
Jeremy Irvine, Jonny Beauchamp, Jonathan Rhys Meyer, Ron Perlman, Otoja Obit, Ron Perlman
The Stonewall Riots of 1969 are such a seminal moment in LGBT rights. So, it’s frustrating – and even insulting – to see the center of this film be compromised with dull, melodramatic fictions.
The phrase “melodramatic fictions” is the key to everything wrong with Stonewall. The events were only 46 years ago – people who were there are still alive and able to tell their stories. Yet, this main plot here is artificial, inaccurate, shallow, drippy, meandering, and histrionic. I am flummoxed as to why the filmmakers couldn’t have interviewed a few people – or picked up a book – to introduce a real story!
I hated this on so many levels, and I wanted to support it – or any film that takes on our struggles for equal rights. After seeing this flick, I believe people who know the history will find Stonewall offensive and disturbing. Audiences who don’t know about that New York City summer won’t find the movie’s overly dramatic characters at all intriguing, engaging, or sympathetic. Until the actual riots in the last part, the film is boring.
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