Paper Boys

The gentle pace of filmmaker Kyle Cabral's entertaining new web series "Paper Boys" is determined by the fact that it's the story of a group of 20 somethings who seem to be aimlessly drifting through life, unfocused and undeterred.

Cole, the main character (played by Cabral), has turned up in San Francisco on a whim, ostensibly for his best (straight) friend's engagement party and also for a job interview. Neither of those events actually pan out; nevertheless, he is going to stay, as he has already packed in his NY job and apartment and the luggage he arrived with contains all his worldly possessions. Oh yes, he also has plans to troll his ex-boyfriend Max (Henry Lee) ('the one that got away'), who recently moved to the city

Cole is a frustrated artist and spends most of his day sketching in his notebook. He suddenly realizes he, or the book, have special powers, as whatever scenario he draws suddenly becomes a reality. Somehow, though, this doesn't stop his own life from being a series of mini-melodramas.

Cole's best friend Darren (Nathan Brown) confesses to him that although he loves his girlfriend Rebecca (Kai Liu), he doesn't actually want to marry her; as he is too much of a wimp to break the news to her himself, he implores Cole to do the dirty deed for him. An inebriated Cole carries out the task, but the only thanks he gets for his endeavors is to be castigated as the bad guy.

When Rebecca throws Darren out of the apartment he and Cole slink off to crash at Max's place, where Darren ends up on an air mattress, whilst Cole gets much luckier.

If you look behind the cliche of a young gay man running off to San Francisco to find his dream man/job/life, etc., "Paper Boys" has a lot going for it. Ir's rare to see not only an Asian actor playing the lead in a web series that has significant gay content but to see a whole diverse cast with him too. Together they tackle the realities of living in one of the most expensive cities in the world, and how as Millennials they have still yet to figure out where they fit in the world.

Written by Curtis Casella and Kyle Cabral, "Paper Boys" has surprisingly high production values and is well-acted too, but it does demand some patience as this story is evidently not going anywhere fast.

"Paper Boys"
DVD
$19.99
https://www.tlavideo.com/dvds/2514867/paper-boys