Wes Smoot 9/29/22 Wes Smoot 9/29/22

FILM REVIEW: BROS

When Hairy Met Slutty: The unlikely romance of BROS is its blindspot, but the jokes come fast and furious

by Arnold Wayne Jones

Sometimes, the aggressive marketing of a project can actually undermine our confidence in it.

Take Bros. When we first saw the trailer? Pure delight. But in the intervening months, we’ve been inundated by a a chorus reminding us that this is the first mainstream/sex-positive/big-budget/alphabet-inclusive/majority gay cast/R-rated/Hollywood studio-backed/wide-release/yadda yadda/adult gay rom-com EVER!!!! Subtext: It doesn’t matter if it’s good – it’s important. You do want to encourage gay cinema, don’t you? You’re expected to see it, to say you like it, and bring your friends to see it again… all in solidarity. Being entertaining almost seems incidental to our supporting it. And how can we really know if it’s any good, if the messaging is so unrelentingly politicized?

So I was more than a little relieved when I ended up genuinely enjoying Bros as much as a I did. Important? Meh. It’s not the 1990s anymore; we are not starved for gay stories –any gay stories – that we will hungrily pretend to like dreck just so that we don’t have withdrawl. We’re post-Brokeback, post-Moonlight, post-Will & Grace. Even straight rom-coms find avenues of gay outreach. The bar has been raised. And for the most part, Bros sails over the bar like an Olympic pole-vaulter.

The premise is pretty standard in a heteronormative-cliche kinda way: Bobby (Billy Eichner) and Aaron (Luke Macfarlane) are two strands in the late-Gen-X DNA of gay dudes: Both excrutiatingly single to the point of relationship-phobic, but with very different vibes: Bobby is the cynic who thinks marriage is actually some kind of punishment for straight folks and gays should embrace their outsider status; Aaron is the meaningless-hookup gym-rat whose serial anti-monogamy gets him laid without commitment.

Yet both are also walking contradictions: For all his disparagement of mainstream culture, Bobby – an erstwhile podcaster now tasked with running a yet-to-open gay history museum – is filled with righteous anger that gay stories haven’t been drilled into the culture like Washington chopping down a cherry tree or Betsy Ross sewing the flag. He’s determined that the museum will not be fun, but confrontational to the point of chastising. In the words of Sally Field, he wants you to like him, to really like him … and what he represents, which is kind of pill-ish. Aaron, on the other hand, has a sensitive side that isn’t served by the soullessness of Grindr dates. He’s a dull estate lawyer who dreams of something more satisfying; even his ripped body isn’t enough.

The men more-or-less quickly meet up with the agreement that neither, heaven forbid, wants a relationship. It’s When Hairy Met Slutty. But because it is a rom-com, can there be any doubt where they will eventually end up?

The most convincing thread of the plot is the “com” side: The script, co-written by director Nicholas Stoller and Eichner himself, is dense with smart, and smart-alecky, one-liners. Many of the characters, even the small ones or walk-ons by the likes of Debra Messing, are sharply drawn and get their share of zingers. And even when the jokes thin out, the wise observations of gay culture are handled perfectly (for instance, when friends announce they are in a trouple, it’s played less as scandalous than as a lot of work; at the end, the three are still together, without judgment).

It’s the rom that could have used a little tweaking. A downside of the screenplay is something that often arises when the writer is also the star: A tendency to make his character “right.” A major conflict is Aaron asking Bobby to “tone down” his excessive Bobby-ness when they hang out at Christmas with Aaron’s family. Rather than comply, Bobby intentionally antagonizes them until Aaron snaps out of embarrassment. It’s played as “never ask a gay man not to be himself” – that the initial request was the original sin – when, for me, it was more “you don’t have to have an opinion about everything and argue with my elderly parents out of spite.” The script almost never leaves Bobby in the wrong, even when he clearly is (such as his dictatorial attitude about the museum exhibits; he physically assaults his subordinates yet they apologize to him). Bobby is just a bit too sanctimonious, even when he’s right, to make us really believe Aaron would want him… or want him back.

