Outrageous! (Canada 1977)

The Gist: 

In late 1970's Toronto, Robin Turner is frustrated with his life and bored with his job as a hairdresser. His best friend Liza moves in with him after she releases herself from a mental institution. As she tries to deal with life outside the institution she encourages him to do what he longs to do, to perform onstage as a female impersonator. 

Comments: 

The movie has an interesting origin, based on "Making It," a short story by Margaret Gibson, which in turn was based on her real life, from when she and Craig Russel were roommates. Craig Russel being the lead actor. In effect he is playing a fictionalized version of himself a few steps removed from his real life as a famous female impersonator known for his skill at 'becoming' famous celebrities such as Tallulah Bankhead, Mae West, and Betty Davis, and singing instead of lip syncing. 

The movie is very "grimy big city dirty" 70's in feel and despite being billed as a comedy, is somewhat dark, perhaps not surprising given the story deals with mental illness, frustrations of life, and is set during winter where everything seems bleak and covered in grey dirty slush. 

The time period makes it pre-AIDS, but despite it's late 70's post Stonewall setting, it is in many ways pre "gay lib" in feel as well, at least in the scenes set in Canada. There seems to be a more active 'gay life' during the New York scenes, but while in Toronto things are more repressed. At one point a character, a hair salon owner, says a line to the effect that he would lose business if the clients knew one of their hairdressers was gay, or even worse a drag queen. A statement that barely makes sense today. 

Despite my repeated description of it seeming a dour story, it is a good movie and an interesting look at life several decades ago and as such shows ways that things have improved or not both for gay life and for people dealing with mental illness. 

Even if none of that sounds interesting to you, if nothing else, it's worth watching for scenes at the end of the movie featuring Craig Russel's act, which is rather fun, though understandably a bit dated in references. 

Women: 

Primarily the roommate, but a few others as well

People of color: 

Not really

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Richard Benner
• Writers: Richard Benner, Margaret Gibson
• Craig Russel, Hollis McLaren
• 96 min
• IMDB

Half a Person (Canada 2007)

The Gist: 

Two young men, best friends since high school, one gay and outgoing, the other straight and somewhat introverted, take a trip to Toronto that will change their lives. 

Comments with one probably obvious spoiler:

A take on the classic road trip movie story where two people take a life changing trip together. In this case a straight introvert (i.e., frustrated with his dead end life) and his outgoing gay best friend (i.e., self absorbed ass). 

Classic set up or not, it seems many folks don't like the movie. Some because they didn't like the acting (I thought the acting was adequate), others because there was no "story" (which I also disagree with, there is a story, just not a very "loud" one). 

It also gets some hate because despite being included in lists of gay movies, it is not. While I'm not sure that alone makes it worthy of hate, it is true that the focus of the story is on the sad straight guy rather than the gay best friend, and as is, gay best friend's being a self-absorbed ass is far more important than his sexual orientation. 

Which is not to say that there is no "gay" happening in the movie. Gay guy has a boyfriend, although he spends most of the movie ignoring him, and depending how you interpret a scene, there may or may not be an implication that the two leads friendship once became physical in high school. But for the most part, the "gay" in the movie is just minor detail in a story of a young man realizing that he has to move on with his life and leave behind his childhood, including his best friend. 

As is clear from my comments, I didn't hate the movie, although while I thought it was fairly well done for what it is, I would only recommend it if you have an extremely high tolerance for 20-something straight white male angst, because that is essentially 99% of the movie. 

Women: 

Two

People of color:

No 

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Adam Santangelo
• Writer: Adam Santangelo
• Actors: Nigel Smith, Micheal Majeski
• 70 min
• IMDB

Date and Switch (U.S. 2014)

The Gist: 

High school seniors and best friends Michael and Matty have the traditional teen sex comedy movie problem, they are "still" virgins. So they decide to deal with it in the traditional movie way and pledge to lose their virginity by prom. Except that they aren't in a traditional teenage sex comedy and things get confusing for Michael when Matty comes out of the closet and life goes off in directions he was not prepared for. 

Comments: 

Looking around online it seems a lot of people didn't like the movie that much, or at least that critics didn't much like it. I on the other hand thought it was a fun goofy twist on a high school based comedy. 

Which is not to say it's a great movie. The jokes don't all work, the story and editing could be tighter, and as is traditional for a high school flick, the leads all seem far too old to play teenagers. Also somewhat distractingly, the actor playing Matty either gained or lost weight during the filming. Given the way movies aren't shot in chronological order, it is noticeable (and amusing) how he occasionally gains or drops a few pounds from scene to scene. 

All this aside, it still ends up being a better example of a high school virgin sex comedy. Not that there's a lot of sex going here, since the whole losing your virginity in time for prom thing is just a loose framework to support the real core of the movie, of learning to grow up and dealing with life changing. 

