jaibo This film begins with an intriguing central character - a beautiful young Swiss gay man who lives with in a sexless relationship with a slightly older woman but divides his time between promiscuous sexual encounters with the (not always young or attractive) men he meets on the internet, and working a boring day job on a production line in a chocolate factory - and has an excellent sense of visual storytelling to hook you into his tale. Yet pretty soon, I realised that pretty Loic was being set up by the film maker as not merely a portrait of a working class gay boy making his chaotic way through contemporary consumer society, but as a moral lesson for the audience, in which they learn that (yawn) anonymous sexual encounters aren't the answer, it's bad to be selfish and celebrities (he's stalking a sexy, second-rate footballer) aren't what they're cracked up to be. As the title suggests, the film takes a moral angle on the "stupid boy" at its centre, and so the promise of being dropped into a genuine 21st century life without editorialising comes to nothing.The film never really tackles why Loic gets so hung up by his own sexual waywardness and then projects his guilt onto others, as when he calls his girl friend a "slut" for sleeping with her boyfriend. There's something going on here about social pressures and normalising sexualities, but the film is so content on putting its hero through a pretty run-of-the-mill rites of passage story that it doesn't really take note of the class-ridden, banally consumerist world around him. A number of the plot devices - the accidental death of the girl friend, the "dream" meeting with the footballer in the Alps - are rather laboured, although worst of all is the unseen director surrogate (called, like the film's auteur, Lionel) who meets with Loic to question him and instruct him that "men can be interested in you without wanting to have sex with you." Which is pretty dishonest of Lionel, having sold the film as a portrait of a young kid who is pictured stripped on the publicity material and who he knows the target demographic will want to shag rotten.In the final act, Loic spends all his money on an expensive digital camera, announces that he rejects all of the roles (insider or outsider) that society has to offer him, asserts that he will "tell my own stories" and promptly meets the boy of his dreams in a fairground. Frankly, this is sentimental, glib and philosophically naive. Loic will have to choose to inhabit at least some of the roles which he so stridently rejects, although I suppose that the voice over which announces all of this might be a satire on his naivety, but it isn't played that way.Garçon stupide would have been better off not indulging in the jejune moralising which tries to make it a heard-it-all-before moral lesson rather than a truly impressionistic portrait; it betrays its lead character by ticking him off, rather than showing him deepening himself in an existential problem to which there is no glib solution, no matter that bourgeois gay filmmakers and their DVD collecting consumers might desire one.

christopher-208 Garcon Stupide (Stupid Boy) is an emotionally-packed punch. The film and it's lead character, Loic, had me hooked from the start. With the exception of a few slower scenes, I thoroughly enjoyed the film from start to finish. A few laughs, intense thought and emotion, and a few tears were generated from this well directed and acted film.The filming techniques and styles, and the soundtrack selections helped me score this film. The direction and unique filming combined with some classical scores and the storyline all fit perfectly together.The story itself follows the plight of Loic, a young handsome 20-year old who works in a chocolate factory by day, and entertains men of all ages by night for extra cash. In the film, he has a close loving friendship with a girl, Marie. He also develops a relationship of trust with a man he meets on the Internet, Lionel. The 2 never have sexual relations, just conversation about life. Something interesting to note: we never see Lionel. Or do we at the end? You decide.The story line develops around Loic's desires to be someone - a photographer, a gay man, ...? He seems to have lost direction in life, and is unable to trust/confide in the 2 people who seem to care for him most, Marie and Lionel. When Marie finds a boyfriend, you can clearly see the upset and anger in Loic. He withdraws from Marie, and Lionel, and neither situation has a positive outcome.In the meantime, he develops an infatuation of sorts with a local soccer player, who is successful, married and with child. Loic sees a life he wants for himself.Although this is a French film (with English subtitles), we have young people like Loic all over America. And we have adults who take advantage of them - and we have adults, like Lionel in this film, who truly can be a trusted friend. One of my favorite lines spoken by Lionel to Loic is "You can be interested in someone without wanting to f**k them". This statement rings true for so many, both those near the age of 20, and those near the age of 40.This is overall, an exceptional film - very good acting, great soundtrack, unique camera angles and film styles, wonderful story, and well-directed.

gradyharp Though most reviewers and viewers are putting this film down as a waste of time, this particular viewer sees many redeeming factors here that, given some further time in the editing room and a bit of script doctoring, could have resulted in a moving story.Young Swiss filmmaker Lionel Baier has both written (with Laurent Guido) and directed with quasi-autobiographical story that explores the coming of age of a lower class young lad who seems destined to settle for being a hustler. Loic (first time actor Pierre Chatagny) works in an assembly line chocolate factory in Bulle, Switzerland and his only 'life' is provided through his internet activity meeting men for sex. His casual sexual encounters (rather graphically shown in the first portion of the film) are his only answer to relating to people until he meets Marie (Natacha Koutchoumov) with whom he rooms and bonds. Marie is bright and encourages Loic, uneducated and uninformed, to look up words he encounters- a simple but well-intended manner in which Loic can improve himself. He meets the older Lionel (played by the director Lionel Baier) who dangles before Loic's eyes the possibilities of finer things in life. Loic spends his idle hours with a digital camera and between his new interest in photography and his pursuing his 'basic' education, he begins to long for a life more significant than his brainless casual sex. He becomes friends with a soccer player and his son, loses his friendship with Marie when Marie finds a real lover, and ultimately Loic yearns to escape the life of the 'stupid boy' of the title and enters a dreamworld fantasy of something better.Good ideas for a film here, but Baier seems to get sidetracked into artsy camera work, quasi-porno, and surrealistic moving lights and alpine scenery, and the film falters as a result. But there does seem to be some promise of a new filmmaker on the rise, This film may not be tolerated by some for various reasons, but for the adventurous spirits who are unafraid of a bit of male frontal nudity and sexual acting out, here are redeeming aspects to this little film that merit attention. Grady Harp

TedGuthrie This film was fascinating but very confusing. Plot lines seemed to start and stop at random, generally without even a hint of resolution. Perhaps the director suffers from whatever disability Luic suffers... not quite Attention Deficit Disorder, but clearly an inability to stay with a particular story line. And Luic's inability to empathize or even appropriately connect with others suggests that there's some psychological or mental condition at work. It's not simple naiveté... even after he's experienced something, he's still essentially untouched and unenlightened by it. Luic is reminiscent of Chauncey Gardner from Being There -- a delightful chap who's a blank slate-- others project motives and insights onto his blankness, but those projections say more about them than about him... there's simply no 'there' with Luic, except his ability to capture them in photographs, whether on his phone or in his head... he examines them in microscopic detail, but with no more comprehension than he has of the stuffed animals in the museum. And is he drawn to the fellow at the end because he thinks he's seeing himself... or someone who has the same disability?