And that’s where the casting of Macfarlane proves to be Bros’s nuclear weapon. Macfarlane is shredded and gorgeous, simultaneously boasting smiling eyes that could melt gold, nipples that could cut glass and a sincerity that sells even the most unlikely twists. You totally buy why Bobby – who objects to the roided out pretty boy culture – would nonetheless be drawn to Aaron, and less understand why the feelings are mutual. Except that you do, because Macfarlane makes you.

The film is produced by Judd Apatow, and it reeks of his brand: the funny, quasi-explicit sex scenes, the raunchiness, the outrageously inappropriate anything-for-a-laughisms. But if it seems formulaic, hey, so is Coca-Cola, and who can resist a Coke?

Peopled with a diverse cast of queer, trans, genderfluid actors – many even in the “straight” roles – Bros ultimately is kinda important. I’m not convinced because some suits at Universal greenlit a film they thought they could make money on, but because a joke-rich comedy delivers the goods …. and we don’t have to endure a bunch of cis-women whining to their girlfriends; we get abs and furry asses. That’s the step in the right direction.

Opens wide on Sept. 30

Wes Smoot 9/1/22 Wes Smoot 9/1/22

SNEAK PEEK: A behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming BROS

By Arnold Wayne Jones

We’ve been excited about seeing the upcoming bromantic queermedy Bros ever since the trailers dropped earlier this summer. But we got an even closer look last night when a mobile activation parked just off the Strip. While technical difficulties prevented the public from getting a walk-through, we were able to screen three extended scenes plus some backstage glimpses of the boy-meets-boy comedy starring (and written by) Billy Eichner, which opens at the end of the month. And the sampler was an appetizing taste of what promises to be a feast of laughter and love.

Virtually the entire cast is made up of LGBTQ actors, from drag artists to twinks, from twunks to trans, from dykes to drama-queens, it’s a panoply of sassy, empowering personalities that expertly captures the complicated dynamics of diverse people unified in their goal of living out loud with a sense of empowerment, responsibility and community… with a hearty dose of shade offering cool relief.

We’ll have a full review prior to the Sept. 30 release date, but plan your moviegoing schedule accordingly!

Wes Smoot 7/30/22 Wes Smoot 7/30/22

FILM REVIEW: Will THEY/THEM make you a convert?

By Arnold Wayne Jones

THEY/THEM -- Pictured: (l-r) Cooper Koch as Stu, Anna Lore as Kim, Monique Kim as Veronica, Quei Tann as Alexandra, Austin Crute as Toby, Darwin del Fabro as Gabriel, Theo Germaine as Jordan -- (Photo by: Josh Stringer/Blumhouse)

The genius of Jordan Peele’s Get Out was his brilliant conceit to disguise a social satire about race behind the genre of a horror film. Peele set up his audience to expect racism, then masked it with a facade of woke tolerance, where gaslighting rises to the level of psychological torture. Of course, the pitfall of that idea is, it is lightning in a bottle: Once you figure it out as an artist, the audience figures it out, too, and it’s hard to revisit that trough again. (Once The Sixth Sense gave us its twist, could anyone ever do “he was dead all along” and not come off as derivative?)

They/Them has to confront a similar anxiety of influence: It’s basically the queer version of Get Out, and once I tell you that, can you really be surprised?

THEY/THEM -- Pictured: (l-r) Theo Germaine as Jordan, Austin Crute as Toby -- (Photo by: Josh Stringer/Blumhouse)

On the surface, at least, it does a pretty good job of creating that off-balance atmosphere: A busload of queer teens of all identities reluctantly arrive at Camp Whistler, what purposes to be a “gay conversion” camp – a phrase so full of repugnance it’s difficult to imagine anyone except the most extreme of homophobes being comfortable saying those words. The camp’s owner is Owen, played by the appropriately reptilian Kevin Bacon, an actor who effortlessly can seem creepy, menacing and friendly almost entirely by the context you put him in. Owen’s welcome speech makes it sound like this is not a conversion camp at all, but a journey of self-discovery: He’s tolerant of the trans-identifying Jordan (Theo Germaine), he avoids bible-thumping and constant indoctrination, he seems kinda hip. It throws off the campers, some of whom want to be there for their own sakes, not their parents.

