Customer Rating: 
Summary: What a Film, What a Man
Comment: "MAN OF THE YEAR"
Quite a Film, Quite a Man
Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride
One of the more interesting documentaries to come out of gay filmmaking is "Man of the Year" which was released in 1995. It is a look at the "Playgirl" centerfold, Dirk Shafer, who was elected "Man of the Year" in 1992, who kept the fact that he is a gay man a secret from the magazine. He was the object of many interviews and had to have a woman in tow so as to appear to be whom "Playgirl" readers though the was. This caused a great deal of stress both on him and on his lover who lived with him and others pressured him to confess that he is indeed gay. The movie is a fascinating look at magazine publishing and the perils of living a double life.
Shafer appeared on every talk show and when the news broke that he was gay, it sent ripples through the publishing world. His really was no big deal because as we well know, the majority of men who have posed nude for "Playgirl" are gay men and in many cases gay porn stars. When Shafer decided to make this documentary, he also decided that he would write and direct it and he has done a good job. In actuality it is not so much a documentary but a "mockumentary'---it resembles a true film but the cast is made up of actors hired to play parts. Therefore the film is basically fiction, albeit, based on fact.
Shafer has a great sense of humor and the movie is humorous and gay men will find it exceptionally funny and cute. I was amused the entire time I watched it, especially when the issue of being "Man of the Year" is discussed. He is labeled as the "ideal man for every woman" while we know what we know about him. However, Shafer did not think it was funny and he finds himself living a double life he had never intended to have. He was forces to take extra care when appearing on talk shows because one slip up would have cost him his fame. At the same time, women and the gay community sense that he is gay and are determined to out him.
There are times during the film that I felt I was watching not much more than a long interview but it was the best interview that I have ever seen. Shafer brought us his problems beautifully and even though he won a title dishonestly, I could not help but sympathize with him for making a bed that he was having trouble sleeping in.
The part of the movie about exposure to AIDS and death is very moving and it really hit hard. It is good to see that someone is concerned about making a mistake that can cost a life.
The film is an entertaining look inside a year in the life of Dirk Shafer. His angst of being a gay man wearing a straight title is sincere and you can feel the pain he feels for having to live a lie. This is not a deep movie that will make you think so if you are looking to have your mind provoked, this is not the movie for you. It is a movie to be enjoyed for what it is, with its subtle intelligent humor and sometimes touching interludes, it is just plain fun.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A one trick pony, but a fun ride
Comment: Cliche-riddled? Yes. Superficial? Mostly. Narcissistic self-indulgence on the part of director/star Dirk Shafer? Most definitely! But in this age of "Judge Judy" and "reality tv," this type of "mocumentary" is an interesting genre to follow. What is truth? What is distortion to serve a dramatic end? These are the kinds of questions that come to mind when I watch MAN OF THE YEAR. When the subject is the teller these distinctions become fuzzier and fuzzier. Clearly the tv clips from the Donahue show when the Playgirl "man of the year" fails a "best buns" contest was authentic. The nightclub stripper who became Shafer's stalker and the therapist who diagnosed Shafer as a "passive-agressive latent exhibitionist" are clearly fictional. The best female friend posing as his on-air girlfriend falls in the gray area somewhere between the two.Recent films that fall into this category that I enjoyed (but also felt frustrated with) are: THE LARAMIE PROJECT, BEST IN SHOW, the hilarious THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE, and THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE (though this last one is usually considered a documentary, Tammy Faye's full-blown participation in its making pushed it beyond the realm of objective reportage, something you expect from a documentary). These are the film equivalents of Capote's IN COLD BLOOD and Mailer's ARMIES OF THE NIGHT. History posing as fiction or fiction posing as history? What I like about this genre is that they seem, in a very post-modernist way, to blithly accept that these distinctions are either irrelevant or cannot be made with any assurance.
The problem for many viewers is likely to come when the film touches upon "serious" issues, like homophobia (including internalized homophobia), the practice of "outing" public figures, and AIDS. The death of Shafer's friend from AIDS (clearly a fictionalized component of this film)is treated with the same light touch as the "best buns" contest. This is quite disconcerting and feels like an insult to people who suffer from this frightful disease and to people who really have lost friends to AIDS. My sense, however, is that life is made up of these kinds of jarring juxtapositions of tragedy and shallowness. Blocking out one reality to more fully experience the other seems arbitrary and artificial. This realization does not lessen the oddness I felt watching MAN OF THE YEAR, but it does help me to accept it.
Overall, I felt the production values were good...as was the acting (catch Robert Goulet as Shafer's father). It's worth a rental if you don't want to cough up the full purchase price.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bomb of the Century
Comment: A tasteless and offensive film that ultimately proves to be a cynical joke played by writer-director-star Dirk Shafer against his audience. Shafer was the 1992 "Playgirl" Man of the Year centerfold who (supposedly) represented the ultimate object of desirability for the magazine's (supposedly) heterosexual readership, but is in reality a gay man. Having played the role of a straight man in life, Shafer went on to make this film, a fictional documentary about his secret life during the year of his "reign". He's a gay man who pretended to be a straight man who is pretending to unmask himself as a gay man ... get it? Ha, ha. Ha.Very (yawn) funny, except that during the course of the film Shafer keeps touching on some very unfunny subjects: a best friend dying of AIDS; homophobia; gay self-hatred; celebrity stalking; etc. The big punch line comes at the end of the movie when Shafer confides that his overall objective in making the movie was not to reveal himself, but merely "to direct"; i.e., to con the viewer into paying to see yet another false presentation of himself. What an ego! The film might have had some redeeming quality if only Shafer had been graceful enough to laugh at himself, but he doesn't. Trust me, there's less to him than meets the eye. Not even worth a look for Bill Bochtrup ("NYPD Blue") as the friend dying of AIDS or Mindy Sterling (the Austin Powers movies) in a brief bit as fictional talk show host Cindee.
The DVD includes the theatrical trailer which is presented in widescreen. The film itself is not presented in widescreen. Not that you should care one way or the other.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A gay "Truth or Dare"?
Comment: This mock-"documentary" is clever in that, I'm assuming, it does tell what could be a somewhat 'truthful' story overall. The problem with this video is that is doesn't know whether it should be funny or serious and this is definately a huge mistake for this kind of project/subject matter. I personally LOVE dark humor......but this aint it!!!
Best is the scene in which the mother talks about accepting herself as a fit and caring parent while she was dealing with the homophobic father of a dying AIDS patient on the phone.
The worst part of this whole video (and frankly I almost stopped watching quite a few times just due to this), are the "date scenes", in which Dirk is set up by Playgirl to go on a contest winning date with some supposedly hick gal (bad actress..bad!) who won it. The scenes never feel real and it's obvious that everyone is over-acting during the whole mess.
One thing I noticed is that while it's never a great movie and really not good either, overall Dirk isn't a horrible actor and I think he's actually pretty attractive, where as before I just thought he was a pretty boy. Also NYPD Blue fans will recognize the wonderful actor, Bill Bochtrup, in the role of AIDS patient and "discoverer" of Dirk the centerfold.
I was somewhat entertained or I wouldn't bother to write about it. BUT, buy at your own risk. Try to get it used if possible and save yourself a lot of money. Do Not buy it if you think it's a sex film or you're hoping for nudity all over the place, there's no full frontal nudity at all....sorry. Peace Out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Horrible, Wretched, oh my g--
Comment: This is the type of video that makes you wish you could have your precious time back.It is so horrible, boring, uninteresting. Could the people actually involved in it sit through it?
I strongly advise everyone out there to do something better with their time!
