Frankie (Nick Scotti) is a young macho, homophobic Italian-American living with his family in the Bronx, New York. He works in a pizza parlor but, inspired by Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, he wants to be an actor. After catching his fiancee cheating on him with his brother, Frankie decides the time has come to move out and pursue his dream. He starts by checking the classifieds for roommate ads. He finds an ad from a "GWM." In classified-speak this stands for "gay white male", but Frankie and his friend Joey (Domenick Lombardozzi) interpret it as "guy with money." The GWM in question is Warren (Anthony Barrile), an actor who's recently broken up with his director boyfriend, and is five months behind in his rent. Frankie and Warren each have some initial misgivings--Frankie over Warren's being gay, Warren over Frankie's being a "Guido" or stereotypical Italian--but Warren lets Frankie move in.
Warren's ex, Dakota (Christopher Lawford), returns and offers Warren a part in his new play. Warren initially accepts but after being injured in an attempted gay bashing, has to withdraw. Frankie has the chance to take his place on stage--but only if he can play a gay man in a kissing scene. Frankie replaces him, but the kissing scene makes him nervous. At the premiere Frankie gives a good performance, although he hesitates on the kiss, leading his scene partner to hiss "Kiss me, Guido!" for an audience that includes his family. His father leaves in disgust, and his mother faints, but they come to understand and accept his decision to become an actor.
This fast moving and entertaining comedy is quite a good movie. The bitchy and witty criticisms of some of the gay characters are a treat, and manage to transcend the stereotypes because of the humor. You have to suspend your disbelief regarding Frankie's incredible naivety and ignorance of the gayness he encounters. In other words, the plot is not very realistic, but it is funny. The soundtrack includes 13 songs, but in the opening credits of my video there is a disclaimer that some of the song titles had been changed. Tony Vitale wrote the screenplay and directed. CBS brought "Kiss Me Guido" to TV in 2001 under the title "Some of My Best Friends". It was not a success and was cancelled after one season.
