42 JUStjOUt
APRIL 21. 2006
film
The Perfect Storm?
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Kinky Boots
Summer Storm
Opening April 28, the new
British comedy Kinky Boots
Tobi (Robert Stadlober) pins the object of his affection, Achim
desperately wants to take you for
(Kostja Ullmann), in Summer Storm.
a walk on the wild side. But
“positive” ones. The writer/director/star went on to
these bixits are not made for walking. Well, rfot to
posit that his new gay romantic comedy was an
anyplace interesting, anyway.
attempt to remedy this allegedly unbalanced state
Granted, there’s some fun cross-dressing action
of affairs. (He somehow must have missed Jeffrey,
in a queer cabaret and on a fashion runway, and
Trick,’ The Broken Hearts Club, Gypsy Boys, etc.,
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things) delivers a
etc.) And then rhe lights went down.
playful and soulful performance as a drag queen
Chester plays Adam, a lonely ex-Goth and
named Lola. But these gixxJ bits are squandered by
present-day Central Park bird-watching tour guide
a script that lacks rhe wit and insight that made
approaching middle age alone. Gay actor Malcolm
drag queen classics like Torch Song Trilogy and Some
Gets (Caroline in the City) is Steve, a lonely, in
Like It Hot so memorable.
securely promiscuous ex-modem dancer and present-
In the tradition of The Full Monty and Calendar
day successful psychologist. In the late 1980s, Adam
Girls, this is a story about quaint British folk who
and Steve had a horrendously aborted one-night
go out on a naughty limb to make money. Like
stand involving cocaine cut with baby laxative.
Calendar Girls, it’s based on real events.
Seven years later, xhey meet and, without rec
Charlie Price (Jixel Edgerton) is an emotionally
ognizing each other, fall in love. When the reality
reserved young man who plans to move to London
finally dawns on them, it’s enough to threaten their
with his fiancée. His father dies, however, leaving
burgeoning romance. In a dovetailing dysfunction
him in charge of a struggling shoe factory in a drab
al heterosexual storyline, Rhonda (Parker Posey),
industrial town. The dismal situation starts looking
up when Charlie meets a sassy
drag queen (Ejiofor) who inspires
him to manufacture outrageous
stiletto-heeled Ixxits that are
strong enough to supporibig and
brawny male transvestites. This
just might be the niche market
that will save the factory.
Much of rhe predictable plot
centers on the conflict between
Lola and Charlie, who’s embar
rassed to be seen in public with
a drag queen. Charlie is a well-
mannered and generally kind
bloke, but like some of his pig
Craig Chester (left, with Malcolm Gets) wrote, directed and stars
in the gay rom-com Adam ft Steve.
gish male employees he believes
that one can’t possibly be a real
Adam’s aspiring-comedian best friend, and
man and dress in a frock at the same time.
Michael (Chris Kattan), Steve’s obnoxious
A series of interminable and awkwardly staged
straight-dude roommate, are reluctantly drawn
scenes proves—surprise, surprise—that Lola has
attracted.
more masculinity in her heavily glossed lips than
Many things in Adam & Steve should work:
Charlie has in his whole uptight body.
Movies about transvestite footwear don’t strut
The actors are appealing, and the flashbacks to
our way every day. It’s a shame that director Julian
Chester and the always-game Posey (in a fat suit)
in their Goth heyday has hysterical potential, as
Jarrold and company couldn’t find a way to convert
this bizarre and endearing does the graphically scatological, John Waters-like
premise into a rollicking gixxl
sex-gone-wrong scene. But the film suffers badly
time.
from a desultory amateurishness. It’s all anxiety
—SB
inducing dead air and clumsy, awkward dialogue.
Energy is what activates the charm of unskillful
Adam & Steve
execution, and Adam & Steve all too readily
Craig Chester, an actor
succumbs to its own torpor.
once associated with the New
Chester’s film is hardly addressing any dearth of
■ ; Ji
Queer Cinema of the 1990s
diverse, interesting, excellent queer film. Ponder
(he had big parts in Swooa and
for a moment how uniquely, refreshingly queer
Frisk and a small one in I Shot
positive or queer-centric some of the best post
Andy Warhol), discussed Adam
millennial films—from 8 Women to I’m the One
& Steve at its 2005 Seattle
That I Want to Far from Heaven to Bad Education to
International Film Festival
Heights to Mulholland Dr.— have been. In the
screening, claiming there have
context of that embarrassment of cinematic riches,
been too many “heavy” gay
Adam & Steve is merely an embarrassment.
Kinky Boots is the true story of a sassy drag queen who rescues a
—Christopher McQuoin ©
movies and not enough
struggling shoe factory from financial ruin.
Summer camp movies can he lots of fun, hut
excellence is rarely one of their properties.
Who can forget Bill Murray’s “It just doesn’t
matter" rant in Meatballs, or Tatum O’Neal and
Kristy McNichol’s race to lose their virginity in
Little Darlings? Not to mention rhe Camp Crystal
Lake carnage in the Friday the 13th series.
But let's face it: These flicks would he lucky to
get half of a star in a reputable film guide.
Opening April 21 at Hollywood Theatre, the
gay German film Summer Storm is tar better than
the aforementioned treasures, hut it still proves
that summer camp movies are a breeding ground
for hackneyed storylines and mediocre acting. It’s
the perfect film for teen-age queers who are so busy
defining their sexual identities that they don’t have
time to he critical of second-rate filmmaking. More
seasoned viewers will probably find the proceed
ings entertaining but unenlightening.
At least wnter/director Marco Kreuzpaintner
indulges the prurient interests of gay viewers with
some fairly explicit intimate moments, including a
meeting of the groins that takes place between two
beautiful naked teen-age boys on a raft.
The film opens as two close friends named Tobi
(Robert Stadlober) and Achim (Kostja Ullmann)
prepare to leave for rowing camp. Tobi has a huge
crush on Achim and is encouraged when they jerk
off together after some arousing wrestling antics.
Still, Achim is hot for his girlfriend, which is bad
news because she’s coming to camp, too.
At camp Tobi attempts to get it on with his
girlfriend, but he’s increasingly distracted by
Achim and by a team of gay rowers called the
Queerstrokes. In the tradition of every gay coming-
of-age film ever made, Tobi must decide if he’s
going to hide his sexuality or be true to himself and
come out of the closet.
It might be cliched, but most of Summer Storm
rings true. A few scenes, however, send a totally
unrealistic message to young viewers. When
Achim begins to fight off Tobi’s advances, Tobi
instantly finds himself in the arms of a hot stud
that comes to his rescue. It’s a ridiculous fantasy
that suggests Tobi doesn’t need any time to recov
er from that wrecking ball known as unrequited
love.
—Stephen Blair
1 E