THEY/THEM -- Pictured: (l-r) Carrie Preston as Cora Whistler, Anna Chlumsky as Molly, Boone Platt as Zane, Kevin Bacon as Owen Whistler -- (Photo by: Josh Stringer/Blumhouse)

But the reality is very different, and underneath we see the hypocrisy and the tension. We know something is afoot; you can’t have seen a horror movie, especially one set at a summer camp, and not be attuned to the tropes of the suspicious handyman, the strange shapes and sounds in the dark, the vulnerability of the shower cabin…. Not to mention the seemingly unrelated but bloody murder in the opening scene. Writer-director John Logan hits these touchstones like a batter hitting each bag as he’s rounding the bases, which is what you want in a genre film, but maybe not so much in a revolutionary issue drama where tropes become cliches. Logan is one of the most respected screenwriters in Hollywood (Gladiator, Hugo, The Aviator) but this is his debut as a director, and his inexperience shows. The performances are perfunctory and the visual adequate and underlit. The film gets stuck in the Sunken Place and struggles to get out to assert an identity of its own.

THEY/THEM -- They/Them Premiere Event on July 27, 2022, at Studio 525 in New York City -- Pictured: Theo Germaine -- (Photo by: Astrid Stawiarz/Peacock)

But is it fair to compare – or at least, as long as you can enjoy a film on its own, does it matter that it doesn’t rise to the level of a genre-defining modern classic? Well, sorta. The similarities are so obvious (a lead character named Jordan? Peele’s last film was Us and now we have They/Them?) it seems to invite comparisons. Do I respect applying the thoughtfulness of Get Out to a gay theme? Sure, despite how humorless and preachy it gets by the end. But as a slasher film, They/Them is clunky and uninspired. I wouldn’t check into this camp.

THEY/THEM -- They/Them Premiere Event on July 27, 2022, at Studio 525 in New York City -- Pictured: (l-r) Matt Strauss, Chairman Direct-to-Consumer & International; Jason Blum, CEO Blumhouse; Quei Tann, John Logan, Writer/Director/EP; Darwin Del Fabro, Anna Lore, Kevin Bacon, Cooper Koch, Theo Germaine, Hayley Griffith, Monique Kim, Austin Crute -- (Photo by: Astrid Stawiarz/Peacock)

They/Them premieres Aug 5 on Peacock.

Wes Smoot 6/28/22 Wes Smoot 6/28/22

THINGS WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO: BROS

By Arnold Wayne Jones

By the time the weather gets this stultifying hot – despite the appeal of pool season – we start looking forward to the fall and all that entails: Cooler weather, upcoming holidays and, this year, Billy Eichner.

Eichner has been the secret weapon of various filmed entertainments for a decade. Starting with his YouTube videos Billy on the Street – featured on FunnyOrDie.com, and later a proper series on cable – which were equal parts super-gay, super-funny and super-terrifying, ambushing pedestrians for what must seem like a bipolar flash-mob-of-one game show, he proved mania could be marketable and hysterical. But he’s also lent brilliant comic energy in supporting roles to such diverse properties as the reboot of The Lion King (voicing Timon), Parks & Rec and Friends from College.

