GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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Mr. Right Wolfe Video, Directors: Starring: Unrated 95 minutes |
The
Kids Are Alright
Mr. Right (2009) is a mixed, but mostly charming, British import about a group of gay pals, their lady friend, and the problems each faces in their relationships. Fade in on Louise (Georgia Zaris), who is telling her computer dating service that the man they found for her, Paul (Jeremy Edwards), was perfect in every way except that he wasn't straight. |
 Louise's
warning not to let your beau meet your gay friends segues into an introduction
of the cast. Her best friend, Alex (Luke de Woolfson) works for a catering
company and aspires to be an actor. He lives with Harry (James Lance), a
television producer for a Trading Spaces-styled home improvement
show, and they just celebrated their first anniversary. Tom (David Morris)
is a rich and respected artist with everything including a kept man. His
hunky boyfriend, Lars (Benjamin Hart) is in it for the money and openly
whores around. William (Rocky Marshall) is a former rugby star who deals
in antiques. He is dating Lawrence (Leon Ockenden), an actor who plays a
nurse on a popular television medical drama. |
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 The
film's centerpiece is an expertly executed dinner party sequence in which
everyone's relationships implode. Louise shows up first with Paul, and tells
the hosts that Paul has "never met gay people before and he's fascinated."
William and Lawrence arrive, and it turns out that Lawrence used to date
Alex's ex. The awkward silences after Alex and Lawrence snipe at each other
are priceless. Lars flirts with both Harry and Lawrence, and it isn't long
before the tensions between everyone comes to a boil. Soon there is vitriol
like you haven't seen since The
Boys In The Band. "That dinner!" Paul says to Louise later in bed,
"People would pay to see that on stage." |
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 There
is much of interest in Mr. Right,
but first time directors, David and his sister Jacqui Morris, make a lot
of wrong storytelling decisions. Much of it is told using too much cinematic
shorthand. The exposition scenes fly by too fast for the audience to truly
get to know the characters. Having someone ask William "How's George?" when
we haven't yet met Georgina is just confusing; it made me think that Lawrence's
name was George. Louise's narration, which seemed to establish her as the
main character, disappears five minutes into the film and she becomes a
minor figure. There are also way too many musical interludes, and many scenes
that were worth developing are reduced to wordless clips in the accompanying
montages. The film begins to hit its stride at the party, however, and the
last act (aside from a few more intrusions by melodious montages) becomes
quite compelling. In fact, the film ends just as it is really getting
interesting. |
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 Much
of Mr. Right is quite funny.
There is a running gag, which ties in with the opening sequence, wherein
Louise keeps seeing signs that her perfect hunky boyfriend might really
be gay. Despite his bedroom screaming "straight" with trophies,
sports posters and a huge fraternity banner over the bed, her suspicions
grow when she sees that he also keeps scented candles. The day to day production
woes of Harry's television show add a lot of comic fodder, as does young
Georgina's pranks and her morbid fascination with historical figures who
were executed. I also liked when Tom explained to an art dealer how he used
Pointilism and all the colors of the rainbow in his painting of daVinci.
There is also a hilarious bit where Alex finally lands a starring role in
a one man stage play about the conroversial 18th century scholar, Thomas
Robert Malthus. Alex has no idea that Malthus once proposed sterilizing
the poor to control population and is stunned when his show is picketed
nightly, as being a fascist play, by anti-Nazi groups. |
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 Refreshingly,
everyone is out of the closet and there are no coming out crises plaguing
the cast (except maybe for Paul). There is humorous early scene where Harry
and Alex have an awkward dinner with Harry's mother. She has no problems
with her son being "that way," she just doesn't like her son's
choice of partner. He could have had Tom or William. And what is
it you do again? Overplaying the part of the disappointed mother,
she couldn't possibly be more condenscending. William is having way more
difficulties being a single parent than he is with his sexuality. Georgina
isn't troubled by her father being gay; she even beats up a boy at the playground
for calling her Dad a fag. She is, like any child probably would be, scared
of her parent dating. There is a beautiful scene where William assures his
daughter that she is the most important thing in his life, while trying
to explain that adults sometimes get lonely. His relationship with Lawrence
suffers in the process and this is the film's most compelling story arc. |
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 For
a film of this nature, there isn't much sex on display and, for a change,
the movie is not beefcake-driven. The cast is attractive and likable and
everyone does a fine job with the material. Unlike some Brit flicks, this
one doesn't need subtitles. And even though I griped about all the musical
interludes, I will concede that most of the music choices are unusual and
definitely not the usual bouncy club tunes. This is a very intelligent film
that, with a trip back to the ediiting room and some tweaking, could have
been a small masterpiece. Even so, Mr. Right
is mostly satisfying and would make a good date movie. |
William
has a 9 year old daughter, Georgina (Maddie Planer), from a short-lived
marriage. He has custody because her mother was killed in a car crash
two years earlier. Georgina is needy, afraid of losing another parent,
and is jealous of her father's new boyfriend. Alex is an eternal optimist
who comically tries to spin all of his acting failures into positives.
Lars has eyes for Harry - who notices but tries not to flirt back. At
Tom's request, Harry hires Lars as a carpenter on his television show
and there is almost immediate sexual tension.