The Outfest award-winning film adaptation of Brent Hartinger’s heartfelt YA novel Geography Club is an earnest and well-meaning snapshot of what it means to be gay in high school today. While the film at times falls into cheesy or generic territory, the premise is a smart one: regular old high schooler Russell Middlebrook (Pitch Perfect’s Cameron Deane Stewart), confronted with a budding romance with his school’s closeted star quarterback (of course!), eventually joins a covert after-school group called The Geography Club, so named in order to remain completely under the radar. Because, they figure, who in their right mind would willingly join a group to discuss geography? Within the confines of this group, Russell and his new friends (who identify themselves at differing stations on the LGBTQ scale) navigate their identities, passions, loves and secrets.

Interestingly, this film about an after-school group occasionally resembles an after-school special, due in part to Cameron Deane Stewart’s too-casual performance; it is difficult to access any of the pain or confusion Russell is said to feel on his journey. In fact, the whole gay-kid-in-high-school storyline is overshadowed by a much more powerful component, specifically a very effective subplot about a bullied kid named brian. Played by Teo Olivares, the true standout of this film, Brian has to withstand some pretty terrifying acts of bullying, ones that will strike home for many viewers gay and otherwise (Teo’s character, as it so happens, is not gay). Brian’s sequences are so moving and direct, the film would have been better off treating the rest of the characters with the same measured consideration.

In any case, viewers will soon be able to decide for themselves: Geography Club recently made headlines, having nailed a distribution deal after its successful festival run. The film is due out in early 2014!

—DH