So square, in a most heartening kind of way
The show: Looking: The Movie The moment: The wrong kiss Patrick (Jonathan Groff ), back in San Francisco for a wedding, is staying with Dom (Murray Bartlett). Lying in bed, they share a vaporizer. Years ago, they almost hooked up; today they’re best friends.
“What if we got together now?” Patrick asks. “It’s not the worst idea.” “It’s up there,” Dom says. Patrick rises on his elbow. “Maybe this has been staring us in the face this whole time. On paper, it’s — would you stop laughing?”
He flops back down. “But it would be nice, wouldn’t it?” he goes on. “To suddenly find something by mistake that makes it all . . . easier?”
Dom leans over and kisses Patrick — first lightly, then deeply. They burst out laughing.
I am heartened by how square this movie is. We can’t have sex because it’ll wreck our friendship? It’s like an ’80s rom-com had a gay makeover — St. Elmo’s Queer Fire — so instead of Demi Moore, it’s Patrick who has to forgo his wild-child ways and grow up.
Its wisdom is so Ladies’ Home Journal: it’s OK not to want at 30 what you wanted at 18. Settling down is not selling out. No relationship is perfect; it’s more about, do you like how he smells, do you laugh at the same things, do you want to drink Ensure with him when you’re old?
Near the end, Patrick takes a moment to marvel at how marriage has become de rigueur for queer people. That is worth celebrating. Boring is the new thrilling, and love is love is love is love. Looking: The Movie aired on HBO. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on pop-culture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.