The movie is premised on a body switch that happens because the straight brother can't watch the gay brother's drag show because he has to try to impregnate his wife the same night. I am far from expert in such matters but could he not perform his husbandly duties before the show? Or after? Or hell, he looked virile enough, both?
Reviews
9 Reviews
Eating Out: Drama Camp
(2011)
I can't watch more than three minutes at a time
24 November 2011
I really want to like each new installment of the Eating Out series. I really truly do. I appreciate the work that goes into making a feature film and this series is pretty much the only one of its kind, the gay romantic comedy series. But they're just getting progressively worse and worse. The formula is getting entirely repetitive and in this fourth installment the repetition is literal, with the constant re-doing and re-doing of a scene from "The Taming of the Shrew". It's like the film is on its own internal loop. A character has a breakthrough in one scene and in the next they're right back where they started, as if the first scene never happened. I struggle through one scene and I literally have to stop the film to gather myself up enough to get through the next one. The man-candy is great but I can see screen caps on the Internet. I know the next film is already in the can, but if there's going to be a part 6 then Brocka needs to take a break, regroup and rethink his approach.
Retired at 35
(2011–2012)
This show is just awful
21 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The latest new sitcom from TV Land, Retired at 35 revolves around David, a harried executive whose company manufactures "food-related wood products" (toothpicks, Popsicle sticks, etc.). On a visit to his parents in Florida, the constant interruptions of his mother's birthday party by David's boss lead him to quit. On the heels of this life-changing announcement, David's mother announces a life-changer of her own; she's moving to Europe so she can paint naked men.
"Retired at 35" doesn't miss very many sitcom clichés in its first episode. Fans of "Three's Company" will recognize David's parents Alan and Elaine as a retread of the Ropers, right down to the dumb and inappropriate sex talk in front of their children. David's sister is yet another in a long line of "Mom and Dad always liked you best" younger sisters. Alan's friend Richard perfectly captures the show's level of humor when he describes Cialis and marijuana as "a toke and a poke". And then there's Paul, the sister's "is he gay or not" boyfriend. Really? In 2011 we're still getting a Bearnaise sauce-cooking, do I look fat in these jeans Monroe Ficus character?
Don't waste your time. There's nothing in this show that you haven't seen done, and done better, a hundred times before.
"Retired at 35" doesn't miss very many sitcom clichés in its first episode. Fans of "Three's Company" will recognize David's parents Alan and Elaine as a retread of the Ropers, right down to the dumb and inappropriate sex talk in front of their children. David's sister is yet another in a long line of "Mom and Dad always liked you best" younger sisters. Alan's friend Richard perfectly captures the show's level of humor when he describes Cialis and marijuana as "a toke and a poke". And then there's Paul, the sister's "is he gay or not" boyfriend. Really? In 2011 we're still getting a Bearnaise sauce-cooking, do I look fat in these jeans Monroe Ficus character?
Don't waste your time. There's nothing in this show that you haven't seen done, and done better, a hundred times before.
Lucky Bastard
(2009)
Grossly underrated
11 April 2010
Viewers and critics have a hate-on for this film that baffles me. "Lucky Bastard" is a solid, well-told story about a man who, professionally and personally, is simply stuck. Given the opportunity to escape the pressures to move forward to which his business partner and his boyfriend each subject him, Rusty leaps at it when it appears in the form of Denny, a deeply damaged hustler and meth addict. The appeal of trying to fix Denny parallels Rusty's enjoyment of restoring old houses, Denny's emotional damage being comparable to the damage that perfectionist Rusty deals with in his work.
The principal actors handle the material well, although Timothy Cole as Rusty's business partner is the weakest member of the cast. The film is far more introspective than writer/director Everett Lewis's previous work. Lewis drew upon his own experience being in a relationship with a meth addict and much of the dialog, notably Denny's monologue on how he became involved with drugs and sex work, came from life. The result is a film that feels intimate and real. My one complaint is that it feels like there is a scene missing between Denny's final angry outburst and Rusty's sending him packing. Rusty's emotional transition feels abrupt and unmotivated. That one flaw should not dissuade anyone from seeing the film.
