Back in November, I was approached with an offer to see an independent film called “The Gays,” and review it. I love supporting independent queer producers and film projects, so I said yes enthusiastically. The timing was a bit rough, as we were about to go away on vacation, so we packed the supplied DVD with the intention to watch while relaxing in Fort Lauderdale before going on the Drag Stars at Sea cruise. I’ll be posting a review of the cruise too, by the way. For now, however, here is my review of the film.
I tried to watch the film with a small group of friends, and the overwhelming response, was “please turn it off!” I couldn’t even get through the whole film in one sitting I found it so bad. I did commit to trying to get through the whole thing, although multiple attempts to complete it, haven’t been successful. Every few minutes, I think, why am I wasting any more time on this? Here is a blurb from the film’s PR:
The film is New York City-based T.S. Slaughter’s new gay-themed dark comedy, “The Gays” (USA, 2014, 73 minutes). “The Gays” is T.S.’s second feature film, following his campy horror comedy, Skull & Bones (Ariztical Entertainment, 2009). The tagline of “The Gays” — “The family that gays together, stays together” — sums up Slaughter’s satirical take on television sitcoms and cartoons of past decades based on American nuclear families ranging from the normal to the bizarre. “The Gays” is twisted, irreverent, and raunchy, appealing at once to gay men ages 18-80, young urban hipsters, and fans of edgy indie cinema generally.
Sounds like it could be dynamite with so much potential. Satire, twistedness, raunchiness, and an opportunity to use television and the sitcom narrative as a vehicle for parody. The film simply doesn’t deliver at any of this aside from being vulgar and childish, and not in a good way.
I’ve thought a lot about if my problem with the film was about struggling with raunch, or if it was just lousy raunch. So I revisited some early John Waters’s work. Divine was amazing– just as I remembered her. I recently saw Willam perform, where she gave herself a white wine enema on stage. That was over the top, unexpected, raunchy and unbelievably fantastic. My problem with this film isn’t about raunch. Rather, the lazy effort to do something half-assed and juvenile, while calling it raunch.
The base premise of the film is extremely interesting. I just wonder if it falls so short by going after the easy blatant stuff, and misses creating a film that is both raunchy and at the same time, a film you can’t turn away from.
There are a few glittery gems in the midst of the crap. In a punishment scene, the father orders his son’s sleep over guest to fuck the son in a sling, and the guest asks for lube. Okay, that doesn’t sound as hilarious as I type it, but it was a perfect moment of sanity within insanity that was a priceless joke. Kids say the darnedest things, right?
The acting and the characters as created are really horrific. Take the mother character. The filmmaker needs to really study the characters Divine played. For these types of women to work on film, there must be some element that draws us to them every bit as much as repels us, and none of that exists here. Perhaps a part of the problem is that this film follows many years of some really amazing drag performers as seen on RuPaul’s Drag Race and elsewhere. Even characters like Lady Bunny and Miss Richfield 1984 have changed the face of drag comedy in amazing ways! The bar is set pretty high nowadays. Mix that with stuff like Tosh 2.0, and poor attempts like this film just can’t compete.
Ten years ago, or even five years ago, this film may have “worked” far better. But the world has changed dramatically and the cultural bricolage is not the same. Good comedy transcends time itself, but many jokes just fall flat when taken out of their cultural context. This film sits in that category. Rather than being raunchy and outrageous, it comes across as transphobic and homophobic in a self-hating kind of way. Adept boundary pushers can make that leap without falling into crap. See Joan Rivers.
That said, not all humor or every film is for everyone. Some will laugh at this because they think they are supposed to. Others may be those close-minded gays who find jokes about lesbians smelling like fish to be funny. The reality is, it was never funny, even when it was more socially acceptable to be hateful and sexist.
There is a great need for cultural critique and someone- writer or otherwise- needs to really skewer modern gay male culture. Some are exploring that with film like Jordan Firstman’s “The Disgustings” being a memorable example. But, “The Gays” neither glorifies Fag bizarre overindulgence and self absorption nor adequately indicts it in a way which becomes humorous. It feels locked in an era decades ago while believing itself to be current and relevant. In that regard, it is a bit like Sarah Palin, but even she succeeds better than this film.