Most reviewers seem to give this film lots of stars, or nearly none. I'm going to break from the herd and give it 5 out of 10. I'm awarding 2 stars for Harris Dickinson's body, and 3 more for attempting to tell a story that hasn't been given its due. The film industry (both US and foreign) would have you believe that a gay man discovers his sexuality by meeting someone special and spending quality time with him, whether herding sheep on a mountain or playing volleyball at an Italian villa. In truth, even in this day and age the vast majority of gay men go through an often desperate and anguished journey of discovery and self-acceptance alone, with no one to lend a hand aside from the occasional hookup. It's a story that should be told. Sadly, this film does a pretty awful job of telling it.

It's hard to imagine at what point writer/director Eliza Hittman, a straight female, thought she understood the struggle of young gay men well enough to invest herself in making this film. Moreover, I can't figure out what audience it was intended for - the gay men who'd quickly spot its obvious flaws, or the straight people who'd have no interest in a story that revolves around gay sex with random strangers.

It's painful to sit and watch Frankie make one bad decision after the next for an entire film, and just as painful that he never really suffers as a result. The things he does to ingratiate himself to his worthless friends are maddening - he steals his dying father's pain medication so they can get high, steals his mother's earrings to buy them tickets to a party, sets up the film's lone arguably nice guy to be beaten and robbed, all with no negative personal consequences. Meanwhile, these three guys he's so eager to please seem to bring absolutely nothing to the table. It's a complete mystery why he wants to hang out with them at all. And an even bigger mystery why he'd risk exposing his secret life to these troglodytes just to supply them with weed.

The central premise of having Frankie meet men for hookups in an online video chat room specific to the Brooklyn area shows a laughable unfamiliarity with the way these things work. Video chat rooms are for guys to jerk off together on camera, not for guys to arrange meetups. If such localized video chat rooms ever existed they're long gone in this age of Grindr and similar cell phone apps, but I guess a laptop screen is more cinematic than a smartphone. The way Frankie's more seasoned hookup Jeremy reacts to his inexperience and self-repression also reveals a genuine ignorance of the way a gay man would handle that situation ("It's okay, I like a challenge" - seriously??).

It's perhaps most telling of all that every single male character in the film is sleazy, and almost all of the gay men are physically repulsive. Jeremy comes off in the best light, but he tries to lure Frankie with pot and admittedly uses the hookup site "a lot". The sole arguably positive gay role models are a couple Frankie spots holding hands on the subway - but the hands are all we see; the camera doesn't even show us their faces. Meanwhile, the three female characters (Frankie's mother, sister, and girlfriend) are all ostensibly good people with no significant flaws.

I don't know if this film was meant for a gay audience, but it definitely should not have been made by someone who doesn't know what it's like to be gay.

Beach Rats is a film that started with the best of intentions. At the age that young Harris Dickinson is in the story I could take myself back to Brooklyn of the 50s and 60s growing up and becoming aware of an attraction to boys even in the days when Brooklyn still had the Dodgers. Even before puberty I'm checking guys out and learn early on that those were forbidden feelings. I held back until much after Dickinson does in the film. Fortunately I gave in and came out and have not regretted it since.

I could truly identify with Dickinson and his plight. But he was limited in budget and a whole lot of avenues were left unexplored for the film. Back in my day and still in his bogus conversion therapy was practiced. Could that be in store for him? Will he go on faking it with women? I'm glad we could kind of pick an ending, pick his future for him.

Beach Rats is a 5 overall production, but a big old 10 for the effort put into this film on the limited resources the producers had.