While I liked it, I'm not sure I'd recommend it, or least not without the caveat that you already be predisposed to liking high school comedies, otherwise the angst filled teens will only annoy rather than amuse.

Women: 

Yes, moms, girlfriends, students, workers,...

People of color:

A few

Gratuitous Nudity:

Very brief booty

• Director: Chris Nelson
• Writer: Alan Yang
• Actors: Nicolas Braun, Hunter Cope
• 91 min
• IMDB

Loose Cannons (Mine Vaganti) (Italy 2010)

The Gist: 

Not wanting to be part of the family pasta business, young Tommaso has figured out a way to be free of family obligations. He will come out to his family during an important business dinner and get disinherited by his homophobic father, allowing him to return to Rome to be with his boyfriend. Just as he is about to do so, he is beaten to the punch by his older brother who comes out instead, giving their father a heart attack and throwing both family and business into turmoil. 

Comments:

This is a beautiful movie. Scenes of Italy, of homes, villas, towns and beaches are all travel brochure gorgeous. It makes you want to visit. 

The people in the movie however aren't quite so picture postcard perfect. Everyone is not merely a character, but a "CHARACTER;" drunkard aunt, diabetic wise grandmother, both of the gay brothers, business associates daughter, you can't swing a cat without hitting someone with both a major character flaw and a hidden past. The grandmother's past making up the "emotional heart" of the story as the movie shows people trying to figure out a way to balance family obligations and self fulfillment/personal happiness. 

On top of this the movie spends far too much time with the parents reacting badly to their son coming out of the closet. At one point a character complaining about the provincial homophobic attitude of the parents, exclaims "It's 2010!"

Meaning that they should get over themselves and be more accepting of their son. The exclamation could apply to the plot line itself. This specific type of coming out story, well-to-do parents more concerned about their social standing and facing fears of embarrassment, has been done over and over again, so that these sections of the movie end up being dull.  

So over all, the movie is mostly good, if flawed and occasionally boring whenever it focuses on the parents. Then again, the beauty of Italy largely makes up for the dull coming out plot. 

Women:

Several

People of color:

Not really, just a couple background extras with no lines

Gratuitous nudity:

No

• Director: Ferzan Ozpetek
• Writer: Ivan Cotroneo, Ferzan Ozpetek
• Actors: Ricardo Scamarcio, Alessandro Preziosi, Ennio Fantichini
• 110 min
• Italian
• IMDB

Shut Up and Kiss Me (U.S. 2010)

The Gist:

Ben wants a relationship. Which leads him through questionable dating services, and questionable help from his friends, until he meets Grey, who may just be Mr. Right. Except that they have a major problem. Protagonist Ben wants a monogamous relationship and and potential boyfriend Grey does not. 

Comments (with a major spoiler because there's no real way to talk about the movie's primary problem without mentioning how it ends. Then again it's a romance dramedy so is the ending really that surprising?):

First off, the movie is not very good. There's lots of low budget problems, from a couple of rooms in a house obviously staged as every setting from gym to restaurant to office, to poor dialogue, to characters disappearing with no explanation, to acting levels that are all over the place from mostly good to outright terrible. All things that can be more or less ignored. What can't be ignored is the ending and how the story runs out of steam and collapses in in itself. 

Monogamy vs nonmonogamy should be an interesting topic for a movie. Creating your own rules by rejecting heteronormative demands for monogamy, or choosing the fulfillment found in remaining faithful to one person. This is more than enough to fuel a story. 

Except that none of this is dealt with in any depth beyond having Grey repeatedly say that nonmonogamy is important to him while never explaining why, and protagonist Ben repeatedly saying that monogamy is important to him while also never explaining why.

The movie goes along as expected, where they break up, but then abruptly ends with them back together again with no real change in the status quo and no explanation of why Ben suddenly decided he was okay with Grey having sex with other men other than just saying that he did. The lack of explanation makes it seem as if the movie is an argument for settling for less than what you want in a relationship. I'm pretty sure that's not what the creators intended, but unfortunately it feels like the skill level was not high enough to do more than that. 

The other movie I've seen writer/actor Ronnie Kerr in, Saltwater, is more or less the same basic story with the same problem. Two men, apparently perfect for each other, have one irresolvable issue that they can't work out that prevents them from being boyfriends. Except that they do suddenly get together at the end of the movie with seconds to spare, not by showing them dealing with the problem, but rather only with a quick line of dialogue just saying that they did. 

I like Ronnie Kerr as an actor, and he does "regular gay guy" well enough, but so far the movies I've seen him in are kind of bad. 

Women: 

Friends 

People of color: 

One sassy employee 

Gratuitous nudity:

Yes

• Director: Devin Hamilton
• Writer: Ronnie Kerr
• Actors: Ronnie Kerr, Scott Gabelein
• 787 min
• IMDB