History YMMV / BenAndArthur

* {{Anvilicious}}: Religion and the law shouldn't get in the way of same-sex marriage. A good message, but it is clumsily delivered in a ridiculously over-the-top manner.

** Arthur. You can ''sorta'' sympathize with him in spite of his bitchy, narcissistic behavior... at least until he [[spoiler:torches a priest alive, though in Arthur's defense, the priest was a homophobic asshole who was trying to kill Arthur himself.]] Not to mention that, at the climax, we're supposed to be angry at Victor for shooting Arthur while the latter tries to [[spoiler:''rape him'']].

** Arthur. You can ''sorta'' sympathize with him in spite of his bitchy, narcissistic behavior... at least until he [[spoiler:torches a priest alive, though in Arthur's defense, the priest was a homophobic asshole who was trying to kill Arthur himself.]] Not to mention that at the climax we're supposed to be angry at Victor for shooting Arthur while the latter tries to [[spoiler:''rape him'']].

** Arthur, in general, is a character who is very hard to sympathize with, let alone root for. It's obvious that the story wants the audience to feel sympathy for him because he lives in a country where being gay was a source of mockery at the time, that and he has to put up with his psychotic religious brother, Victor, who is both trying to get in-between Ben and Arthur's relationship, as well as trying to kill them both. Unfortunately, Arthur behaves in an incredibly obnoxious and insufferable manner throughout the movie, and even does some questionable things himself, such as burning a priest alive and trying to rape Victor near the end. He's just not likable in the slightest.

** Arthur. You can ''sorta'' sympathize with him in spite of his bitchy, narcissistic behavior... at least until he [[spoiler:torches a priest alive, though in Arthur's defense, the priest was a homophobic asshole who was trying to kill Arthur himself.]]. Not to mention that at the climax we're supposed to be angry at Victor for shooting Arthur while the latter tries to [[spoiler:''rape him'']].

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Ben's ex-wife, Tammy, to an extent. The audience is clearly supposed to see her as a {{Jerkass}} with psychological problems, and when Ben divorces her, we're supposed to root for him. However, Tammy comes off as more sympathetic than intended, especially since she has every right to be hurt and angry at Ben, since he's been cheating on her with Arthur for 5 years. It also doesn't help that the story doesn't bother to explain what Ben and Tammy's relationship was like before splitting up.

** Arthur in general is a character who is very hard to sympathize with, let alone root for. It's obvious that the story wants the audience to feel sympathy for him because he lives in a country where being gay was a source of mockery at the time, that and he has to put up with his psychotic religious brother, Victor, who is both trying to get in-between Ben and Arthur's relationship, as well as trying to kill them both. Unfortunately, Arthur behaves in an incredibly obnoxious and insufferable manner throughout the movie, and even does some questionable things himself, such as burning a priest alive and trying to rape Victor near the end. He's just not likable in the slightest.

* DontShootTheMessage: Don't expect any pro-LGBT organizations to recommend this film on account of it’s poor quality and sloppy handling of its messages.

** Most comparisons between this film and ''Film/TheRoom'' (which was written and apparently shot before this film, but released afterwards) tend to refer to their mutual incompetence and {{anvilicious}}ness, but the two films have a surprising amount in common:

* SoBadItsGood: This movie has gained a fandom among bad movie connoisseurs for its laughably bad acting, shoddy production values, badly written plot and characters, corny music, and unintentional comedy, to the point of being hailed as "the LGBT version of ''Film/TheRoom''".

*** A wedding is an important plot point in both films; in ''The Room'' the wedding never actually happens, while in this film the wedding '''does''' technically happen, but isn't recognized by the state of California.

** The film unambiguously presents organized religion as the absolute enemy of LBGT rights; after making the movie Sam Mraovich converted to the Church of Latter Day Saints.
** The idea that Holy Water can be made with a simple recipe was used here long before ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'' was created.
** 2018 saw the publication of a critically acclaimed YA novel called ''What If It's Us'' about a teenage gay couple. Their names? Ben and Arthur.

* NightmareRetardant: Victor was clearly intended to be an unsettling example of how bad Christian fundamentalists can get with their extremism. However his incompetence throughout the film, along with his actor's laughably bad performance, make it hard to take the character seriously, and his behavior is more laugh-inducing than menacing.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Ben's ex wife, Tammy, to an extent. The audience is clearly supposed to see her as a {{Jerkass}} with psychological problems, and when Ben divorces her, we're supposed to root for him. However, Tammy comes off as more sympathetic than intended, especially since she has every right to be hurt and angry at Ben, since he's been cheating on her with Arthur for 5 years. It also doesn't help that the story doesn't bother to explain what Ben and Tammy's relationship was like before splitting up.

