This movie is a modern "Faust" about bitter gay art teacher Simon Desoto (Ted Sod) who learns he is HIV-positive. He speaks the first lines, "There's this friend of mine. He's HIV-positive. Its not me. Don't even begin to think I'm talking about me." Because he had a friend who suffered from AIDS before choosing to commit suicide, Simon panics and writes to the devil for help. Evil Mr. Cheseboro (William Salyers) offers the gift of health if Simon will become a straight stand-up comic who specializes in racist, sexist, anti-semitic, and homophobic humour. Plus Simon's former lover Carl (Dan Savage) must die instead. Satan is a redneck junior high school principal who plays the accordion, and Simon agrees to the deal and becomes a huge success in show biz, with the audiences laughing hard at his offensive jokes. The simple plot with a twist continues in an outrageous, heavy-handed, but uninteresting way. It doesn't fit together very well, and the film is disappointing. "Crocodile Tears" is an original version of the "Faust" legend, and the acting, sets, and production values are OK for a low-budget independent movie. Ann Coppel directed this dark comedy, adapted by executive producer and actor Ted Sod from his own AIDS-themed play "Satan and Simon DeSoto".
