Straight-laced Todd (Jonathan Bray) arrives at a cafe for a blind date with Kelly (Wilson Cruz), whom he expects to be a girl. When Kelly turns out to be a hunky gay man, Todd discovers that he has been the victim of a prank by his brother Barry (Jonathan Silverman), who had placed an ad for his romance-starved straight brother on an internet "M4M" message board. Todd's mundane world is quickly turned inside out and he finds out that he has a lot of interests in common with his new gay friend. They decide to get revenge on Barry by pretending they are actually now a gay couple.
When Todd brings Kelly home, he sneaks out the window so Barry believes Todd spent the night with a man. It works too well, since Barry won't believe that Todd isn't really gay, and moves out of Todd's apartment. The joke soon goes further than they expected when Todd's family and friends all believe him to be gay. Everybody including his mother try to thrust him towards this new romantic endeavor. Todd continues to go with Kelly, and occasionally his friends, to see a movie, have a drink or coffee, and when the office gossip monger Clayton (Jason Stuart) sees Todd with a group of gay men, he "outs" him to everyone else at work, who accept and embrace the revelation. Despite his repeated attempts to prove otherwise, Todd soon finds himself doubting his own sexuality, and feelings toward Kelly.
"Coffee Date" is a fast-paced light hearted comedy filled with sexual shenanigans of a misguided kind. It handles the simplistic slapstick plot with realism, warmth and humor, showing the boundaries of friendship, sex and human compassion. The Village Voice calls it, "A warmhearted tale carried by genuine affection and a charming cast." It's great to see two of the top gay actors play gay characters in a gay film. In addition to acting in the film, Deborah Gibson (Melissa) wrote and performed the closing credits song. Originally a 2001 short film by writer/director Stewart Wade, it was expanded into a feature and played at various film festivals. Eban Schletter composed the original music, and Stewart Wade wrote the screenplay and directed.
