Cock & Bull Story (2004)

Jack "Jacko" O'Malley (Brian Austin Green) is a violent street punk who hates "faggots". His friend Travis Coleman (Bret Roberts) is a handsome boxer with a dream of getting out of Chicago's Soutside. His biggest problem is Jacko, who's always taking him out to cause trouble when he should be training. The two are very close friends and there is more fighting in dark alleys than in the ring. Virtually every scene is filled with homophobic language. Travis' sexual ambiguity is eventually exposed and this powerful film explores the roots of homophobia: repressed homosexuality. The film is about homophobia, and although it's a good movie to watch with good acting and a good plot, it's probably disappointing for most gay viewers. It was written and directed by Billy Hayes, the real-life protagonist of "Midnight Express".

American Beauty (1999)

(first lines)
Jane Burnham: I need a father who's a role model, not some horny geek-boy who's gonna spray his shorts whenever I bring a girlfriend home from school. What a lame-o. Someone really should just put him out of his misery.
Ricky Fitts: Want me to kill him for you?
Jane Burnham: Yeah. Would you?

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) and his wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) are a seemingly perfect suburban couple who make life-changing choices mostly because of Lester's mid-life crisis. He is a father and advertising executive who serves as the film's narrator: "I'm 42 years old. In less than a year, I'll be dead. Of course, I don't know that yet. And in a way, I'm dead already." He describes himself as a loser in a dead end job with bosses he doesn't respect. Carolyn is an ambitious realtor who feels unsuccessful at fulfilling her potential, and his 16-year-old daughter Jane (Thora Birch) is unhappy and struggling with her self-esteem. Jane hates her parents and is saving money for a breast augmentation operation. Lester is reinvigorated when he meets Jane's sexually precocious friend and classmate Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) at a high school basketball game. He immediately develops an infatuation for her, much to his daughter's dismay. Throughout the film, Lester has sexual fantasies about Angela and red rose petals.

His new neighbours are US Marine Corps Colonel Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper), his wife Barbara (Allison Janney), and their teenage son Ricky (Wes Bentley). Fascist Col. Fitts has homophobic disgust for a gay couple who are also neighbors, and believes Ricky is gay and having sex with Lester. This is not true, he only supplies marijuana for Lester, but Ricky claims to be gay to escape from his father. Frank controls Ricky with very strict discipline and gives him drug tests regularly. Ricky, a smoker and drug dealer, makes deals with a client of his so he can have clean urine samples to pass these tests. He frequently uses a hand-held video camera to record his surroundings and keeps hundreds of tapes in his bedroom.

Carolyn begins an affair with her business rival Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher). Lester is about to be laid off, then he blackmails his boss, quits his job and takes up low-pressure employment at a fast food chain. He trades in his car for a 1970 Pontiac Firebird, starts running, and lifts weights so he can "look good naked" to impress Angela, whom he overheard tell Jane that she'd find him sexy if he had more muscles.

Brad Dupree: (reading Lester's job description) "My job consists of basically masking my contempt for the assholes in charge, and, at least once a day, retiring to the men's room so I can jerk off while I fantasize about a life that doesn't so closely resemble Hell." Well, you have absolutely no interest in saving yourself.
Lester: Brad, for 14 years I've been a whore for the advertising industry. The only way I could save myself now is if I start firebombing. I guess I'll have to throw in a sexual harassment charge.
Brad Dupree: Against who?
Lester: Against you. Can you prove that you didn't offer to save my job if I let you blow me?
Brad Dupree: Man, you are one twisted f**k.
Lester: Nope. I'm just an ordinary guy who has nothing left to lose.

Carolyn: Uh, whose car is that out front?
Lester: Mine. 1970 Pontiac Firebird. The car I've always wanted and now I have it. I rule!

Lester: I figured you guys might be able to give me some pointers. I need to shape up. Fast.
Jim Olmeyer: Are you just looking to lose weight, or do you want increased strength and flexibility as well?
Lester: I want to look good naked!

After watching Ricky and Lester make a drug transaction through the garage window, Frank mistakenly concludes that the two are engaged in a sexual relationship. That evening, Ricky returns home, where Frank beats him and accuses him of being gay. Ricky falsely admits the charge and goads Frank into turning him out of their home.

Frank Fitts: Where did you get that?
Ricky Fitts: From my job.
Frank Fitts: Don't lie to me. Now, I saw you with him.
Ricky Fitts: You were watching me?
Frank Fitts: What did he make you do?
Ricky Fitts: Oh, Dad, you don't really think that me and Mr. Burnham were...
Frank Fitts: Don't you laugh at me. Now, I will not sit back and watch my only son become a c**k-sucker.
Ricky Fitts: Jesus, what is it with you?
Frank Fitts: I swear to God, I will throw you out of the house and never look at you again.
Ricky Fitts: You mean that?
Frank Fitts: You're damn straight I do. I'd rather you were dead than be a fuckin' faggot.
Ricky Fitts: You're right. I suck d**k for money.
Frank Fitts: Boy, don't start.
Ricky Fitts: Two thousand dollars. I'm that good.
Frank Fitts: Get out.
Ricky Fitts: And you should see me f**k. I'm the best piece of ass in three States.
Frank Fitts: Get out. I don't ever want to see you again.
Ricky Fitts: What a sad old man you are.

