The Big Gay Musical is the tale of an off Broadway play “Adam and Steve, Just the Way God Made ‘Em” and the actors who play the lead roles, Paul and Eddie. Paul / Gay Adam (Daniel Robinson) is going through a breakup with his boyfriend and trying to decide between monogamy and being a slut. Eddie / Steve (Joey Dudding) is a virgin looking for his first experience with a man and trying to figure out how to tell his religious parents not only that he’s gay, but the first big play he’s in deals with how God created a new Adam and a male companion Steve after he had to boot the original Adam (Ben Thompson) and Eve (Celina Carvajal) out of Eden. The movie’s great and the musical play it’s centered around is worth seeing on it’s own (check out the DVD extras). Brent Corrigan has a small role as a hustler Paul hires when he gets lonely for companionship.
Dare
Alexa (Emmy Rossum) wants to be an actress, but finds herself paired in the school play with Johnny (Zach Gilford), who’s only taking drama because he was suspended from soccer and has no real interest in the project. Making things worse, a former student, now a well known actor (Alan Cumming), comes to see rehersals and compliments Johnny while telling Alexa she needs to get out and live a bit before she can be a real actess. Alexa sets out to seduce Johnny and then finds that her gay best friend Ben (Ashley Springer) has also seduced Johnny, who seems desperate for any affection he can get. In Dare, the two friends raise the relationship stakes and we find if Johnny can be shared or forced to choose.
More after the jump:
Watch Out
Matt Riddlehoover is the ultra narcissitic Jonathan Barrows in Watch Out. We start with Jonathan’s bizarre teen years and his parents trying to get him to lose his virginity to a woman (while they film it) and we then follow him to a job interview at a community college where he’s trying to get a teaching job he feels is beneath him. His self absorption (he finds only himself to be sexually attractive) leads him further and futher into conflict with an offbeat world in the small town he’s visiting. Eventually, we learn of his more murderous side as he kills off those he sees as having wronged him. Lots of skin from Riddlehoover , but sometimes the narration and pacing made me wish they’d just get on with things. A brief cameo from Peter Stickles as one of a couple Jonathan Barrows meets and offends in the town’s seafood restaurant.
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Y Tu Mama Tambien follows Tenoch (Diego Luna) and Julio (Gael García Bernal) best friends who spend time flirting with an older married woman who ends up calling their bluff to take her to a fabulous beach. A beach neither boy knows how to find. The three take off in a battered old car and miraculously come across a beach that’s close enough. The three develop an offbeat relationship but things come to an end when the guys finally get a little too intimate with one another for their own comfort.
Praxis
Brian (Tom Macy) is a confused young man trying to come to grips with the various aspects of his personality. He interacts with Joe (Andrew Roth) and a mysterious woman who may just be parts of his psyche. Slow in parts, a lot of the over long, lingering scenes could have been cut shorter or done away with. Interesting, but keep the remote with a fast forward button handy. The message of Praxis seems to be “avoid psychopharmacology.” And yes, there are some nude scenes. (Not that anyone cares about that NSFW.)
Lust in the Dust
“Yea, though I walk through the . . . uh . . . shadow of Death Valley.” And so begins the Paul Bartel send up of spaghetti westerns, Lust in the Dust. With Divine as dance hall girl Rosie Velez, Tab Hunter as the mysterious stranger Able Wood, and Lainie Kazan as the local madame Marguerita, a group of oddball characters (including Cesar Romero and Geoffrey Lewis) search for the lost gold of Chili Verde. Well worth watching.
Cage
From 1989 and the discount rack, Cage is the story of Billy (Lou Ferrigno) and Scott (Reb Brown). In Vietnam, Billy saves Scott’s life at the cost of taking a bullet in the head leaving him with a child’s mind in a very big guy’s body. Scott makes it his mission to repay Billy by taking care of him. The two come to the attention of a gambler during a fight at Scott’s bar when they beat up a gang bent on causing trouble. The gambler destroys their lives and manipulates Billy into a death match cage fight where he’s sure the mentally challenged man will beat the champ and provide him a way out of his debts. A fair buddy action flick of sorts with the interesting twist being the mentally challenged Billy, but nothing to go out of your way for other than the muscle men stripped to the waist.
Law of Desire
Antonio Banderas is Antonio Benitez in Law of Desire (La ley del deseo, 1987), a disturbed young man who stalks his favorite film maker Pablo Quintero (Eusebio Poncela). When Antonio’s affections aren’t returned with the fervor he hopes for, he sets out to elminate the competition. We’re treated to a very brief nude, long shot of Banderas, but the film is much more generous with the “charms” of Poncela (NSFW).