He's a gay party boy. He's a closeted Mormon missionary. They're both hot. Does that sound familiar? It's the plot of the film Latter Days, a gay romantic comedy from 2003 that is the topic of today's Throwback Thursday. #TBT to this early 2000's romantic comedy!
Director C. Jay Cox brought us this interesting portrayal of Elder Aaron Davis (Steve Sandvoss), a Mormon man in Idaho, who gets sent to Los Angeles to do his required mission work for the church. He and his fellow missionaries move into an apartment that is next to an openly gay party boy played by Wes Ramsey.
Party boy Christian (ironic name) bets his friends that he can seduce one of the Mormons and he soon learns that Elder Davis is closeted. The pair have an interesting relationship where Christian tries to seduce him while Davis tries to teach him that sex should mean something. They definitely fall in love, despite their backgrounds and the bet, and confess their feelings. That should end well, right? Haha, wrong.
Sadly, Aaron gets excommunicated from the church and rejected from his family which is a realistic portrayal of what often happens in those communities. It's a devastating turn in the rom-com that makes it venture less on the com, as Aaron goes to treatment for homosexuality and Christian attempts to contact Aaron's family and is told he's dead (he isn't!). How Romeo Juliet!
The pair end up reuniting at the end and it's a lovely story. We're happy that Latter Days, despite its twists and turns, does have a happy ending. We got a happy ending, too, watching all the studly asses in this movie. Besides Steve and Wes, wealso got to admire actor Terry Simpson who brings the peen.
Latter Days premiered at the Philadelphia International Gay Lesbian Film Festival in 2003 and was released over the year in different cities, cultivating controversy from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Luckily, the film has survived past controversy and actually holds up pretty well. While it's not often remembered as a classic, we think it should be. Check out Latter Days if you're in the mood for a good romantic movie. If you'd like a little more steam than romance, check out the nude scenes here on Mr. Man.
