A naked American is found wandering around Canada with Amnesia. James Brighton (Dusan Dukic) has no memory of who he is or how he ended up on the street, but does remember that he’s gay. Taken in by the Montreal gay community, it leads some to wander if he’s for real or it’s all a con.
In I Love You Phillip Morris, Steven Russell (Jim Carey) is a married cop indulging in a closeted gay life. After a nearly deadly accident, he comes out and starts a lavish lifestyle that he supports by being a con man. When caught and jailed, he meets Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor), a gay man in jail for having kept his rental car too long. Love for Phillip sparks one inventive con after another from Steven to let them share a cell on to freeing one or the other of them from prison and creating a lifestyle built on one con after another. Carey and McGregor are great and the movie is based on a real people, Steven who’s still in jail and Phillips who’s been released.
Jeffrey (Steven Weber) is a young gay man living in New York who’s terrified of all the things that can go wrong from having sex. As he makes the decision to just become celibate, he runs into Steve (Michael T. Weiss), who’s pretty much the man of his dreams. All his freinds (and a number of complete strangers) try to convince him that Steve’s the guy for him. Jeffrey starts to weaken, only to discover that Steve is HIV+, pushing his reluctance to get involved to new heights. A bit dated, but worth a look for the dancing cowboy waiters alone. And there’s Patrick Stewart as Steve and Jeffrey’s friend trying to get them together as he deals with his own tragedy and Nathan Lane as a sex obsessed priest taking Jeffrey’s confession.
I’ll Love You Forever. . . Tonight, a black and white film from 1992, follows Ethan (Paul Marius), a photographer, on a get away with his friend Dennis (Jason Adams) to Palm Springs where they meet up with other old and new friends (David Poynter, Roger Shank, Miles Wilshire) for assorted drama and romantic pairings. Probably notable for Thomas Jane in a bit part as a gay hustler.
The new Rob Williams film Role / Play centers around an outed soap opera star and a gay marriage activist. Graham (Steve Callahan) sees his career in ruins after a sex tape showing him with his boyfriend is leaked on the internet. Trey (Matthew Montgomery) is also having press problems when the story gets out that he’s divorcing his husband. The two seek refuge in a small resort where they meet and deal with their situations. David Pevsner is the resort owner and Jim J. Bullock is Graham’s agent. Good movie.
Strapped follows a young hustler (Ben Bonenfant) who finds himself trapped in an apartment building after leaving a trick. While trying to find his way out, he runs into one encounter after another with gay men ready to buy his services all the while adopting new names and personalities to meet the needs of his clients. From coked out queens to closet cases to his final client (Nick Frangione) who shows him the way out.
Blaine (Nicholas Downs) is a struggling writer looking for love and constantly failing largely due to his lack of confidence. He meets Xander (David Loren) online and after a few phone calls thinks he’s found his dream guy. Then panics when he realizes his go-go boy roommate Cameron’s (Adam Huss) online profile was swapped for his when Cameron borrowed his laptop. And the mistakend identity comedy begins with Blaine afraid to fess up, Cameron trying to play along to help, and Xander confused in Is It Just Me. All in all pretty funny.
Cal (Wayne Virgo) is a closeted member of a gang, getting into anonymous online hookups, including school teacher Scott (Garry Summers). His best friend Jonno (Tom Bott) may be a closet case himself, but is dominated by his psycho girlfriend Nessa who runs the gang. When Jonno and Nessa pick on Olivier (Marc Laurent), a random student from France, they see walking along , Cal steps in and saves him only to be targeted by the gang for revenge, which escalates as they realize he’s gay. Cal hooks up with Olivier as the gang continues its pursuit. The two turn to Scott, who just happens to be Olivier’s teacher, when things go bad. A bit on the violent side, and too many coincidental interrelations. Shank.