He finally will lead his own feature film, set to arrive in late September along with pumpkin spiced lattes and Halloween costume prep. Bros, which he co-wrote with (straight) director Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Neighbors), tells the romantic complications of Eichner’s character, Bobby, a schulbby intellectual loner, and Aaron (out hottie Luke Macfarlane), the athletic hyper-masculine muscle hunk he falls for. But don’t expect some chastely ordinary queer-rom-com. Based on the trailers (the second one dropped last week), it’s outrageous, sexy, winkingly smart at celebrating and skewering queer culture… and incredibly funny. It also seems to be the class reunion of every gay icon and out comedic actor in Hollywood, including Kristin Chenoweth, Debra Messing, Jim Rash, Guy Branum, Guillermo Diaz, Bowen Yang and Amanda Bearse.

How appealing is all this? Just check out the new trailer, and put Sept. 30 on your calendar. We can all bro it up!

Wes Smoot 5/12/22 Wes Smoot 5/12/22

They Slash Them! Peacock and Blumhouse Welcome You to Whistler's Camp August 5

THEY/THEM -- Pictured: (l-r) Darwin del Fabro as Gabriel, Austin Crute as Toby, Cooper Koch as Stu -- (Photo by: Josh Stringer/Blumhouse)

Peacock announced today its new original film THEY/THEM, pronounced “They-slash-Them,” from Blumhouse will premiere Friday, August 5. The LGBTQIA+ horror film, formerly known as ‘Whistler Camp,’ is a queer empowerment story set at a gay conversion camp.

“THEY/THEM has been germinating within me my whole life. I've loved horror movies as long as I can remember, I think because monsters represent 'the other' and as gay kid I felt a powerful sense of kinship with those characters who were different, outlawed, or forbidden,” said writer and director, John Logan. “I wanted to make a movie that celebrates queerness, with characters that I never saw when I was growing up. When people walk away from the movie, I hope they're going to remember the incredible love that these kids have for each other and how that love needs to be protected and celebrated.”

“Original films will be an integral component of Peacock’s content offering, and we are thrilled to partner with Blumhouse on THEY/THEM streaming exclusively this summer,” said Val Boreland, Executive Vice President, Content Acquisition, NBCUniversal Entertainment, Television and Streaming. “The film is not only entertaining and thrilling, but also empowers its audience with its message of acceptance in a way that only a creator like John Logan could imagine and then bring to life.”

THEY/THEM is produced by Blumhouse. The film is created, written, and directed by three-time Oscar nominated screenwriter John Logan (Skyfall, Gladiator, The Aviator), marking his directorial debut and serving as an executive producer on the film. Kevin Bacon (You Should Have Left, City On a Hill), Scott Turner Schofield (Euphoria; The Craft: Legacy), Howie Young (Mission: Impossible III, Hit and Run), and Jon Romano (Firestarter (2022), Vengeance) also serve as executive producers. Jason Blum (Get Out, The Invisible Man) and Michael Aguilar (Penny Dreadful, Kidding) are producers.

THEY/THEM -- Pictured: (l-r) Monique Kim as Veronica, Anna Lore as Kim -- (Photo by: Josh Stringer/Blumhouse)

Wes Smoot 5/11/22 Wes Smoot 5/11/22

Neil Patrick Harris to Star in Uncoupled | Streaming July 29 on Netflix

*Neil Patrick Harris | Santiago Felipe / Getty Images*

Creators & Executive Producers: Darren Star (Sex and the City, Emily In Paris) and Jeffrey Richman (Modern Family, Frasier) globally premiere Uncoupled, starring Neil Patrick Harris July 29, 2022 on Netflix with eight-30 min. episodes

Michael (Neil Patrick Harris) thought his life was perfect until his husband blindsides him by walking out the door after 17 years. Overnight, Michael has to confront two nightmares - losing what he thought was his soulmate and suddenly finding himself a single gay man in his mid-forties in New York City.

Executive Producers: Tony Hernandez (Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Younger) and Lilly Burns (Emily in Paris, Younger) of Jax Media, Neil Patrick Harris.

Studio: MTV Entertainment Studios

Review to follow release.

