Friends & Family (2003)

Stephen Torcelli (Greg Lauren) and Danny Russo (Christopher Gartin) are a gay NYC couple who have it all: a fabulous house, good friends, lots of money, and each other. When Stephen's meddling mother Ada (Beth Fowler) and undercover FBI agent father (Frank Pellegrino) show up for an unexpected visit, their lives are thrown into chaos as they try to hide their big secret. The parents know the guys are a gay couple, but they think they run a catering company for a living, even though neither of them can cook. What they don't know is that their son and his boyfriend are part of a gang of enforcers for Don Victor Patrizzi (Tony Lo Bianco), a notorious New York mob boss. They are hit men for the Mafia! If Stephen's father learns of their criminal activities he'll be obligated to report them.

Meanwhile, Don Patrizzi's daughter Jenny (Rebecca Creskoff) announces her engagement and her father decides to throw her an engagement party combined with Mr. Torcelli's birthday party. Mrs. Torcelli suggests the boys cater the party, sending them into a panic. Fortunately one of Don Patrizzi's sons is an excellent chef and the other is a master decorator, so the Patrizzi boys take care of the food and the decor. As a special treat for Jenny, Don Patrizzi forcibly "invites" US Senator Pete (Bruce Winant) under his control to the party. This guest is of the most interest to the parents of Jenny's fiance, Alma (Tovah Feldshuh) and Matt Jennings (Patrick Collins). They run a militia group which has declared war on the US government and they want to hold the Senator hostage.

Oblivious to this threat, Don Patrizzi's soldiers have been enlisted to serve as waiters for the party. Reasoning that a catering company owned by a gay couple would have gay employees, they have a flamboyant friend of the Danny and Stephen's give them a crash course on being gay--including the correct order of Elizabeth Taylor's husbands and the proper use of the expression "puh-lease!".

All goes well at the party until the Jennings and their militiamen strike. They take the guests hostage and force the Senator to record a message for the media. Stephen and Danny, fearful that the tape will lead to police action and a deadly shootout, neutralize the militia with the help of the newly gay-acting Patrizzi soldiers and some drag queens who came to the party. With their cover blown, Stephen and Danny tell Mr. Torcelli that they're ready for him to turn them in. However, the birthday he's celebrating is his 60th, meaning that he's been mandatorily retired and is no longer with the FBI.

This movie is often slow-moving, with too many stereotypes, predictable jokes, and forced situations, but it is entertaining. With too many characters interacting in too many ways, the film feels crowded, confused, and frenetic. Kurt Hoffman composed the original music, Joseph Triebwasser wrote the screenplay, and Kristen Coury directed.

The Business of Fancydancing (2002)

Seymour Polatkin (Evan Adams) is a successful American Indian gay poet who reluctantly returns to the reservation he left 15 years ago to attend the funeral of Mouse (Swil Kanim). "I've had sex with one Indian woman, 112 white boys and two black men," he laughs, "but I've never slept with an Indian man." His former best friend Aristotle Joseph (Gene Tagaban) views him as a pathetic token of his tribe, a "little public relations warrior" who "puts on little beads and feathers for all these white people." The film explores issues that contemporary American Indians face, including cultural assimilation, stereotypes, and substance abuse, with a sometimes strongly symbolic style. There are simple, dream-like interludes of individual characters performing ceremonial dances in complete blackness, and episodes of Seymour reading his poetry aloud.

Indian filmmaker Sherman Alexie (writer of "Smoke Signals"), does a good job of bringing to life the fear, frustration, tension, and bitterness of his cast of characters, as well as the blood ties that bind them together. The movie was shot on digital video and sometimes the image quality is not very good. Music was composed by Mohican composer Brent Michael Davids. The violin solos were composed and performed by Swil Kanim (Mouse), and the film also features Sherman Alexie's poetry, who wrote the screenplay and directed.