DOG TAGS - DVD review

Writer/Director Damion Dietz lists "Midnight Cowboy" as an inspiration for his 2008 drama "Dog Tags." If this gay romance wannabe had even approached that Dustin Hoffman/Jon Voight Oscar winner, it would have been a major miracle. Dietz forgets a few rules of good storytelling: every character can't be an utter buffoon, playing with time works provided the audience is given enough information and being confused about life does not make a person fall into bed with a member of the same sex.

Upon graduating from boot camp, Nate (Paul Preiss) decides to surprise his fiancée by coming home a day early. He finds her in bed with another man, sending him on a cross-city trip to find his birth father with Andy (Bart Fletcher), a gay man with issues all his own. With Andy's baby son Travis in tow, the three make plans to see the country. But is an AWOL Nate, distraught over his father, fiancée and mother, the best traveling companion for a man longing to relive a romance he had with another Marine?

"Dog Tags" wants to be a couple different movies rolled into one. First, it has a mind to delve into the relationships between parents and their children. Nate's quest to find his father, coupled with an overbearing mother and Andy's own mother issues (lest we forget to mention his running away from son Travis) would have been enough of a plot all on its own. But then Dietz felt the need to include a pseudo-gay romance between the two which never gets off the ground, thanks to non-committal from Nate and the memory of a failed relationship from Andy. Wait, we're not done. There is even an inkling of the story playing with the idea of time which, mercifully, isn't given any space to breathe or gain traction. If it did, the wheels might have completely come off the drama as opposed to mostly coming off.

All those plots rolled into under 90 minutes (official runtime is 1:29:57 with opening and closing credits). It's a pity, actually, since Fletcher attracts attention for some undeterminable reason. Attractive in a boyish way, he exudes a very basic need to be loved or, at the very least, to be held. The audience can easily sympathize with that longing, as it can understand Nate wanting to know his father. This part of the story works, even if the acting job by Preiss leaves a bit to be desired.

The writing fails every character and whatever Dietz is actually trying to do. From the very beginning, every person on screen appears to have the IQ of a mushroom. For example, Nate is offered a ride by a man in an expensive car. They go back to his house…for what purpose? Nate doesn't exactly figure it out until Andy is sitting next to him and they're being asked to take their clothes off. Alright, so maybe Nate isn't the quickest on the uptake. Certainly Andy must be smarter.

Um, no. Here's a person who locks his infant son in a car with the moon roof open. He was going to go to the liquor store for baby food. Maybe Andy isn't the best father in the world. Maybe Nate's mother and fiancée have some intelligence between them? Not likely, especially when they fight over shifts at the bar instead of worrying about Nate.

But pay no attention to the actual story, Dietz seems to want to say. Look at Preiss and Fletcher. They're both reasonably attractive and there is some semblance of a romance story, with the promise of sex and nudity…but there isn't. At least nothing from the two people the audience would presumably want to see. All that makes "Dog Tags" mind-numbingly frustrating. It could have been a heart-tugging story with characters we wanted to see succeed, to come together and be happy. Dietz throws lip service to the idea of breaking away from parents and outside the norm-that's the moral, actually, to listen to yourself and not other people-though its too little at the end.

Notice how I haven't even talked about the idea of portions of the film being flashbacks for Andy? Yep, the insinuation is insulting on any number of levels, but none more so than the extremely limited screen time given to the nonstarter. There is no evidence to suggest Andy is reliving his Marine romance at any time, outside of a comment he makes to a near-lover.

Dietz supposedly worked on this screenplay for two years. Two years. And this turns out to be the best product? Sure, it's a "gay" movie with at least one gay character. That doesn't mean it has to be bad.

VIDEO:
TLA Releasing brings "Dog Tags" to disc in its original 1.78:1 theatrical aspect ratio. And, as with other films from the largely gay distributor, "Dog Tags" is non-anamorphic, making them perhaps the last studio to release newly created product unenhanced for widescreen TV's. With that out of the way, the transfer fails to distinguish itself one way or the other. Colors are well represented, with a particular emphasis on a general warmness in every scene, but they don't pop, opting to simply sit on the screen instead. A couple objects showcase minor shimmering from time to time, but it's not terribly distracting.

AUDIO:
Another major negative for TLA is the inclusion of an English 2.0 mix only. To be sure, "Dog Tags" doesn't scream out for a track which takes advantage of a full 5.1 speakers; however, this is a 2008 production. Is it out of the realm of possibility to expect something more than simple 2.0?

That being said, the 2.0 edition of the soundtrack presents dialogue and sound effects mostly without distortion, though an annoying hum cropped up during dialogue. I'm fairly certain it originated on set and not within the DVD production phase. The microphone on set was apparently sensitive enough to pick up ambient sounds outside the locations, as evidenced fairly early when an emergency vehicle passes.

EXTRAS:
There is nothing more frustrating than a writer/director beginning to explain their creation only to stop short, telling the audience he won't mention what the movie means to him, lest he ruin the experience for anyone else. Newsflash, Damion Dietz: if a viewer is listening to the commentary, it generally means they want to know more about your movie. And that is a good thing. There is no point in committing a story to the screen and wasting your time recording commentary if the subject matter is too painful for you and you won't talk about it. That's my overall impression of the track: annoying.

A stills gallery featuring a baker's dozen of photos comes next, followed by a series of four trailers, some for already released product ("The Houseboy," "Bangkok Love Story" and "3 Day Weekend") and upcoming fare ("Another Gay Sequel").

PARTING THOUGHTS:
Each character seems intent on being as dense as they can possibly be, leading to one of two conclusions: Dietz has no idea how to write realistic people…or the world is in more dire straits than anyone has predicted. I chose to go with the former.