Institute History
Description
It's his first week at college, and Clay Atkins (Sam Huntington) is getting no love. Despite effervescent charm and boyish good looks, his straight-white-male privilege is proving a liability to getting laid, rather than an all-access pass to the campus "ho-asis." Welcome to college, circa 2003, where wimmin coordinate the struggle of oppressed groups on campus instead of struggling to get out of their sweaters at boys' behest. But when a frat prank casts Clay as a gay, and the sexy, self-effacing Amanda (Kaitlin Doubleday) asks him to a queer poetry slam, he's dazed and confused but can't resist seeing where this charade will take him.
Home of Phobia is a raunchy campus send-up with a true-to-the-times spin; never before has a film so blatantly revealed the semiotic battlefield of today's undergraduate experience. At the risk of seeming unpolitically correct, writer/director Ryan Shiraki takes a brilliant leap into a realm of comedy that exposes the push and pull of labels and identity in the search for love and acceptance.
An ensemble of smartly conceived and wickedly funny characters are deftly played by an energetic cast of young and veteran actors who blew me away with their perfect delivery and striking resemblance to my college pals. Gay or straight, postgrad or postwar, you'll find a point of entry into this exhilarating romp.