Latter Days is a 2003 American romantic comedy drama film about the relationship between a closeted Mormon missionary and his openly gay neighbor.

The film was written and directed by C. Jay Cox and stars Steve Sandvoss as the missionary, Aaron, and Wes Ramsey as the neighbor, Christian.

Mary Kay Place, Khary Payton, Erik Palladino, Amber Benson, and Jacqueline Bisset have supporting roles.

Latter Days premiered at the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival on July 10, 2003, and was released in various states of USA over the next 12 months.

Various religious groups demanded that the film be withdrawn from theaters and video stores under boycott threats.

Elder Aaron Davis, a young Mormon from Pocatello, Idaho, is sent to Los Angeles with three other missionaries to spread the faith.

They move into an apartment next to openly gay party boy Christian Markelli and his roommate Julie, an aspiring singer.

Christian makes a bet with his co-workers that he can seduce one of the Mormons, and soon comes to believe that Aaron, the least experienced missionary, is a closeted homosexual.

Seeing Christian's distress, Ryder tells him that Aaron's flight has a five-hour layover in Salt Lake City.

[7] Latter Days was written and directed by C. Jay Cox after the success of his previous screenplay, Sweet Home Alabama, gave him the financial resources and critical credit to write a more personal love story.

[2] After Cox had financed the search for initial backing, funding was acquired from private investors who wanted to see the film made.

[9] Despite coming from a Mormon background, Cox had to research details of the excommunication tribunal, which is held after Aaron is sent back to Idaho.

[12] Since its initial release it had received nine best film awards, as Cox mentioned in 2005 on a featurette included on the UK DVD.

[15] Frank Scheck, reviewer for The Hollywood Reporter, wrote: "Cox's screenplay, while occasionally lapsing into the sort of clichés endemic to so many gay-themed films, generally treats its unusual subject matter with dignity and complexity.

"[16] Film critic Roger Ebert gave it two and a half stars out of four, declaring that the script was peopled from the "Stock Characters Store" and "the movie could have been a.)

"[17] Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune commented "this movie is often as kitschy and artificial as ... Sweet Home Alabama" (another film written by Cox).

[18] Other reviewers were more favourable, such as Toronto Sun critic Liz Braun, who said Latter Days was "the most important gay male movie of the past few years.

"[5] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times commented: "At once romantic, earthy and socially critical, Latter Days is a dynamic film filled with humor and pathos.

[3] A total of three songs were written by C. Jay Cox for Rebekah Johnson to sing: "More", "Another Beautiful Day", and "Tuesday 3:00 a.m.".

Due to contractual reasons, Johnson did not appear on the album, and her character's songs were performed by Nita Whitaker instead.

For example, the reason Ryder tells Christian where to find Aaron is his own broken heart over a girl he fell in love with while on his mission training.

The film was re-titled Inguaribili Romantici ("Hopeless Romantics"), shown on pay-TV on Sky Show in December 2006, and then released on DVD by Fourlab's gay-themed label "OutLoud!".