The Dare Project

I hadn't seen the first film for many years so I was happy to watch it again in anticipation of the sequel. Even though I knew what would happen, the tension was still there in this well-crafted short.

There's always a regret for both gays and straights about the "one who got away" and I know from my own experience that it comes up in thought at the most unexpected moments. I was really looking forward to the second film to see how the relationship would develop.

As soon as it started, I had a sinking feeling. There were just too many people around, too many interruptions. The frisson of the first film was not replicated by the second. The dialogue seemed stilted and stagey, I didn't believe in the situation and especially not in the hunk who jumped into the pool at the end. I'm sorry to say that the edgy rapport the actors seemed to have in their teens was not carried on into their thirties, especially visible at their farewell.

We can never go back in real life, the moving finger writes, and, having writ, moves on; nor all your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line. I wish the writer and director had thought of those lines before this sorry revisiting of what was a polished gem.