G&L Comedy

Screenwriter Don Roos made his directorial debut with this oddball sex comedy. The tale is narrated by 16-year-old Louisiana tramp Dedee Truitt (Christina Ricci), who buries her stepfather and then heads for Indiana to visit her homosexual half-brother Bill (Martin Donovan). Recovering from the AIDS death of longtime companion Tom, schoolteacher Bill has linked up with a new partner, handsome Matt (Ivan Sergei). After Dedee seduces Matt and claims she's pregnant by him, the couple steals $10,000 from Bill's safety deposit box and heads for L.A. Alarmed by Matt's seeming disappearance and hoping to blackmail Bill into disclosing Matt's whereabouts, Bill's former student (also Matt's former beau) Jason (Johnny Galecki) accuses Bill of molestation four years previous, a charge that jeopardizes Bill's job as a schoolteacher. To clear his name, Bill, and Tom's sister Lucia (Lisa Kudrow), leave for L.A. to locate Matt and Dedee. Lucia is a repressed old maid who flinches from even the thought of sex, but even so, weird Sheriff Tippett (Lyle Lovett) takes a fancy to her. Meanwhile, questions are raised about the true father of Dedee's baby, and the film comes to a climax with a shooting, a cross-county chase, and the inevitable showdown between the quirky characters. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Two murderous drag queens whose lives are a blood-spattered blur of drugs and death embark on a violent rampage of stoned-out destruction in this tripped-out homage to the sleazy exploitations flicks of the 1970s. Ginger (Alexis Arquette) and Coco (Omar Alexis) are two psychotic transvestites who kill for money and pleasure. When their obsession with murder and insatiable appetite for drugs clash in a psychedelic frenzy of bullets and blades, Ginger and Coco begin a harrowing descent into madness from which death is the only escape. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

"Sibling rivalry" takes on a whole new meaning in this offbeat comedy from first-time writer and director Sue Kramer. Sam (Tom Cavanagh) and his sister, Gray (Heather Graham), are siblings who share a passionate interest in the music and styles of the 1940s, especially movie musicals of the era, and they've earned a powerful reputation on the ballroom-dancing circuit as gifted hoofers with both talent and flair. Sam and Gray cross paths with Charlie (Bridget Moynahan), an attractive woman who shares their enthusiasm for old movies and retro styles, and is a fine dancer to boot. To the surprise of no one, Sam falls head over heels for Charlie, but so does Gray, which comes as a shock to nearly everyone, including Gray, who has never betrayed an attraction to women before. Charlie, however, naïvely fails to acknowledge the depth of Gray's feelings for her as a romantic triangle forms between Charlie and the siblings. Gray Matters also features supporting performances from Sissy Spacek as an analyst, Molly Shannon as one of Gray's co-workers, and Alan Cumming as a taxi driver. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Filmmaker Angela Robinson writes and directs the action comedy D.E.B.S., a feature-length adaptation of her award-winning short film produced by a grant from POWER UP (Professional Organization of Women in Entertainment Reaching Up). This 90-minute spy parody involves a secret crime-fighting unit made up of sexy schoolgirls Amy (Sara Foster), Dominique (Devon Aoki), Janet (Jill Ritchie), and Max (Meagan Good). A government agency recruited them for the team based on their standardized test scores, which assumed a propensity for lying and thieving. Their assignment is to take down major villain Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster). As it turns out, all she really wants to have an illicit affair with D.E.B.S. leader Amy. Michael Clarke Duncan plays the president of D.E.B.S. Academy. D.E.B.S. was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

This gay culture variation on the old theme of plucky kids looking for fame and fortune in the Big City concerns three recent college grads trying to make a name for themselves in Manhattan. Marc (Michael Shawn Lucas) is an aspiring actor who works a day job taking phone orders for tickets to the shows he wishes he was in. He shares an apartment in Greenwich Village with Cynthia (Mara Hobel), who wants to work for Vanity Fair and keeps leaving phone messages for Tina Brown that, to the surprise of Cynthia and no one else, never get returned. In the meantime, Cynthia supports herself with the help of her father's charge card. Robert (Aaron Williams) is another struggling actor who also dreams of getting a break as a writer and composer of Broadway musicals. He is also in love with Marc, but the rather ordinary-looking Robert doesn't meet the standards of hunky Marc, who is looking for a perfect 10. Marc thinks he might have found his dream man in the person of David (Hugh Panaro), until he discovers that David is not all he seems to be. Fans of high camp please note: one of Mara Hobel's more notable previous credits was playing the young Christina Crawford in the film version of Mommie Dearest. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this gay comedy, filmmaker Wally White assumes the lead role. He frequently pauses throughout the film to address the audience directly. Most of the film chronicles the protagonist Tommie's summer romance. He was in Provincetown on vacation and looking for a little fun. He needs to find a place to stay and a job. He attempts to work as a houseboy but gets few takers. He does however, find lots of casual sex. He is devastated when his favorite dream guy dumps him after a one-night-stand. This does not keep Tommie from wanting to go back and try again next year. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Brian Shepp directs this comedy about love and hedonism in San Francisco's Castro district. Focusing on the lives of a bunch of ruggedly handsome men, the film depicts a trio of guys who long for domestic bliss. They are, of course, dating men who prefer more casual and varied associations. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Tommy O'Haver wrote and directed this gay lifestyle comedy about aspiring photographer Billy (Sean P. Hayes) who encounters rocky romantic roads intersecting among an assortment of Los Angelenos -- handsome Fernando (Armando Valdes-Kennedy), who has a steady boyfriend; blond waiter Gabriel (Brad Rowe), who has a San Francisco girlfriend; Billy's roommate Georgiana (Meredith Scott Lynn); and pal Perry (Richard Ganoung). Entranced by Gabriel, Billy takes him on as a model and introduces him at gallery openings and parties, only to see Gabriel leave for better modeling assignments with well-known fashion photographer Rex Webster (Paul Bartel). Fantasy sequences parody Vertigo, '30s musicals, and From Here to Eternity. Shown at 1998 film festivals, including Berlin and Sundance. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Dutch filmmaker Paula van der Oest spins this frothy comedy about the ends to which three sisters would go to keep possession of the family's summer home in Portugal. When their 32-year-old brother, Nino, announces his engagement with his younger girlfriend, Bo, his three siblings react not with congratulatory happiness but with shocked indignation instead. For one thing, Nino was gay for most of his teens and twenties; and another, if he gets married then he inherits the summer villa. The three sisters are united by two traits: they each have vivid interior fantasy worlds -- often involving having sex with the other's husbands -- and they each dream of retiring to Portugal. Starving artist Wanda wants to open a gallery there, while writer Sonja dreams of living there with her husband. Michelle, the eldest, wants to flee her hectic domestic life as a housewife and mother to open a home for war orphans. Together, they cheerfully connive to undermine the engagement, as Bo invites them to Portugal to help plan the wedding. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Director Mike Nichols teams up with his former partner/screenwriter Elaine May for the first time in many years and for the first time together in films to create this sophisticated, remake of the phenomenally popular French musical farce La Cage aux Folles that stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman and Diane Wiest as two dramatically disparate couples who manage to reconcile their vast differences for the sake of their children who are getting married. Williams plays Armand Goldman, the owner of a popular South Beach drag club known for putting on elaborate showcases starring his long-time lover/wife Albert (Lane) who appears as "Starina." Lately poor flamboyant, flighty Albert has been in crisis over the inexorable onset of middle age. He has been moody, paranoid and unbearably. When he gets too inconsolably distraught, handsome but clumsy houseboy Agador quietly slips Albert "Pirin" tablets (which he explains to Armand are simply Aspirin tablets with the "as" scraped off). Still though Albert can be a royal pain, Armand dearly loves him and the two live happily in their splendiferous apartment above the club. One day Armand's son Val (the result of Armand's single foray into straight sex) comes visiting with joyous news: he has found his dreamgirl and is getting married. The only trouble is, Barbara Keeley's father is the blustery ultra-religious right-wing Senator Keeley (Hackman), the founder of the Coalition for Moral Order. Senator Keeley and his colleagues are not as upright as they seem and when his closest associate is found dead beside a black, underage