* DontShootTheMessage: Don't expect any pro-LGBT organizations to recommend this film.

** 2018 saw the publication of a critically acclaimed YA novel called ''What If It's Us'' about a teenage gay couple. Their names? [[NamesTheSame Ben and Arthur.]]

** 2018 saw the publication of a critically acclaimed YA novel called ''What If It's Us'' about a teenage gay couple. Their names? [[NamesTheSame Ben and Arthur]].

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The film has almost zero need for effects to begin with, but the gunshots are consistently done with, well, nothing. There's zero muzzle flash, recoil, or slide movement (with one instance of smoke, appearing after a cutaway and obviously some kind of burning object stuffed in the barrel of the gun), extremely poor sound effects that fail to remain consistent with the same gun, and either [[BloodlessCarnage no wounds at all]] or bullet wounds that only appear after a cut to a different angle. This creates a rather amusing cut where [[spoiler: Victor has no visible mark when shot in the head and stumbling back into the blinds, but after a cutaway for two seconds his face is suddenly ''drenched'' in blood.]] It seems like guns in the ''Ben & Arthur'' universe run on magic, and pulling the trigger simply causes people to fall over dead. Also, Victor's gun is very obviously a painted water pistol, with even the filler cap visible on the rear of the frame. Even more strangely, Victor has a very real-looking Beretta which he draws in his apartment near the end of the film, but later both Arthur and himself are back to water pistols.

* UnfortunateImplications: Both Creator/AllisonPregler's review and a cursory glance at the [=IMDb's=] [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364986/reviews user reviews page]] for this film bring up more than a few:
** All Christians are apparently violent homophobes who either actively seek to kill homosexuals, or at least are happy to condone it.
** Furthermore, it's seemingly acceptable to [[spoiler: kill such people]], and even [[spoiler: ''burn them alive'']]. Contrast this with the way that [[spoiler: the death of the lawyer]] is depicted as a horrible thing, even if it doesn't get followed up on very well.
** There are only three female characters in the film - Mildred (who comes across as rather unpleasant), Tammy (who is a complete whackjob), and Ben and Arthur's attorney (who [[spoiler:gets the DisposableWoman treatment and then is never mentioned again]]).

** Arthur in general is a character who is very hard to sympathize with, let alone root for. It's obvious that the story wants the audience to feel sympathy for him because he lives in a country where being Gay was a source of mockery at the time, that and he has to put up with his psychotic religious brother, Victor, who is both trying to get in-between Ben and Arthur's relationship, as well as trying to kill them both. Unfortunately, Arthur behaves incredibly obnoxious and insufferable throughout the movie, and even does some questionable things himself, such as burning a priest alive and trying to rape Victor near the end. He's just not likable in the slightest.

** 2018 saw the publication a critically acclaimed YA novel called ''What If It's Us'' about a teenage gay couple. Their names? [[NamesTheSame Ben and Arthur]].

* EightDeadlyWords: As mentioned elsewhere on this page, the lack of any likable characters is another problem that hinders the story.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Ben's ex wife, Tammy, to an extent. The audience is clearly supposed to see her as a {{Jerkass}} with psychological problems, and when Ben divorces her, we're supposed to root for him. However, Tammy comes off as more sympathetic than intended, especially since she has every right to be hurt and angry at Ben, since he's been cheating on her with Ben for 5 years. It also doesn't help that the story doesn't bother to explain what Ben and Tammy's relationship was like before splitting up.

* CriticalResearchFailure:
** With the option to marry Arthur in Hawaii now gone, Ben mentions to Tammy that he and Arthur can marry in Vermont instead, as a means to dismiss Tammy's claim that "men can't get married in the United States". Vermont allowed same-sex civil unions in 2000, while the film was released in 2002; as Creator/AllisonPregler noted, same-sex marriage was not legal in Vermont until 2009.
** Arthur's bizarrely hypothetical speech about him being drafted and dying for a nation that won't allow him to be married doesn't make any sense, since at the time of the film's release, gay men were not allowed to serve openly in the US military under Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Why exactly they felt the need to make something up, when the reality (the US Military will discriminate based on your sexual orientation) is actually much, much worse is a mystery.

** There are only three female characters in the film - Mildred (who comes across as rather unpleasant), Tammy (who is a complete whackjob), and Ben and Arthur's attorney (who [[spoiler:gets StuffedIntoTheFridge and then is never mentioned again]]).

