Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | Final Verdict
The Story:
In from the Side is a drama about a British gay rugby team and the romantic entanglements of two of its players.
Mark Newton (Alexander Lincoln) plays for a newly formed rugby team that is full of inexperienced players. Mark is in a four-year relationship with Richard (Alex Hammond), who often travels for work and isn’t interested in rugby. Richard and Mark have an open relationship.
Warren Hunt (Alexander King) is a star player on a different team that is part of the same rugby club. Warren is in a monogamous long-term relationship with one of his teammates, John (Peter McPherson). Warren and John met five years back, when Warren was having issues that John helped him get out of. Because of that, Warren feels he owes John a great debt and can’t break up with him. We never find out more than that.
Mark and Warren meet at a gay club, get drunk and go to Mark’s apartment to have sex. Warren ends up staying too long and has to leave abruptly. He’s gruff with Mark as he explains that he has a boyfriend on his team, and nobody can know that they’d had sex.
The next day Warren texts Mark and visits him. They talk, then have sex again. And with Richard gone for a month, the two have plenty of time to bond and form a relationship. The drama comes from the two men having to hide their relationship from their partners and their team members. And that’s the basis for the movie.
Some Thoughts:
What In from the Side lacks in story, it makes up for in visuals. The men are ruggedly handsome, and the overall movie has lots of sex appeal. If the time spent on slow motion rugby matches had been used on exposition, In from the Side would have been a better film.
Mark and Warren are in long term relationships that have grown stale, but that’s all we know. We get a sense of what brought Warren and John together, but not Mark and Richard. How did Mark and Richard meet? What was their relationship like before it got stale? Were they always in an open relationship?
The reason Warren gives for not breaking up with John is a bit odd. What did John do to make Warren feel that has to stay in the relationship? I kept waiting to find out, but it never came up.
Since Richard travels, he and Mark have begun to live their lives separately. When Christmas rolls around, they each visit their respective families without each other. They talk about whose family their going to see, get into a bit of an argument over it, and it’s done. And since Mark is now traveling solo, he decides to invite Warren to his family for the holiday. Warren is able to get away from John without causing suspicion and agrees. Mark’s family rolls with the new man, and when they’re alone with Mark they never ask about Richard. Mark and his mother do talk about infidelity once, but it’s never specific to Mark’s situation.
And that’s how the movie plays out. Things happen and nobody questions any of it. Because there’s no thought given to the story, it never feels realistic. And most of all, we never find out why John has such a hold on Warren.
The Final Verdict:
In from the Side suffers from the decision to place beauty over substance. We don’t know enough about either man to feel emotionally invested. And while I appreciate the realistic ending, the drama around it felt a bit ho hum.
