| | |  | LOGO Film Festival | Home » » » The New Twenty | | | | | | | Description: | | Writer-director Chris Mason Johnson's award-winning first feature charts the lives of five New Yorkers, a mix of gay and straight best friends about to turn thirty. With emotionally vivid performances and nuanced characters, THE NEW TWENTY paints the portrait of a generation living the highs and lows of a Wall Street world destined to disappear overnight.
The year is 2006 and prosperity seems unending: two of the five are investment bankers, another works in advertising, another does freelance database design, and only one of the five might be called a slacker. But they all suffer from, as loner Felix puts it, & a touch of existential malaise courtesy of late capitalism. You know, the usual. So if money isn t the root of their discontent, what is? Whatever they re searching for - love, meaning in work - they won t find it in each other. On TV, friendship lasts forever. In real life, not so much.
THE NEW TWENTY reflects the zeitgeist of a new and happening generation, one in which gay and straight mix and it s not a big deal. This sense of tapping into the spirit of today places THE NEW TWENTY in the same genre as American Graffiti,The Big Chill and St. Elmo's Fire. | | | Features: | |
• Five best friends in their late 20's face the disintegration oftheir tightly knit urban tribe. Gay and straight, white and brown,driven and aimless, this disparate group lives and breathes New YorkCity with a vivid emotional realism that captures the tenor of a newgeneration. Features: Commentary , Theatrical Trailer , Closed Caption Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA R
| | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Bill Sage, Terry Serpico, Nicole Bilderback, Colin Fickes, Andrew Wei Lin | | Director:
| Chris Mason Johnson | | Format:
| Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen, Closed-captioned | | Language:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| WOLFE VIDEO | | Run Time:
| 92 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| July 21, 2009 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 10 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 10 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 About to turn 30, and still waiting to grow up ...Jul 26, 2009
By Bob Lind
"camelwest"
Looking in on a group of close friends since college, seven years after graduation, things aren't quite what they expected, even considering thirty is "The New Twenty" (2009).
There's the "jock" of the group, Andrew (hunky former model Ryan Locke), who is looking for financing for an internet startup he believes will make him rich. He's engaged to Asian-American Julie (Nicole Bilderback, who deserves the critical kudos she got for this role), who finds herself in the uncomfortable position of having to downplay the fact that she makes more money than her fiance'. Julie's brother, advertising whiz-kid Tony (Andrew Wei Lin) is gay and dating an older man who is HIV+. In college, Felix (Thomas Sadoski) seemed most likely to succeed, but his inability to give up his drug use have turned him into an insecure addict. Then there's the resident slacker, Ben (Colin Fickes), the other gay character, who wastes his days searching for online hookups and watching old TV shows.
The dynamics of the relationships between the five friends changes significantly, when Louie (Tony Serpico, a regular on "Army Wives"), a man in his 40's whom Andrew meets playing cricket, enters into a business arrangement with Andrew, as well as a flirtation with Julie, with the other friends tagging along as they socialize. This comes to a head at Andrew's bachelor bash, resulting in new resolutions by all, in order to get on with their lives.
A well-written, acted and directed film, and I love the way the gay and straight characters mesh comfortably. However, I thought it to be a bit predictable in parts, and somewhat negative in that it concentrated on everyone's failures. DVD includes commentary (labeled as "documentary"), deleted scenes and a music video. Overall, it's worth a look, and I give it four stars out of five.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Excellent Indie!Apr 13, 2010
By Cinephile
Very good movie! Much more sophisticated and nuanced than you might think from the cover art. It's not a "gay movie" at all, in fact, in the niche sense; it simply has a couple gay characters in it. It's a group friends movie (St. Elmo's Fire, The Big Chill, Diner, etc.) - which is a subgenre I enjoy - and what's nice about THE NEW TWENTY in terms of that is the ending. Won't give it away - just will say that it's not the usual cringe-worthy happily-ever-after thing - "we'll all be friends forever" - but something much smarter and more complex. And there's actually a sense of SOCIAL REALITY in the movie that's believable and true. Also really enjoyed depiction of gay and straight male friends that was simply presented as: NOT A BIG DEAL. Like it is in life. ALL the acting is really excellent. I don't know these actors except the guy from the Hal Hartley movies (Bill Sage) - but they all do a great job. Lots of subtle, quiet moments where you really get a feel for the characters and their inner lives. And all-in-all there's a nice pace to it also. It has a dynamic, entertaining feel. A very good American indie that's much smarter and more stylish than the usual!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 imperfect but promising debut effortMar 08, 2010
By Roland E. Zwick
***1/2
Seven years after graduation, five buddies from college - four men and a woman, all living in New York City - face the grim prospect of turning thirty. Andrew (Ryan Locke) is an investment banker who's just gotten engaged to his long time girlfriend, Julie (Nicole Bilderback), who works for a rival firm (he's Morgan, she's Merrill); Felix (Thomas Sadoski) is a drug addict who`s struggling to hide his condition from his friends as well as maintain a relationship with a fellow user; Ben (Colin Fickes) is an unattractive, overweight gay man who can't get anyone to go out with him; and Tony (Andrew Wei Lin) is an attractive, fit gay man who falls for a college professor with HIV. All five have reached that critical point where's it's time to start taking stock of their lives - to find out where they are and, more importantly, where they're headed.
"The New Twenty" is the debut feature for writer/director Chris Mason Johnson and, while the hand of the novice is evident in certain aspects of the movie, Johnson also reveals some real potential as a filmmaker. The relationships among the various characters are, for the most part, unusual and interesting, regardless of whether they are personal or business-related in nature. The storytelling can be a bit choppy at times and the acting occasionally uneven, but there are enough moments of genuine insight and emotional force to make the movie worth checking out. The fact that it feels more like a still-rough-around-the-edges first draft than a fully polished and completed work in its own right is actually what gives the movie its greatest authenticity and appeal.
 Tiring, tiresome melodramaMay 03, 2012
By J. Martin
There's not a single believable character, not a single believable scene in this movie. The tone is relentlessly melodramatic, as if these phony characters live right at the edge of hysteria every second of their lives. Everyone is always angry, and nearly every line is either shouted or snarled. That people who so annoy and irritate each other would have remained friends for a decade or even a year is ridiculous. Watching this foolish movie is tiring and tiresome.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 The New twentyAug 06, 2011
By Pitbulltje
A group of friends. Very PC group of people. There is a gay, there is an asian girl and boy, there is somebody handsome and there is also somebody less handsome. So we have this mixture but does it "taste" good?
Well, it doesn't :(
The plot is average. The director apparently was too afraid to present the whole spectrum of gay relationship including sexlife (although, he shot several scenes of straight sex...).
Are the characters likeable? To some degree. Unfortunately, I couldn't neither associate myself with any of 'em nor I give a damn about their problems.
And the cover! Was it supposed to be a candy for gay viewers? Don't let them trick you.
Rent before buying.
See all 10 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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