Can't Stop The Music (U.S. 1980)

The Gist:

Heterosexual songwriter Jack (Steve Guttenberg) needs to put together a band to showcase his music. His heterosexual female roommate, former supermodel Samantha (Valerie Perrine) decides to help. Newly arrived in New York, heterosexual lawyer Ron (Bruce Jenner), wanting to woo Samantha, helps as well. Together they gather a group of eclectic heterosexual men and form the famous heterosexual disco music singing group, the Village People.

Comments: 

The movie is a very campy musical made during that brief time in 1980 when people thought the 80's would be 70's sexual liberation continued to a disco beat, not realizing everything was about to change. The story is dumb/silly, the acting ranges from bad to worse, it's all manner of terrible. So terrible that it swings into fun to watch territory.  

One of the things I find interesting about it is that everyone in it is straight. Well, maybe not the Leather Man, but ostensively all the other men are intended to be hetero. Quite a feat, considering the movie is about the Village People (although in truth they are only minor characters in their own movie). 

Despite doing things like writing hit disco songs about the YMCA, being utterly uninterested in his supermodel best friend, or any woman at all, other than his mother that is, Jack has a line about chasing stewardesses, proving he is straight. The "Construction Worker" dreams of fame and women (abet in a musical dream sequence). The "Indian," who spends his time half naked, "gets it on" with Samantha's female best friend. Heck, the main focus of the movie is the hetero romance between Ron and Samantha. 

People sing, they dance, they hang out nude in the hot tub of the YMCA, and yet they are all straight. Which oddly enough, makes everything even gayer, because this is the freaking Village People after all, who are so uber-gay that they negate all attempts at heteronormalizing all characters present.

Despite the throw away lines and plot points assuring the audience that all the male characters are safely straight, they all end up feeling like they're one day shy of coming out of the closet. Had there been a sequel it would have featured Jack, his boyfriend, and the now divorced Samantha attending the wedding of her ex-husband Bruce Jenner and the Leather Man (who was impossible to stuff into the closet in the first place).

It's a silly movie with outlandish numbers, a few Village People songs, and worth a watch if you like bad campy movies. 

Women:

Yes.

People of color:

Yes.

Gratuitous nudity:

Technically yes. During the YMCA routine there's brief flashes of naughty bits.

• Director: Nancy Walker
• Writers: Bronte Woodard, Allan Carr
• Actors: Valerie Perrine, Bruce Jenner, Steve Guttenberg, and assorted Village People: Ray Simpson, David Hodo, Felipe Rose, Randy Jones, Glenn Hughes, Alex Briley
• 124 min
• IMDB

Fruit fly (U.S. 2009)

The Gist:

Bethesda, a performance artist, moves to San Francisco for a six month stay to work on her next piece, a variant of the work she habitually returns to, her desire to find her biological mother. While in the city she makes a new family of friends, and in getting a new gay best friend, gains the label "fag hag" much to her initial annoyance. Also, being a musical, people sing and perform as the city is filled with the lights and tinny sounds of 6 bit games. 

Comments:

From an interview I read, the story goes that while promoting an earlier film they'd worked on, whenever H.P. Mendoza (Writer/Director) and L.A. Renigen (Bethesda)  'hit' a LGBT festival, men would automatically assume that she was a fag hag. This oddity prompted an idea that turned into Fruit Fly. 

It's not your standard musical. Many scenes were filmed in gorilla style, that is, on public streets and locations on the sly without permits. People sing about public transportation, teenage angst, hooking up, and 'workshop-ing' their lives to tunes intentionally reminiscent of old video games. Instead of grandiose story of large massive events with a definitive dramatic conclusion, this is more of a character piece where life happens.

From what I remember, (professional) reviews tended to be mixed, but personally I really like it. The movie is fun and filled with energy and light, and features people who (in gender, race, age, and sexuality) would normally be ignored in most movies. 

Regardless of my opinion, if the inherent goofiness of people breaking out into song is off putting to you, or alternatively, if you are a strong musical fan who can't stand when actors don't have strong voices, then it wouldn't be worth watching. 

On the other hand, if quirky oddball movies with a strong sense of style and place are your kind of thing, then it's worth a watch. 

Women:

Many 

People of color:

Many 

Gratuitous nudity:

Nope

• Director: H.P. Mendoza
• Writer: H.P. Mendoza
• Actors: L.A. Renigen, Mike Curtis, Theresa Navarro, E.S. Park, H.P. Mendoza
• 94 min
• Musical
• IMDB