Ricky goes to Jane and asks her to flee with him to New York City. An emotionally distraught Col. Fitts kisses Lester in his garage. Later gunshot rings out and blood spatters on the kitchen wall in front of Lester as he is shot from behind. Ricky and Jane find him dead. Lester's final narration reflects on his life, and the actions of the other characters at the moment of his death.

(last lines)
Lester: I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn't a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time... For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars... And yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined my street... Or my grandmother's hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper... And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new Firebird... And Janie... And Janie... And... Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday.

AMERICAN BEAUTY is a cinematic triumph that is both funny and sad, disturbing, yet provocative and deep. This compelling well-paced film is an extraordinary achievement that reveals a tragic and realistic story about a family that is anything but ordinary. It has many layers and it deals with the disparity between appearances and their underlying realities. Lester's abrupt break with his superficial world is refreshing, and the circumstances that evolve from it are both provocative and entertaining. The beautiful cinematography, good music score, precise and evocative screenplay, and first-rate acting make this movie stand above most others. AMERICAN BEAUTY was a massive success both critically and commercially, and the film won a total of five Oscars, including Best Picture. Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, Edward Guthman called it "a dazzling tale of loneliness, desire and the hollowness of conformity". Jay Carr for the Boston Globe called the film "a millennial classic". The New York Post called it "a flat-out masterpiece".

The cast also includes: Allison Janney (Barbara Fitts), Scott Bakula (Jim Olmeyer), Sam Robards (Jim Berkley), Barry Del Sherman (Brad Dupree), Ara Celi, Amber Smith (Christy Kane), John Cho, Fort Atkinson, Sue Casey, Kent Faulcon, Brenda Wehle, Lisa Cloud, Allison Faulk, Krista Goodsitt, Lily Houtkin, Carolina Lancaster, Romana Leah, Chekesha Van Putten, Emily Zachary, Nancy Anderson, Reshma Gajjar, Stephanie Rizzo, Heather Joy Sher, Chelsea Hertford, Amber Smith, and many others. Thomas Newman composed the original music. Alan Ball wrote the screenplay derived from his stage play. He saw a paper bag floating in the wind near the World Trade Center plaza and this inspired him to write it. Sam Mendes directed.

Running with Sissors (2006)

In 1972, six-year-old Augusten (Joseph Cross) is trapped between his parents: his mother Deirdre Burroughs (Annette Bening), a poet with delusions of fame, and his father Norman (Alec Baldwin), an alcoholic math professor. When the Burroughs' marriage disintegrates, Deirdre begins therapy with the eccentric Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), an unconventional shrink. At age 12 Augusten moves in with the doctor’s family, and has irregular visits by his crazy mother. He befriends Neil Bookman (Joseph Fiennes), Dr. Finch's adopted 33-year-old son, and the two enter an erratic gay sexual relationship. The story is about the missing boundary between reality and fantasy, and the broken bond between a mother and her son.

Based on the book "Running with Scissors: A Memoir" by Augusten Burroughs, the film relies on music to express the emotions of the characters and to ground viewers in time. It brings the memoir to life with classic 1970s songs by Elton John, the Average White Band, and Nat King Cole. In an interview for the movie, Augusten Burroughs said he felt the movie was about a quest for family. James S. Levine composed the incidental music. Ryan Murphy wrote the screenplay and directed.

Voor een Verloren Soldaat (1993)

Set in the Netherlands near the end of WWII, the film is a flashback recalling an adolescent gay relationship between 12 year-old boy Jeroen Krabbé (Jeroen Bowman) and a Canadian soldier, Andrew Kelley (Walt Cook). Jeroen reminisces about the time in 1944 when he (Maarten Smit) and other children were sent to the countryside by their parents to escape the war. Amsterdam suffers from food shortages, with more food available in the country. He stays with an eel fisherman's family, but despite the abundance of food, he is plagued by homesickness. Things change when the village is liberated by Canadian troops. Jeroen meets Andrew Kelley, a Canadian soldier in his early twenties, who befriends him. Jeroen revels in the attention the soldier showers on him, and eventually their relationship becomes sexual. His foster parents are aware of the closeness between Jeroen and the soldier, but it is unclear in the film whether they are aware of the sexual nature of the relationship. After a few more days, Walt's troop are ordered to move and Walt leaves without saying goodbye to Jeroen. The boy is heartbroken, having only a photo to remind him of the soldier. After the war is over, he returns to his family back in Amsterdam, where he decides to go to America later in his life. The film ends by returning to the present with Jeroen attempting to incorporate his experiences in his latest ballet work.

