Love and Death on Long Island

A highly regarded literary figure with a notorious disdain for the tawdry trappings of modern culture, snooty London widower Giles De'Ath is forced to reevaluate his contempt one rain-soaked night when he locks himself out of his flat. To avoid a soaking, he takes refuge in a local moviehouse where he ends up watching the less-than-edifying teenage movie Hotpants College II. As the trifle unspools, an increasingly disgusted Giles decides the rain is less torturous than another moment of the film, and just when he is abut to leave, the handsome, bland actor Ronnie Bostock appears onscreen. Something about Ronnie sets Giles's heart a flutter. By the movie's end, stuffy Giles has developed a tremendous crush. Suddenly obsessed by all things Ronnie, he begins finding every bit of information he can on the young actor and pasting it in a special book. Hungry for more of the youth's work, he even buys a television and a VCR. Though deep down, the elated Giles realizes the foolishness of his obsession, he eventually decides he must go to Ronnie's Long Island home to meet him personally. Ronnie isn't very bright, he responds to Giles's constant flattery and a sort of love affair develops. But despite it's promising start, there is nowhere for the romance to go, and Giles's excursion into a new realm ends on a bittersweet note, one that nicely compliments the dry British humor preceding it. Much of that humor comes from the old-fashioned Giles's attempts to cope with modern American life.