Boys Will Be...

Written and produced by Michael Glassbourg, Boys Will Be... is actually a staged dramatic production, rather than a documentary, but since the message is more paramount than the drama, we've included it under "documentaries." Boys Will Be... features four friends, two of whom are brothers, sharing a meal at one of the brother's apartments. David, an artist, is ridiculed by his brother and friends for his affair with an 18-year-old girl. When Peter, David's brother, takes a quick run to the store, David tells his two friends that Peter has been hitting his wife, Valerie. Upon Peter's return, the four men tackle the issue of wife-battering over after-dinner drinks. While the subject matter is quite important, and the script does land a few telling observations, it ultimately fails as a play. The acting is passable, but the actors' hit a strident note very early on, and the intensity rarely ebbs thereafter. In what seems to be an attempt to convey the flavor of modern chat between grown boys, a lot of "fuck"s and "shits"s are tossed into the conservation--but this effort doesn't raise the characters above the level of cardboard mouthpieces, a role which the often embarrassingly stereotypical script forces upon them. The problem with message plays, movies or novels is that the writer is required to satisfy the demands of both "information" and "art." Boys Will Be..., as is often the case, flounders somewhere between the two, ultimately achieving the goals of neither. Not recommended. (Available from: Carle Medical Communications, 110 West Main St., Urbana, IL 61801-2700.)