enthusiasm. Yu takes his naïve friend under his wing, scoffing at Tien's dogged insistence on waiting for love before he loses his virginity, and attempting to educate him in the ways of urban existence. Tien persists in his virtue, resisting the advances of a hunky plumber hired by Yu and his crew of queens for the purposes of deflowering the boy. Meanwhile, it seems Tien has caught the eye of the local playboy, Bai, whose reputation for loving and leaving is well-established. Tien is likewise drawn to Bai but is justly wary of his past, and the two enact a halting courtship fraught with misunderstanding that stems from Bai's fear of intimacy. The entirety of the film takes on the structure of a Greek comedy, complete with a chorus--Yu and his friends, who provide humorous commentary on the action--and a deux ex machina that pretty much saves the day. There is never any real doubt as to how this love story will end, but the pleasure of the story lies in the telling.

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Product Info

  • UPC: 712267250424
  • Shipping Weight: 0.22/lbs (approx)
  • International Shipping: 1 item

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