The principal actors handle the material well, although Timothy Cole as Rusty's business partner is the weakest member of the cast. The film is far more introspective than writer/director Everett Lewis's previous work. Lewis drew upon his own experience being in a relationship with a meth addict and much of the dialog, notably Denny's monologue on how he became involved with drugs and sex work, came from life. The result is a film that feels intimate and real. My one complaint is that it feels like there is a scene missing between Denny's final angry outburst and Rusty's sending him packing. Rusty's emotional transition feels abrupt and unmotivated. That one flaw should not dissuade anyone from seeing the film.
The Big Gay Sketch Show
(2006–2010)
If you think it's "too gay"...
31 December 2009
...you're simply not paying attention. Yes, many of the sketches center around LGBT topics, which makes perfect sense given that it's the Big GAY Sketch Show airing on a gay television network. But for every two or three sketches that revolve around an LGBT character or situation there is one that has nothing to do with sexuality. Rachael Ray trying to survive on $40 a day in New York, parodies of Star Jones, a raw food cooking show, Barbara Bush on QVC, a "Chicago style" exercise class and so on. And even if the show were 100% gay humor, so what? It's not like there's some mad overflow of gay sketch comedy shows on the air that this is some copycat show.
The show can be hit-and-miss, but when it hits it hits solidly. The Fitzwilliam sketches are consistently hilarious as are the Chicago style sketches, the Maya Angelou reads from craigslist bits, the sitcom parodies and so on. The cast is very talented and routinely deliver good performances. Definitely worth watching more than once.
The show can be hit-and-miss, but when it hits it hits solidly. The Fitzwilliam sketches are consistently hilarious as are the Chicago style sketches, the Maya Angelou reads from craigslist bits, the sitcom parodies and so on. The cast is very talented and routinely deliver good performances. Definitely worth watching more than once.
Stem Cell
(2009)
Another Slagnum Opus from David DeCoteau
11 December 2009
Warning: Spoilers
The quick repetitive cuts, the flashes of the same six half-naked boys in the woods, the fact that it's on here! TV...Oh dear, I recognize that smell. Someone's given David DeCoteau another haystack of cash to set fire to, and with it he has given us "Stem Cell". Playing on the fears of stem cell research that through the GW Bush administration severely retarded that research for almost a decade, DeCoteau tells the story of Rita, a writer on the verge of a nervous breakdown. To get away from it all she travels to a remote mountain resort, where she immediately draws the attention of Ben, the resort manager and the son of the local homeopathic healer and New Age crystal enthusiast, and Pierce, a wealthy doctor who operates a free clinic in exchange for donated samples of stem cells for his research. Rita has visions of sexually ambiguous young men who stand around the woods in their underpants for no reason other than sexually ambiguous young men in underpants is the largest line item in any DeCoteau film budget. So the healer figures out that the source of the problem is angry spirits who...can bite people and infect them with mutated stem cells and kill them dead in seconds. Well that certainly satisfies Occam's Razor. While the healers chants to keep the spirits out of her house (and only her house) Ben, Pierce and Rita wander off to collect a sample of stem cells from the human carrier. Because apparently the healer can chant away the spirits using a sample. Why they don't take the healer along as like a mobile spirit force field is not explained. Anyway, Pierce and Ben get bitten (by GHOSTS) and die and Rita rushes back to find the healer dead. Rita emits a piercing scream and...
