The Houseboy (2007) is uncompromising in showing the audience the emotional descent of Ricky (played by Nick May) into a suicidal mentality when he finds out that the couple he has been having an affair with wants to end that relationship with him.   

 

Ricky is young and good looking. However, he is easily objectified and goes through numbing promiscuity only to validate his false sense of his own worthlessness.  

 

The movie is not for the fainthearted. It is raw emotion coupled with raw sexuality on screen but it drives home the point of Ricky’s story.  I found Nick May’s performance to be right on pitch and that he was perfectly cast for the part.  Director/Writer Spencer Schilly was able to develop the storyline well making each frame of film count. 

 

You care so much about the character of Ricky that you wonder if he would ever come out of this cycle of self destruction. 

 

The film is honest and frank. It also offers redemption in the story of Ricky and the idea that we are all worthy of love and life.