Just Can't Get Enough (2001)

The movie opens with former Broadway choreographer Nick DeNoia (Peter Nevargic) getting shot in his office. Most of the story takes place in the early 1980s during the glory days of the Chippendales night club, owned by sleazy businessman Steve Banerjee (Shelley Malil), a rich immigrant from a high-caste Indian family who opened a male strip-club in a quasi-industrial area of Los Angeles. He successfully glamorized the male-stripper concept that captured the fantasies of American women everywhere. Innocent college graduate Chad Patterson (Johnathan Aube) gets a job at the club to make some extra money, but is corrupted by the money and lifestyle. Then DeNoia gets involved in a blackmail scandal and Banerjee gets illegal ideas of his own.

Based on fact, the film shows the grudge between Banerjee and Denoia. Once Denoia gets wise to Banerjee's shady dealings he quickly blackmails the club owner into signing away the touring rights to the show. But when it comes to underhanded manipulations, Banerjee proves Denoia's equal. Fuelled by paranoia and jealousy, Banerjee arranges DeNoia's murder, a crime he might have got away with if the FBI hadn't learned of his subsequent plot to assassinate the businessmen behind a rival male dance troupe to eliminate his only competition.

This true-crime drama features an eccentric cast of characters whose lives are powered by the incessant beat of 1980's synth-rock and disco music, all of which takes place against the backdrop of a stage-show in which some of America's most beautiful men strip down in front of crowds of horny women. But Chippendales' dance routines are not sexy, with too many crowd shots and not enough footage of the strippers themselves. Anyone hoping to gain some understanding of their appeal, or just to gawk at some mouth-watering beefcake, will be quite disappointed. The entire film has unexpectedly dark humor and a sense of irony, with a script that isn't very tight, and it sometimes goes off on tangents that add little to the film. But the actors are good, though fairly one-dimensional, with most of the Chippendales themselves portrayed as self-destructive drug addicts, or shallow sex-obsessed fools who take advantage of the most attractive women in their audiences. Basically, the increasingly convoluted nature of the conspiracies and counter-conspiracies make for a fascinating ride. Straight-to-video filmmaker David Payne wrote and directed "Just Can't Get Enough: The True Story of the Chippendales' Murders".

Straightman (2000)

Best friends and neighbors David Leibowitz (Ben Berkowitz) and Jack Webster (Ben Redgrave) move in together after being dumped by their girlfriends. David is a 26 year-old Jewish comedy club worker in Chicago who is a loud, opinionated, overweight, likable womanizer, whereas Jack is a a quietly thoughtful beefy construction worker who loses his girlfriend Maxine Miller (Butch Jerinic) because she bores him. David loses Rebecca McManus (Rachel Tomlinson) when he asks for his apartment key back. While David is looking forward to living the free and single life with his buddy, Jack spends his time contemplating when and how to tell his best friend and others that he is actually gay. Finally, Jack comes out to David and things begin to change within the boundaries of their friendship. This takes the friendship on some interesting turns especially when Jack has numerous anonymous gay affairs. David cracks fag jokes and continues womanizing, but the two friends discover that they need each other despite their differences. The film ends awkwardly with David leaving Chicago, and Jack remaining behind.

In this earnest and gritty coming out of the closet comedy drama, two different but similar men deal with a major change in their friendship. While the plot is thin at times, the film really is more of a character study between two friends as they come to terms with growing and changing. It's an intense, authentic, honest, sharp, and humorous film that works on an emotional level. The understated and knowing movie also deals with men who are very blue collar, refreshingly distant from the unbelievably gorgeous bourgeois characters in most gay-themed films. "Straightman" is a low budget production with some minor sound and lighting problems. Much of the dialogue seems improvised, and it works well in this character-driven tale. Both leads are excellent in their roles. This film was written and directed by its starring actors, Ben Berkowitz and Ben Redgrave.