Review by Jeffery Mingo
Rating:
First off, the title is deceptive. You will never see a set of skis in this film. Renting a cabin in a snowy area doesn’t make it a ski trip. This indie (read: low-budget) film is filled with bad writing and actors with bad timing. The characters are all stock: the queen, the hag, the gym bunny, the bland main character, etc. The actors are constantly reading each other, but not well. The queeniest character takes up too much space and also doesn’t allow time to develop the other characters. One character is so nasty that it doesn’t make since that the others continue to associate with him. The stereotypical accents may grate your nerves after awhile. The makeup crew should have been fired because each and every character is caked in too much makeup. Three characters have baldies and no beards and may touch on ideas that “they all look alike.” The male characters often say, “We gay men” this and that. However, these are characters of color that should be fully conscious of racial issues and really should have said, “We Black and Latino gay men” this and that. Because I have read that Che Guevara was a nasty homophobe, I hated seeing the gay Latino character, who is played by an openly gay Latino man, wearing a shirt with his image on it. This film bites off of Go Fish, the Big Chill, Will & Grace, and many others. I haven’t seen “Punks,” but because that dealt with three gay Black friends and one gay Latino man, I imagine that this film may have imitated it too.

But shade aside, I appreciated this film. I encourage people to see it and tell others about it. Many predominately white, gay films have disturbing images of people of color. Pittsburgh is one-quarter Black, yet there are no characters of cool in “Queer as Folk.” In “Jeffrey,” almost all of the gay men of color are waiters and totally to the periphery of the narrative. “Priscilla: Queen of the Desert” shows a profoundly racist, xenophobic, and sexist depiction of an Asian woman. There is even a pathetic Black, gay film “Brother to Brother” that has no Black, gay couples in it. Hey, if low-budget flicks about straights of color like “Playin’ for the Kitty” and “Drive By” can be made, why can’t gay men of color do the same?

The main character is also the director and screenwriter. I imagine that this was a labor of love for him. I loved seeing young actors of color get film experience. I love that Black-Latino unity here. There is a shocking twist near the end that kept my interest. This is definitely an “A for effort” production.

Review by Michael Kerjman
Rating:
“Ski Trip” looks instantly as some rehearsal to the “Noah’s Arc – The Complete Second Season”, of which much longer dialogues and self-confessions make this sometime-in-eighties produced movie much less entertaining.

Of course, relationship intrigue inter-linkage, scarcity of explicitly and not-so-much music played have to some extent been compensated with the New York City views although of a low-budget filmmaking.

Review by M. Bell
Rating:
I can relate to many aspects expressed in this film. It brings a special friend to mind. He know who he is.