prostitute, Keeley finds his house surrounded by ravenous newshounds, hungry for dirt. Knowing that they are poised to ruin him, Keeley and his proper but slightly addled-wife (Wiest) decide that a big, elaborate, church wedding will be just the ticket to save his reputation. Barbara has neglected to tell them that Val's parents are gay, preferring to claim that they are members of the South Beach social elite. In a panic, she panics and calls Val who breaks the bad news to Armand and begs him to make the apartment less flamboyant and worst of all to hide Albert (who functioned as Val's mother while the youth grew up) during the visit. Armand is angry, but loving his son, finally, reluctantly agrees, knowing that he will deeply wound his companion. Unfortunately, Albert finds out and as a compromise tries to learn how to be macho so he can pretend to be Val's uncle, he is too much the Great Dame to ever pass as one of the guys and so is banned from the party. Armand then locates Catherine and asks her to masquerade as his wife. She agrees to show up later that evening. Meanwhile their friends busily redecorate the apartment until it looks as if it were done in "Early Inquisition." During the fateful dinner party, Catherine is late and Albert gets uproarious revenge. Achingly comic chaos ensues as Armand tries to hold the increasingly tenuous evening together while outside the newshounds bay and threaten to make even more trouble for Senator Keely. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Menage begins as a comedy of sorts, but be warned: it develops into a very dark, very confusing probe into the seamier aspects of Parisian life. Gerard Depardieu plays a crude but charismatic thief, whose own gayness does not prevent his commiserating with those of the opposite sex. Miou-Miou and Michel Blanc are young, impoverished lovers who fall under Depardieu's influence. He gains their confidence by introducing them to kinky sex, then sucks them into a vortex of crime. Director Bertrand Blier, who in most of his films has explored the awesome power (rather than pleasure) of sex, nearly outdoes himself in Menage (aka Tenue de Soiree). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this gangster farce from first-time writer/director Ky Mo Lab, a pair of Irish pals become embroiled in a murder mystery upon their move to London. When Kenny (Glen Mulhern) arrives in the big city, he's dismayed to find his mate, Byron (Brendan Mackey), on the dole and boozing it up. But he's even more horrified to learn how Byron supplements his dole checks: by working as a rent boy in a gay pub. Despite his trepidation, Kenny soon embarks on a parallel career. But when a rich couple named The Queen (Michael Praed) and Golders Green (Simon Godley) turn up dead, Kenny and Byron think they've found the solution to their financial woes. Rumor has it that Golders Green kept a wad of cash squirreled away in his mattress. Unfortunately, several other colorful low-lives have their eyes on the prize, from The Desperate Dwarf (Raymond Griffiths) to The Iron Lady (Karen Sharman). As the queer corpses continue to pile up, Kenny and Byron wonder whether they'll ever locate the loot -- and whether their newfound occupation has deeper implications. Screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival, Nine Dead Gay Guys marked the feature debut for both Mulhern and Mackey. The character Golders Green is named after the neighborhood where he lives, a historically Jewish area of London. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

What happens when a man looking for the perfect body finds that he loves someone for his mind? Christopher (John-Michael Lander) is a gay lawyer who's young, good-looking, successful, and happily out of the closet. However, he's not good with long-term relationships: he tends to be more attracted to men with good looks rather than substance, and he hops from one relationship to another with little thought of a lasting love affair. One evening, Christopher meets Stewart (David Vincent) at a party, and to his surprise he's very much attracted. Stewart is a book editor who's witty, intelligent, and soft-spoken; he's also a bit overweight and no pin-up boy. But when Christopher asks him out, he's amazed to discover that Stewart turns him down; it seems that Stewart is looking for someone sincere, and Christopher hardly seems to qualify. In time, though, Christopher convinces Stewart to give him a chance, and they become involved. However, old habits die hard, and Christopher manages to put a stake through the heart of their romance thanks to a one-night-stand with Stewart's hunky roommate. All the Rage was produced, written, directed and scored by Roland Tec, who adapted the script from his play A Better Boy. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi