The Competitor

I don’t think there was any situation where I would’ve enjoyed The Competitor. I found the movie pretty boring. But the way I watched it definitely didn’t help my opinion. I found the film on YouTube, with English subtitles and everything! But the quality was so poor it looked like instead of shooting on film, it was woven onto a tapestry.

The Competitor falls into that category of movies that seem to try and normalize the gay experience. So, it’s lot of really standard plot points and realistic experiences, now with gay women. The main setting for the film is an office, the most interesting of settings. And the film is a mixture of office politics and romance. Catherine is a management consultant. Her new assistant, Maren is openly ambitious. Catherine becomes concerned that Maren’s upward trajectory might be at the cost of her own career. But instead of staying rivals, the women become lovers instead.

I absolutely do support this plot. Instead of pitting women against each other, what if they kissed! I like basic concept. But that’s about all I support. Everything else in The Competitor feels far too dull. Katharina and Maren don’t a lot of personality or unique traits. Except for their attraction to women, of course. It feels like The Competitor completely maxed out being interesting on that one aspect. And as I so often say, being gay isn’t enough. Or, not for me as an audience. You gotta be gay AND interesting. And The Competitor is only the first one.

Part of the problem is perhaps that this is a TV movie. Traditionally, that’s supposed to be a fairly momentary kind of entertainment. There isn’t any visible ambition to make this something memorable and great. Instead, it feels more like something made to be good enough for now. Although, maybe nobody told the editors. The story and shooting are rote and standard. But the editing and music queues are over the top. Scenes of two women talking have editing and music that makes it feel like a thriller. But what does all this musical tension lead up to? Nothing, usually. At best, maybe a moment of mild lesbianism. Nothing substantial enough for a score that sounds like Danny Elfman wrote it for a mystery/thriller.

The Competitor never seems to shoot for the moon. It just seems to aim for the middle. And because in 1997, being gay was still pretty “out there,” the rest of the movie takes pains to even that out by being far too standard and boring. Overall, this is a film about two uninteresting women who fall in love. I support all lesbians, including the boring ones. At least in real life. But I didn’t particularly enjoy watching a movie about boring lesbians. Can we please get at least one of these women a personality?

Overall rating: 4.2/10

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