Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Know Your LGBT History

Not Another Gay Movie (2006) typifies the saying "you've come a long way, baby."

Another other time in our nation's history, this motion picture would have probably caused huge controversy.

But it went by without a whimper and is actually a cult classic in some circles.

Not Another Gay Movie is an extremely low-brown takeoff of another low-brown comedy (American Pie) which tells the story of four gay teens seeking to lose their "anal virginity."

All of the stereotypes are present - the nerdy guy, the cute jock, the flamboyant queen, and the overly horny guy.

And since it's low-brow there is nudity (a lot of nudity), and toilet humor (the enema scene is one I refuse to describe for you).

So what do I think of this movie?

I liked it. It was hilarious.

Not every lgbt movie has to be serious or have "a message." Nor do lgbt movie characters have to be virtuous . There is nothing wrong with a little crass humor every now and then.

I personally believe that there is a thin line between offensiveness and crass humor and this movie doesn't cross that line.

Barely, that is:

4 comments:

Unknown7:31 PM
Oh my... our opinions couldn't be more different. I wasn't offended by the presentation of the gay characters or anything - although I think an interesting discussion could be based upon whether or not a "gay" movie copying lame gags from a "straight" movie should even be considered a gay movie in the first place.

However, the lack of any other redeeming values (lack of humor or other entertainment value) is why I don't like it.

If I wanted a light frothy comedy minus any serious message I would prefer The Opposite of Sex In and Out Priscilla Queen of the Desert Hedwig and the Angry Inch or well, nearly anything else.
Prospero10:32 PM
The most offensive thing about this movie is how bad it is. I'm all for exposing, exploiting and making fun of stereotypes, as long as it is done so in an actually funny way.

"Another Gay Movie" is just stupid: badly written, poorly acted and without a single shred of anything that approaches funny, it belongs on the list of "Gay Disappointments" rather than "Gay Triumphs."
Donny D.6:48 AM
I agree with everything The Red 9 and Prospero just said, plus the first paragraph of Alvin's review. We HAVE come a long way if gay-themed movies are so common that someone would be able to get something like this made. It reminds me of Bella Abzug's remark about sexual equality being achieved when a female schlemiel, and not just an exceptionally able woman, can rise socially. The movie is the creation of shlemiels, if smirky, faux-clever ones, and is nothing exceptional. Its drab, mediocre ordinariness is the remarkable thing about it as a gay movie.

And don't get me started on how inanely stupid the whole plot was. Four gay highschool boys are close friends, and they wouldn't have put it in each other if they wanted it that bad???
Jarred11:23 AM
In many ways, I liked this movie. I own a copy and I'll still occasionally toss it in the DVD (well, Blu-Ray) player for a quick laugh.

But it wasn't a fantastic movie, and I think they hurt themselves in a lot of ways. For starters, I think they tried too hard to make the "gay version of American Pie." The problem is, they went about it by trying to mimic the same exact gags as were done in "American Pie." (Hello? The scene with the apple pie has been done. Replacing the apple pie with a quiche doesn't suddenly make it a new, equally funny gag.) They would have done so much better if they had come up with more original ideas in the same spirit instead.

Then there's also the fact that it failed to do the one thing that made me love "American Pie" (and loathe most of its sequels): they didn't allow the characters to grow or evolve. What makes "American Pie" so great is that by the end of the movie, (most of) the heroes have come to see their obsession with sex for what it is, to the point where Jim storms away from his friends to go spend time with his band-geek date because "at least she has something else to talk about." I didn't see that kind of growth with the "Another Gay Movie" characters.

Oh, and Donny, I can actually believe that four teenage gay boys wouldn't consider having sex with each other, no matter how sexually frustrated they are. I've seen that sort of thing in real life.

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

Friday, April 29, 2011

Know Your LGBT History - Not Another Gay Movie

4 comments: