GAYS ON FILM
The best recent queer cinema
G.B.F.
OMG! G.B.F. is so OTT, amazeballs, brills, like totally, it’s rad!
This is pretty much what you get from the new gay teen comedy G.B.F. High school teenagers, straight and gay, talking as they were texting/ Facebooking. And it’s hilair!
Tanner (Michael J. Willett) is a good-looking, in the closet, sweet and vulnerable high school student and best friends with the obviously gay and camp Brent Van Camp (!) (Paul Iacono). Neither of them is out at school, just to each other, but they spend their time together contemplating coming out.
At the same time, the three most popular girls in school – blonde bombshell Fawcett, drama club diva Caprice, and goody-two-shoes Mormon ’Shley (aka The Queen Bees) – figure that having a gay man on their arm would be the most fashionable accessory of all, and will definitely help one of them win the Homecoming Queen title.
Meanwhile, another girl at school, Sophie, wants to start a gay and straight alliance, but, with nobody out in their school, she installs “Guydar” on her phone to find at least one gay guy to start the club.
When Tanner is caught using his phone in class and has it taken away from him by his male teacher, and when his Guydar app starts beeping in line with Sophie’s, he’s instantly outed to everyone and then becomes one of the most popular guys in school, especially with its three most popular girls.
Tanner’s father and his girlfriend already know he’s gay, but when Brent’s mother finds out the truth about her own son, that makes for the most hilarious moments in the film. His mother is played by Will & Grace’s Karen – Megan Mullally – and she provides the funniest lines in the film. She embraces her son’s homosexuality so much that she even wants to watch Brokeback Mountain with him. And Brett is enjoying “A and gay” conversations (conversations between him and his Clique Queens) who refer to him as “homodorable” and “oozing in homosexiness” and think he should be an expert at “manpleasing” (according to ’Shley).
G.B.F., directed by Darren Stein and written by George Northy, is a cute and very funny film about how easy it is in today’s world for boys to come out at school and is a fun send-up of high school clique culture.
It’s the cast, however, who make this film stand out from other teen gay comedies. Willett and Iacono are perfectly cast, as are the three girls. Natasha Lyonne is especially good as the high school teacher who sympathises with her gay students, and it was a coup for the producers to get Mullally. Unfortunately, the film ends with a Carriesque finale, and I would’ve expected a better ending for a film that provides quite a few laughs and, in its own way, is a bit groundbreaking.