The video on demand trend hasn’t hit the world of gay film. If you Google “gay video on demand,” the only thing you get is porn. If you Google “gay video on demand not porn,” the only thing you get is porn. At least the Internet is consistent.
Online streaming seems an ideal place for LGBT films to thrive. There’s a huge audience looking for quality, non-porn content. The offerings on Netflix and Amazon Prime are paltry. Borderline insulting.
Gay porn or “Eating Out 3?”
How many times can one watch the Eating Out comedies and still maintain relative dignity? Has anyone actually made it to the end of one of those 1313 genre trash heaps where guys in their underwear who can’t act give each other sensual massages for no reason in horrible lighting? And what are lesbians to do? Be content with the half dozen pieces of junk thrown their way?
An entertainment landscape dominated by white guys in their early 20s with no body fat and limited body hair? That’s the definition of the gay porn industry. My gay Netflix offerings should be markedly different. I can only watch Weekend and Keep the Lights On so many times.
The market is so saturated with garbage that it’s easy to miss fun movies like G.B.F. The title stands for Gay Best Friend.
G.B.F. premiered on DirectTV last November. It had a video on demand release last month. I caught it during its one-week theatrical engagement in New York and had the entire auditorium to myself. The film deserves better.
G.B.F. features Michael J. Willett (The United States of Tara) as the title gay, with Sasha Pieterse (Pretty Little Liars), Andrea Bowen (Desperate Housewives), and Xosha Roquemore (The Mindy Project) as his cronies. Megan Mullally, Natasha Lyonne, Horatio Sanz, Rebecca Gayheart, and pop singer JoJo make supporting appearances. Darren Stein, the man behind the cult black comedy Jawbreaker, directs.
The cast of “G.B.F.”
Here at Cinephiled, we have an evaluation for gay characters in movies called The Gay Best Friend Test. While it’s pretty much implied that a film sharing that title will pass, it’s still worth a closer examination. So here goes:
THE MOVIE
G.B.F. is a high school satire about Tanner, an unassuming closeted gay teen whose accidental outing catapults him to the top of the school’s social circle. A trio of popular girls compete for Tanner’s affection, each hoping that his fabulous homosexual insights will give them the inside edge on Prom Queen.
THE GAY BEST FRIEND
Tanner is the title Gay Best Friend, a nerdy gay with poor fashion sense. But his best friend is Brent (Paul Iacono), a bitchy clotheshorse who fits the stereotypical Bravo-watching faggot mold. The conflict between their expressions of gayness is exploited for satire throughout the movie.
Michael J. Willett plays Tanner.
IS TANNER INTEGRAL TO THE PLOT?
Yeah. Duh. Look at the title.
DOES TANNER HAVE CHARACTER TRAITS BEYOND HOMOSEXUALITY?
The whole movie is about a group of girls trying to turn homosexuality into his only character trait.
DOES TANNER GET A MAN?
No spoilers here. Although he does miss a chance to hardcore make out with a sexy British college student, which is something he’ll probably regret later. He was sexy! And British!
THOUGHTS
G.B.F. is a movie I probably would’ve watched all the time as a teenager. It’s certainly not perfect, but it does clever things with a lot of high school movie conventions. Everyone on screen looks like they’re having tons of fun and you have it along with them.
HE’S MINE!
The film does a great job of expressing the conflicting realities facing gay teens today. Tanner is outed by a well-meaning straight student who wants the school’s gay-straight alliance to have an actual gay member. While much of the student body is tolerant, Tanner is bullied by jocks and needs popular girl approval for physical protection.
Megan Mullally is terrific as Brent’s mother. She knows her son is gay and is just waiting for him to figure it out. When Brent does come out, there’s a terrific scene where she rents Brokeback Mountain in an attempt to connect with him. In an extended bit of improv whose deleted moments will hopefully show up on the DVD, Mullally gives a play by play of the film’s first sex scene in the tent.
And now, a word on the completely ridiculous R rating G.B.F. received from the MPAA:
G.B.F. is rated R for sexual references. There’s no sex, no nudity, no violence, no f-words, and no more sex talk than dozens of movies about straight teens. It’s the latest debacle in the homophobic MPAA’s disproportionate treatment of LGBT films. G.B.F. is clearly a PG-13 movie, and anybody who thinks otherwise probably voted for Crash to win Best Picture.
Luckily, Netflix, Redbox, Amazon, and iTunes don’t ID teenagers. So the MPAA’s stodgy feelings of discomfort about gay teens kissing don’t matter! G.B.F. hits DVD today. Watch it on whatever platform is most convenient. And while you’re at it, tell Netflix you’re tired of the detritus they call their Gay & Lesbian section. Here’s something they actually recommended I watch:
Spoiler Alert: It’s a terrible movie.
I think not, Netflix. I think not.
For the last installment of The Gay Best Friend Test, please click here.
For more information on the inspiration behind The Gay Best Friend Test, please click here.