Latter Days *** (2003, Steve Sandvoss, Wes Ramsey, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rebekah Johnson, Mary Kay Place, Jacqueline Bisset) – Classic Movie Review 13,432

C Jay Cox’s 2003 American romantic comedy drama film Latter Days focuses on the love story between an openly gay party boy waiter (Wes Ramsey) and his conflicted closeted Mormon missionary new neighbour (Steve Sandvoss).

C Jay Cox’s 2003 American romantic comedy drama film Latter Days focuses on the relationship between a fun-loving openly gay LA party boy waiter (Wes Ramsey) and his serious-minded closeted Mormon missionary new neighbour (Steve Sandvoss).

Latter Days is written and directed by C Jay Cox and stars Steve Sandvoss as the missionary Elder Aaron Davis, a young Latter-day Saint from Pocatello, Idaho, and Wes Ramsey as the neighbour Christian William Markelli, aspiring to be an actor.  It is the first film to show LGBTQ Mormon characters and the conflict between the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and same-sex romantic and sexual relationships.

Also in the cast are Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Elder Ryder, Rebekah Johnson as Christian’s roommate Julie Taylor. Mary Kay Place as Aaron’s deeply religious mother, Khary Payton, Erik Palladino, Amber Benson, and Jacqueline Bisset.

Latter Days is way too sentimental at times, but more often sometimes lit up brightly with real good scenes and dialogue (some witty one-liners, some wise words), and exciting performances, trying to deal with some very serious issues in an entertaining way, and succeeding by and large, mostly large.

With its sentimentality and strong gay sensibility, I’m guessing it’s a Marmite movie: love it or loathe it. It really pushes its luck at times, but kind of gets there in the end, winding up in a good place. Both Steve Sandvoss and Wes Ramsey are ideally cast and absolutely excellent, exceptionally entertaining and appealing, as the chalk and cheese who turn out –maybe too late – actually to be two peas in the same pod. Have they let their golden chance pass them by? It sure looks like it.

Also excellent is Mary Kay Place in an unforgivingly unsympathetic role as Aaron’s ghastly bigoted mother (she actually slaps him hard across the face), with the other actors supporting valiantly. Jacqueline Bisset doesn’t seem entirely comfortable as the witty, sarcastic club owner whose lover is terminally ill in hospital, but keeps working at her rather awkward role, and comes through successfully. Why was Ms Bisset involved?: ‘I like humour, so I just really enjoyed doing all the wisecracks.’

The 22-year-old Joseph Gordon-Levitt also has a tricky role as the bigoted Elder Ryder, and this special little actor doesn’t seem entirely comfortable either being prickly and judgmental here, but he ends up okay too.

What’s perhaps most admirable in this film is its success in dealing with some red-hot, tricky subjects in entertainment form as an involving gay love story. It is very clear as an attack on the attitudes of the Mormon Church, particularly its homophobic stance, and valuable for that. It may be uneven, and slightly shaky in places, and super-strong in others, but overall it is engaging, powerful and excellent.

C Jay Cox wrote it as a more personal love story after the success of his previous screenplay for the 2002 film Sweet Home Alabama. He based both Christian and Aaron on himself. He was raised as a Mormon and served a mission before coming out as gay, and wondered what the two halves of himself would have said to each other if they had ever met.

Latter Days was filmed in 24 days on several locations in Los Angeles.

As expected, showings in some US states were controversial, with religious groups demanding that the film be withdrawn from cinemas and video stores by threatening boycotts. The film was banned by Madstone Theaters, an arthouse chain with nine cinemas that claimed it was ‘not up to our artistic quality’. The company was pressured with threatened boycotts and protests by conservative groups to withdraw their planned release.

Latter Days premiered at the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival on July 10, 2003, and was popular with film festival audiences. Then, at the North American box office, it made $834,685 from 19 cinemas, which barely covered the budget of $850,000. However, by January 2011, the film was the top-grossing film from its distributor, TLA Releasing.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,432

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