5.2ÛQ1
FILM
M s ballet-makers, Canfield and Balanchine both stress speed
and athleticism. Both respect the past without repeating it...
And each, in his own way, is distinctly American."
Bob Hicks, The Oregonian
James Canfield, Artistic Director
Richard Ruccolo (left) and Dan Bucatinsky overcome their differences in All Over the Quy
A second chance
October 13-20
presents
Keller Auditorium
call 503/2-BALiET world premiere
or Ticketmaster
Three new gay films hit theaters,
fresh from their festival debut
by
C h r is t o p h e r M c Q u a i n
hile adapting his stage play / Know
You Are, hut What Am l? for the
screen— an effort now manifest as the
film All Over the Guy — writer/star
Dan Bucatinsky had some specific pop culture
predecessors in mind.
“This was a two-character play, and 1
thought, ‘What would this play be like if it
were a movie.7’ ” he tells Just Out. “And it was
very much like When Harry Met Sally.... I
thought that if 1 literally made the same sort of
mainstream romantic comedy but made When
Harry Met Larry... instead, it could he more
contemporary, more relevant, more hip.”
And so, like Sally, the film is a relationship
comedy involving a mismatched couple hap
hazardly thrown together by their misguided
and/or self-serving friends, with comically (and
sometimes not-so-comically) awkward results.
Also like the popular Billy Crystal-Meg Ryan
vehicle, Guy has drawn comparisons to the
neurotic dramedies of Woody Allen, although
even its most serious moments are a few signifi
cant shades lighter than Allen’s angst.
Unlike Harry and Sally or Annie Hall and
Alvie Singer, however, All Over the Guy fea
tures two male leads as the on-again/off-again
couple. (It opens Oct. 5 at Fox Tower Cinemas
after kicking off the Portland Lesbian Gay Bi
Trans Film Festival.)
Eli (Bucatinsky) is an anxious nerd traumat-
ically raised by overly supportive psychothera
pist parents. He collects Planet of the Apes
memorabilia and obsessively cooks eggs when
he’s stressed out.
Tom (Richard Ruccolo) is a strong, silent
type traumatically raised by WASP-y country
club alcoholics. When the couple are set up on
a blind date by Tom’s best friend, Jackie, who
has the hots for Eli’s best friend, Brett, the
results are less disastrous than uncomfortable.
But disaster is just a sexual encounter (and
possible emotional entanglement) away, and
that’s exactly the path fate sets for the hapless
twosome. In fact, most of the film is told in ret
rospect, with Eli relating his sob story to a brassy
receptionist at an ST D clinic, where he’s waiting
for his traditional post-breakup HIV test, and
with Tom, having hit bottom with his drinking
problem, spilling the beans at a 12-step meeting.
Meanwhile, Jackie and Brett are getting
married, and Eli and Tom are both invited.
Could enough champagne and wedding cake
effect a reconciliation?
Bucatinsky downplays the difference in sex
ual orientation that could falsely separate All
Over the Guy from its rightful milieu.
“I felt intrigued and challenged to tell a story
that was like any other romantic comedy—
mainstream hut gay,” he says. “I call it a ‘beside
the point’ movie, because the fact that they’re
gay is really beside the point. This is not a movie
about the plight of the gay man. It’s a movie
about the tortures of blind dates, dealing with
your friends, trying to find someone, not turning
into your parents. We got criticized for not being
‘gay enough’— for not showing enough htxity—-
and we got criticized for being too gay and not
showing enough of the Brett and Jackie relation
ship. The one thing I learned in making this
movie is that you cannot satisfy everybody.”
The film’s jaunty insights into relationships,
although enjoyable enough, are certainly more
typical than Eli and Brett’s close friendship.
Director Julie Davis was initially skeptical that
a straight character could he close to a gay one
without a certain level of discomfort.
So Bucatinsky wrote a scene in which “Eli
and Brett are reaching that divide where they
draw the line. You know, what’s locker room
talk for a couple of buddies where one of them
is gay and one of them is straight? With the
straight guys I know who are friends with gay
guys, there’re no holds barred. They get a kick
out of hearing all about it. But I thought it
would be ton to show Brett drawing the line
and getting squeamish.”
Finally, Bucatinsky hopes the film’s seem
ingly optimistic ending doesn’t detract from its
intended realism.
“ I don’t necessarily see these guys getting
together for the rest o f their lives,” he
admits. "I see them as coming to an agree
ment at the end o f this particular wedding
day, hut as to whether these guys are still
together a month from now? N o idea. And
that’s life! It’s heaven to me when people
say: ‘Finally, this is a movie that’s funny, it’s
about relationships, and they happen to he
gay. It’s not about Ecstasy, and it’s not about
poppers, and it’s not about shirts off in a bar
and raves. It’s about guys, just people.’ If
people are saying that, then I’m saying:
‘G reat! We did it.’ ”