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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 2000)
October 20, 2000 • j u s t o u t ,45 Gone to the dogs Join the Club Best in Show wins blue ribbon for first-rate improvlsational comedy by O r ia n a ven though Best in Show has plenty of four- footed friends, the dog stars are curiously devoid of personality, as if the director didn’t want them upstaging his actors. But it’s not about the pets. It’s about the neurotic relationships they must endure with their owners. Now I’ll admit, I found plenty to identify with in this dogumen- tary; I’m one of those childless dykes who dotes on her dog to the nth degree, like all the nut cases in this movie. If you’re not into canines, stay home; cat people won’t get Best in Show. Dog people will relate to it like the doggie dance of joy your pcx)ch does when you return home after an absence of, say, 20 minutes. Plus, how can you tell a story about the dog show world without queens and dykes? You can’t, and they didn’t. Saturday Night Live vet Michael McKean plays Stefan (you just know he came into the world in Columbus, Ohio, as Steve), who owns a twin set of Shih Tzus with his partner, Scott (nailed by John Michael Higgins, who is unrecognizable here from his role as David Lettennan in The Late Shift). Yes, there are plenty of gay stereo types— they’re Kith hairdressers from Tribeca who obsess on their wardrobe and redecorate their hotel nxun—hut none of the humor feels mean-spirited. (Scott worries that six kimonos won’t he enough for their two-day stay in Philly.) Jane Lynch, who looks like Anne Heche on better drugs, does a fine job as Christy, the dykey handler of the reigning queen (dog) of the show, a female stan dard poodle named * Butch. She’s the straight woman (so to speak) to Sheri Ann, an Anna Nicole Smith clone, who owns the poodle. Together they make quite an odd couple who ultimately start a magazine called Ameri - can Bitch for lesbians and their dogs. Hell, I’d hiy itl - • . * , Tfie rest of this great • cast is just iYs funny. Indie fave Parker Posey stands out as a yuppie G Romantic comedy successfully tackles gay male friendship reen gone had who drives her Weimaraner crazy with her smothering attention. As she tells the family shrink, she thinks the dog was trauma tized watching her act out the Kama Sutra with her equally wacko husband. Fred Willard (Martin Mull’s love interest on Roseanne) is a hoot as a kxib of a color commen tator at the dog show. He seems like he wandered in from a recreational vehicle trade show and just sat down and started asking dumb questions. Writer-director Christopher Guest devel oped his mockumentary style with This Is Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman, and fans of those two quirky flicks should appreciate this one, too. He also acts in the film, playing a North Carolina simpleton who carts his blood hound up to the prestigious dog show (loosely modeled after the Westminster Kennel Club show held every winter in New York). His gen uine bond with his big lunk of a dog is the true heart at the center of the film, the one rela tionship that lets you know someone, at least, is doing this because he actually loves his dog. There aren’t a lot of deep thoughts here— all of the dialogue was improvised from a 15- page outline— but there are some priceless moments of inspired comedy. j n O riana G reen is, indeed, the dog-crazy Entertainment Editor of Just Out. She will be bringing her poodle-papillon to work on Halloween in one of her many over-theHop costumes. Write to either of them at oriana@justout.com. ill; spas»«»- W i n t e r 's C o m i n g ! ! Vtj he Broken Hearts Club II is a vivacious movie that stands head and shoulders akive most gay romantic comedies. This isn’t the kind of humor akuit closeted antics causing faux pas reactions nor akuit how silly gay people look in drag. Put simply, it’s a film akuit gay male . *p> .¿*'j friendship. “Can you imagine if they made a film akiut us? A kuit our group of friends?” asks one of the lead characters. The group is a West Holly- wood softball team composed of housemates and co-workers at a gay restaurant. Dennis (Timothy Olyphant) is a pho tographer who is tired of mean ingless trysts and longs for the perfect mate; Cole (ex-Super- man Dean Cain) is the gor geous housemate, a struggling actor who casually loves and leaves a string of men in his wake; Howie (Matt McGrath) is a psych student who’s hung up on his ex hut unable to express his affection; Benji (Zach Braff) is a spiky-haired kid who wants a gym-bunny boyfriend no matter what the cost; Taylor (Billy Porter) is the African American drama queen who comes to live with Dennis after his bragged- ahout long-term relationship ends; and Patrick (Ben Weber) is a less-attractive gay man who is trying not to let bitterness invade his life. The group is kxikended by patriarch/restau- rateur/coach Jack (John Mahoney of Frasier), who’s been gay since time began, and “newbie” Kevin (Andrew Keegan), who is pulled into the group by Cole and Dennis, even though he hasn’t yet admitted he’s gay. This is an ensemble film, and the plot ambles from one character to another, follow ing the changes and growth each makes in his life. Each man is on a path of continued dis covery akuit himself, the humor—anil some * sadness—Comes from the situations in which they find themselves. Openly gay writer/director Greg Berlanti makes his feature film dehut here (he’s been M an g els — '& • X 3 » \ Look, up in the • sky! It’s a bird! It’s a flame! (Actually, it’s Dean Cain.) 4 % hy : m fm • Tax Abatement available Beaverton 18 units, 2 & 3 bdrm, 503.626.0400 4 floor plans to choose from UNINSULA MALTY INC 12300 NE Broadway G3 ,y toiling on the small screen’s Dawson's Creek), and he shows an incredibly deft hand for showcasing humanity. More impor tantly, he makes a film that almost every gay man should he able to identify with. Issues of love, lust, friendship, betrayal, kxly con sciousness, self-worth and more are dealt with in the script, woven in between biting and funny gay banter that sounds like any number o f witty gay conversations I’ve had or heard. Across the kiard, the acting is top-rate. Keegan is wonderfully conflicted as the newbie, and Weber’s Patrick is allowed to be kith unlikahle and the character most men will identify with at the same time. In the same way some African American- themed films are too “urban" for white folks, I have a feeling The Broken Hearts Club might he just too gay for hets, hut that’s a shame, because it is a funny, warm film. j n A ndy M angels is a longtime Portland enterv taimnent writer with three books and hundreds of ccrmic btxtks and magazine articles to his credit. 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