*Darren Star & Neil Patrick Harris | Stefanie Keenan / WireImage*

**Neil Patrick Harris | Source:** **Fandom**

Wes Smoot 3/15/22 Wes Smoot 3/15/22

The True Story Behind Addison Heimann's 'Hypochondriac'

By Alex Gonzalez

When director and screenwriter Addison Heimann went home at Christmas time three years ago, he saw his mother experiencing a manic episode. Having dealt with his mother’s bipolar disorder since he was 12 years old, Heimann had grown numb to her outbursts, smoking weed to cope with the emotional fallout. When we went back to LA, he began to experience physical manifestations of his childhood trauma.

Heimann’s latest film, Hypochondriac, which made its SXSW debut this past weekend, tells the story of a Hispanic potter who loses function of his body as a result of childhood trauma. The film is largely inspired by Heimann’s own experience with his mother.

“In the first scene, his mother almost killed him in a state of psychosis,” Heimann tells Unleashed LGBTQ. “Now he's in the 30s, living his best life, when his mother starts coming back into his life by leaving these very mysterious voicemails. At the same time, he gets injured at work, and the two events kind of conflate together.”

Heimann experienced a similar breakdown three years ago, following his Christmas visit home. Upon his return to LA, Heimann experienced multiple ailments, including nausea, dizziness, head fog, and arm tingling.

“I did this smartest thing I've ever done in my life,” Heimann says sarcastically, “I visited Dr. Google, which, you know, is accurate and doesn't make anything up. WebMD is our friend, right? Dr. Google told me that I was dying of ALS. My friend's brother had just died of ALS, and I suffer from intrusive thoughts and OCD. I latched on to that immediately, and no one was going to tell me otherwise. I was convinced that this was happening.”

At the time, Heimann was working as an assistant at a production studio. Determined to prove to himself that he wasn’t dying of ALS, he tried to carry heavy objects up multiple flights of stairs, performing functions outside of his job description. He later developed a repetitive strain injury in his arms.

To combat the pain, Heimann did “the dumbest and most LA thing” he’s ever done, and scheduled a holistic massage.

“After that session, my tendons would swell,” Heimann recalls, “to the point where it's too painful to lift a fork, too painful to shave, I can't type, I can't text, I can't do anything. My arms basically lose function.”

This was the beginning of a three-month recovery journey for Heimann, spending 12 hours a day on the couch, browsing Netflix. He would later develop a knee injury while using a stationary bike.

He eventually began physical therapy, and once he got to the point where he could lift five pounds, he felt his mental state improving. This improvement was short-lived, as the head fog, nausea, and dizziness returned. He spoke with his aunt, who is a doctor, and she told him he may have multiple sclerosis.

Heimann then put out calls and emails to several neurologists, to no avail.

“Nobody could see me for like, three months, and I was like, ‘Ok well, I'd rather know if I'm dying now,’” Heimann recalls. “I found a neurologist who had just opened up and she was like, ‘Tell me what's going on.’ I just send her my dissertation of everything that's going on. I was just like, ‘You know what, I haven't told anybody the whole story. I'm just going to fucking do it.”

Fortunately, the neurologist took him seriously. Heimann successfully scheduled an appointment for an MRI test on his muscles, the results of which proved surprising.

“I get all the results back,” Heimann says. “They come back clear, and all my symptoms go away.”

Heimann still deals with the trauma of his mother’s violent outbursts every day of his life, but credits the support of his community for helping him get through it.

With Hypochondriac, Heimann hopes viewers will feel encouraged to ask for and accept help.

“This is the story of how I got from the worst possible time in my life to accepting help,” Heimann says. “I don't know what exists after that. All I know is that we're always going to carry our stuff with us but it's manageable. There are going to be hiccups and slips along the way. But as long as we keep our community together and push forward, we’ll be ok.”

Hypochondriac will screen Tuesday, March 15 at 3:15 PM and Thursday, March 17 at 9:45 PM in Theatre D at Alamo Drafthouse Lamar