* {{Anvilicious}}: Religion and the law shouldn't get in the way of same-sex marriage. Good message, but it is clumsily delivered in a ridiculously over-the-top manner.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Religion and the law shouldn't get in the way of same-sex marriage. It is clumsily delivered in a ridiculously over-the-top manner.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Religion and the law shouldn't get in the way of same-sex marriage. This would have been a case of SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped if it wasn't so clumsily delivered in a ridiculously over-the-top manner.

* UnfortunateImplications: Both Creator/AlisonPregler's review and a cursory glance at the [=IMDb's=] [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364986/reviews user reviews page]] for this film bring up more than a few:

* EightDeadlyWords: As mentioned above, the lack of any likable characters is another problem that hinders the story.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Laughable execution aside, this is a surprisingly bleak film. All the characters are either whiny, psychotic, violent, or just plain unbearable. You'd rather see them all die than live by the end of the movie.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The film has almost zero need for effects to begin with, but the gunshots are consistently done with, well, nothing. There's zero muzzle flash, recoil, or slide movement (with one instance of smoke, appearing after a cutaway and obviously some kind of burning object stuffed in the barrel of the gun), extremely poor sound effects that fail to remain consistent with the same gun, and either [[BloodlessCarnage no wounds at all]] or bullet wounds that only appear after a cut to a different angle. This creates a rather amusing cut where [[spoiler: Victor has no visible mark when shot in the head and stumbling back into the blinds, but after a cutaway for two seconds his face is suddenly ''drenched'' in blood.]] It seems like guns in the ''Ben & Arthur'' universe run on magic, and pulling the trigger simply causes people to fall over dead.
** Also, Victor's gun is very obviously a painted water pistol, with even the filler cap visible on the rear of the frame.
** Even more strangely, Victor has a very real-looking Beretta which he draws in his apartment near the end of the film, but later both Arthur and himself are back to water pistols.

* UnfortunateImplications: Both Obscurus Lupa's review and a cursory glance at the [=IMDb's=] [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364986/reviews user reviews page]] for this film bring up more than a few:

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: It's hard to know whether we're supposed to sympathize with Ben or Arthur over the aforementioned punching incident, but neither of them comes out of it looking good. While Ben was clearly at fault for resorting to violence and then [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou blaming it on Arthur]], Arthur himself had reacted to Ben's somewhat justified rebuke for failing to lock up their bike (which Ben nonetheless apologized for straight away) with a completely unfair accusation that Ben is ashamed of his sexual orientation and wouldn't give two shits if Arthur died. The end result is that Ben appears sorely in need of anger management classes, while Arthur comes across as an emotionally immature DramaQueen.
** And Arthur in general is a character who is very hard to sympathize with, let alone root for. It's obvious that the story wants the audience to feel sympathy for him because he lives in a country where being Gay was a source of mockery at the time, that and he has to put up with his psychotic religious brother, Victor, who is both trying to get in-between Ben and Arthur's relationship, as well as trying to kill them both. Unfortunately, Arthur behaves incredibly obnoxious and insufferable throughout the movie, and even does some questionable things himself, such as burning a priest alive and trying to rape Victor near the end. He's just not likable in the slightest.

* NightmareRetardant: Victor was clearly intended to be an unsettling example of how bad christian fundamentalists can get with their extremism. However his incompetence throughout the film, along with his actor's laughably bad performance, make it hard to take the character seriously, and his behavior is more laugh-inducing than menacing.

** And Arthur in general is a character who is very hard to sympathize with, let alone root for. It's obvious that the story wants the audience to feel sympathy for him because he lives in a country where being Gay was a source of mockery at the time, that and he has to put with his psychotic religious brother, Victor, who is both trying to get in-between Ben and Arthur's relationship, as well as trying to kill them both. Unfortunately, Arthur behaves incredibly obnoxious and insufferable throughout the movie, and even does some questionable things himself, such as burning a priest alive and trying to rape Victor near the end. He's just not likable in the slightest.

* DesignatedVillain: The audience is clearly supposed to view Tammy as a whackjob, however she never really does anything outright malicious enough to make Ben split up with her, and if she does, the film certainly doesn't show the audience whether their relationship was good or bad. And while Tammy does threaten Ben with a gun for splitting up with her, she is somewhat justified, since Ben was cheating on her with Arthur, and decided to split up with her, which understandably broke her heart.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Ben's ex wife, Tammy. The audience is clearly supposed to see her as a {{Jerkass}} with psychological problems, and when Ben divorces her, we're supposed to root for him. However, Tammy comes off as more sympathetic than intended, especially since she has every right to be hurt and angry at Ben, since he's been cheating on her with Ben for 5 years. It also doesn't help that the story doesn't bother to explain what Ben and Tammy's relationship was like before splitting up.