Taglines: Maybe their boyfriends should worry…
Race You to the Bottom movie storyline. A bisexual travel writer assigned the task of covering Napa Valley’s most romantic hot spots invites an old college friend to join him on his quest, only to find their attraction blossoming into something much more complex in writer/director Russell Brown’s look at fidelity, promiscuity, and sexual morality in the modern era. Nathan (Cole Williams) is an L.A.-based writer preparing to pen an article about the Napa Valley wine district.
Recognizing that a trip to wine country is always more fun when you invite a friend along, Nathan contacts old college friend Maggie (Amber Benson), who readily agrees to join him on his trip. Though both Nathan and Maggie currently have boyfriends, their attraction to one another finds wine tasting taking a back seat to an affair that raises numerous questions as to the fragility of intimate relationships when love knows no gender.
Race You to the Bottom is American film directed by Russell Brown and starring Amber Benson, Cole Williams, Jeremy Lelliott, Danielle Harris, Justin Zachary, Justin Hartley, Patrick Belton, Erin Cahill, Hannah Evans and Philipp Karner Justin Zachary. The film is released in March 30, 2007 by Regent Releasing and Here! Films.
“Race You to the Bottom” centers around a beautifully complicated and heated love affair between two young 20-somethings: a straight woman and her best friend, a gay man. Starring young actors Cole Williams (“Harry and Max”) and Amber Benson (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) in career-making lead roles, “Race You to the Bottom” is a vibrant, sexy artistic achievement and a cultural milestone in reflecting a fast changing new world of fluid sexuality.
Propelled by the exhilaration of their six-month secret affair, gay Nathan and straight Maggie embark on a sun-drenched road trip through Napa Valley wine country, all the while leaving their respective boyfriends behind. The lovers try to define their relationship on their own terms: sensual, liberating and rebellious, but also one fraught with complications that they might not have the maturity to overcome. The result is an unlikely love story with sharply drawn, intelligent and flawed characters. As these two hedonists tear through Northern California, the film reminds us of the glorious moments when romance seems to have no boundaries.
About the Film Subject Matter
“Race You to the Bottom” centers around a beautifully complicated and heated love affair between a 20-something straight woman and her best friend, a 20-something gay man. Starring young actors Cole Williams and Amber Benson (“Buffy, The Vampire Slayer”) in career-making lead roles, “Race You to the Bottom” is a vibrant, sexy artistic achievement and a cultural signpost in reflecting a fast-changing new world of fluid sexuality.
In the spirit of “Two for the Road” or “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” “Race You to the Bottom” is a window into the sexual mores of a new generation. From the pages of Myspace to the cover of New York Magazine, Generation Y is experimenting in a world without definitions.
Do the terms bisexual, gay and straight really no longer have a purpose? Can a more utopian view of sexuality replace what might have previously been a divisive system of categorizing love? The lead characters in the film, Nathan and Maggie, plunge into this dilemma as they try to define a relationship on their own terms: sensual, liberating, rebellious, but also fraught with complications that they might not have the maturity to overcome.
In this larger exploration of a social phenomenon, “Race You to the Bottom” is also a sharp examination of how two people use each other to hide from certain fears in their own coming-of-age.
Nathan and Maggie both have boyfriends, but they have been conducting a secret affair with each other for more than six months. Maggie is avoiding finding a career, finding a husband, or settling on any definition or restrictions for her own life. She sees the relationship with Nathan as a childhood fantasy — as she says, “an endless stream of now.” Because Nathan is gay, she’s relieved from the normal expectations that might be placed on a young woman, and can indulge in this romantic fantasy because she intuits it will have an inevitable conclusion.
Nathan, also, is avoiding the expectations that come with being a gay man in America. Turned off by gay culture and values, and dreaming of the pleasures of a traditional, heterosexual relationship, Nathan is also playing out a fantasy. As he says, his “biological imperative” calls for certain needs to be fulfilled, but Maggie would be the woman he would settle down with if could be straight.
Stories of love between gay men and straight women have been told in the past, but generally it is the sexual component that gets in the way. However, in the context of a new world without definitions, the erotic element might actually be the strongest and simplest aspect of this love affair, while the real difficulty arises about how the future might work or what the expectations are on each side.
All of this is played out over the course of a wine-filled, bright and golden autumn in Napa Valley. Despite the tough questions and hard realizations, “Race You to the Bottom” is ultimately a warm, joy-filled celebration of the eccentricities of youth and the vigor of a hot-blooded, rebellious affair. As these two hedonists tear through Northern California, the film reminds us of the glorious moments when romance seems to have no boundaries.
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Race You to the Bottom (2007)
Directed by: Russell Brown
Starring: Amber Benson, Cole Williams, Jeremy Lelliott, Danielle Harris, Justin Zachary, Justin Hartley, Patrick Belton, Erin Cahill, Hannah Evans, Philipp Karner
Screenplay by: Russell Brown
Cinematography by: Marco Fargnoli
Film Editing by: Annette Davey
Costume Design by: Kristen Anacker
Art Direction by: Doran Meyers
Music by: Ryan Beveridge
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, language and brief drug use.
Distributed by: Regent Releasing, Here! Films
Release Date: March 30, 2007
Views: 90