IT'S ALL A DREAM! Specifically, some sort of hallucination of Rita's caused either by paranoid schizophrenia or a car crash she was in a while back. Yes, DeCoteau has reached into the same fetid bag of mold-encrusted tricks from which he drew the ending of "House of Usher" and inflicted upon us my personal most-loathed cinematic cop-out. DeCoteau should be embarrassed to tap this well again just a year after Usher, but it's clear from a review of his career that the man has no shame. The film might possibly have been redeemed by a greater amount of male flesh, but the aforementioned sexually ambiguous undies boys appear mostly in rapid-fire cuts and the two hottest guys, the ones playing Ben and Pierce, remain fully clothed at all times. Don't even bother watching this one on fast forward.
IT'S ALL A DREAM! Specifically, some sort of hallucination of Rita's caused either by paranoid schizophrenia or a car crash she was in a while back. Yes, DeCoteau has reached into the same fetid bag of mold-encrusted tricks from which he drew the ending of "House of Usher" and inflicted upon us my personal most-loathed cinematic cop-out. DeCoteau should be embarrassed to tap this well again just a year after Usher, but it's clear from a review of his career that the man has no shame. The film might possibly have been redeemed by a greater amount of male flesh, but the aforementioned sexually ambiguous undies boys appear mostly in rapid-fire cuts and the two hottest guys, the ones playing Ben and Pierce, remain fully clothed at all times. Don't even bother watching this one on fast forward.
Celebrity Poker Showdown
(2003– )
Shuffle up and deal!
12 September 2004
Anyone who watches this show thinking they're going to gain some great insight into playing poker is fooling themselves but from an entertainment standpoint the show is definitely worth the time. It's kind of unfair to slam the celebrities for not being expert poker players (even though several of them, including Mimi Rogers, James Woods and Ben Affleck have moneyed in big name events). Some of them play like boneheads (Bobby Flay, I'm looking at you!) but overall the level of play is at least as good as you'd expect from journeyman-level players. While you won't become an expert player from watching, if you pay attention to what Phil Gordon has to say you will pick up some good tips.
Drift
(I) (2000)
Gayshoman
20 August 2004
What starts out as a fairly straightforward tale of the end of a relationship gets, for no apparent reason, complicated about an hour in by repeated scenes from earlier in the film with twists and variations. First minor changes in wording, then wholesale changes in content, scene construction and even characters. I was reminded of the home video release of "Clue," which separated the three theatrical endings with a title card saying something like "That's one way it could have gone, but what about this?" Except the alternate endings and scenes for "Clue" were entertaining and these changes weren't. The twists and turns were attempts to enliven an otherwise pedestrian faux-"quirky" script (oooh, obsessing about serial killers, how avant-garde!) but it didn't work. Proving that gay indie filmmakers can screw up relationship stories just as badly as straight ones. If you like surreal twists, leave this one on the shelf and rent "The Hanging Garden" instead.
Firefly
(2002–2003)
A great show done wrong by FOX
22 May 2004
Strong writing, engaging characters, terrific acting, "Firefly" had all the ingredients needed for a smash hit series except one; the willingness of a network to support it. From mischaracterising the show in ads to running episodes out of order to stranding the show on Friday nights, FOX may as well have issued a press release saying "we're gonna cancel this one so don't bother."
"Star Trek" was famously described as "Wagon Train to the Stars," but "Firefly" truly blended the genres of the Western and science fiction. Some viewers didn't get the concept that de-centralized colonies would have different levels of technology, criticising the show for using shot guns instead of ray guns. A criticism of the show on that level completely misses the point. If you want bright shiny corridors and ray guns and conventional science fiction then stick with one of the Star Trek series. If you want to be engaged by great stories told with passion and wit then watch "Firefly."
"Star Trek" was famously described as "Wagon Train to the Stars," but "Firefly" truly blended the genres of the Western and science fiction. Some viewers didn't get the concept that de-centralized colonies would have different levels of technology, criticising the show for using shot guns instead of ray guns. A criticism of the show on that level completely misses the point. If you want bright shiny corridors and ray guns and conventional science fiction then stick with one of the Star Trek series. If you want to be engaged by great stories told with passion and wit then watch "Firefly."
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