It's another coming of age movie handled with tact, style, and feeling. Foster father Hait (Freark Smink) loves the boy selflessly, whereas Andrew's love is selfish, exploitive and his aim is seduction. Joop Stokkermans composed the incidental music. Don Bloch and Roeland Kerbosch wrote the screenplay derived from Rudi van Dantzig's novel. Roeland Kerbosch directed. In Dutch with some English, and with English subtitles. The English title is, "For a Lost Soldier".

The Event (2003)

"The Event" is mystery story set in Manhattan's Chelsea district, an intense relationship drama about a series of unexplained deaths that occurs among the gay community. It tells the story of Matt Shapiro (Don McKellar) who has died in Manhattan, resulting in an aborted 911 call. Assistant District Attorney Nicole "Nick" DeVivo (Parker Posey) investigates the suspicious suicide, and interviews Matt's friends and family to piece together a portrait of Matt's life and finally his death. Matt's death is the latest in what could be a string of "assisted" suicides, and Nick's suspicions lead her to Matt's best friend, Brian (Brent Carver), who runs an AIDS hospice. Through her conversations with Brian, some of Matt's other friends, the man's mother (Olympia Dukakis), and younger sister Dana (Sarah Polley), Nick is able to piece together Matt's life after he was stricken with the illness. It is the man's older sister, the ostracized Gaby (Joanna P. Adler), who hints to Nick that her brother may have had some help. Flashbacks reconstruct the man's life and his relationships with friends and family. Nick believes that his death may have been the result of assisted suicide, which is against the law, even for victims of AIDS. When the true circumstances of his death are revealed, they prove to be far less important than how he lived, loved, and was loved.

The title of the film refers to the night when Matt died. His friends and family gather at his apartment to hold a farewell party, and at the end of the evening's festivities, with loved ones by his side, Matt's life will presumably reach a peaceful end. This melodrama begins as a powerful film with good character development, but becomes overly sentimental, obviously trying to manipulate our emotions. Christophe Beck composed the incidental music, and Thom Fitzgerald wrote the screenplay and directed.

Cowboys & Angels (2003)

Another coming of age comedy, "Cowboys & Angels" is about 2 Irish young men, straight Shane Butler (Michael Legge) and his gay roommate Vincent Cusak (Allen Leech). Set in Limerick city, Shane is handsome but geeky, works for the Department of Agriculture, and wants to enroll in art school. Vincent is a confident fashion-student and decorator. Despite being opposites in most ways, they soon become close friends. Vincent's artistry inspires Shane to greatness. When he meets and falls in love with Gemma (Amy Shiels), an ex-art student and best friend of Vincent's who now works in a fast food joint, he feels compelled to make some radical changes in his life. Fate steps in to lend a hand in the form of Keith (David Murray), a drug dealer who lives downstairs. Keith offers Shane the opportunity to make a lot of money by going on a drug run to Dublin. At first Shane refuses, but he desperately needs the cash. He goes on the drug run and lives to regret it. With the money he makes from the run, Vincent transforms him into one of the hippest guys in town. Unknown to Shane though, some shady figures have tailed him back from Dublin and are now watching the apartment.

The two leads have great chemistry and deliver career-making performances as they become best friends. This film is an energetic, captivating, and funny exploration of their difficulties in a fast moving sub-culture of drugs and clubs. Nothing new, but Legge and Leech make the film worth watching. Stephen McKeon composed the incidental music, and David Gleeson wrote the screenplay and directed.

Before Night Falls (2000)

In Cuba after the revolution in 1959, gay poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas (Javier Bardem) moves to Havana where he is swept up in the revolutionary spirit and joins a circle of writers and artists. His first novel, "Singing from the Well," is published in Cuba, but as Castro's oppressive regime gathers force, Arenas' homosexuality and political writing make him a target. He is arrested after two boys who have stolen from him falsely accuse him of sexual assault. Later he gets into trouble for having his books smuggled out of the country and published abroad. For a decade he goes in and out of prisons, escapes from prison and tries to leave Cuba on a tire inner tube. The attempt fails and he is rearrested. In prison he helps other inmates to write letters to wives and lovers. When he is forced to renounce his books, he is released. In 1980 he is told that, as part of the Mariel Harbor Boatlift, he is allowed to emigrate because of being gay. After first suspecting this might be a trick, he successfully claims homosexuality, and moves to Miami. Then he relocates to NYC with his friend Lazaro Gomez Carilles (Olivier Martinez). Arenas' hopes for a new life are destroyed by AIDS, and without health insurance, he kills himself in 1990 at the age of 45. A friend is present who promises not to alert medical services. Moreover, he speeds up death by suffocation with a plastic bag.

This was the second film of director Julian Schnabel, after "Basquiat" (1996). It took 4 years to produce the film, and it had its world premiere at the 2000 Venice International Film Festival. The most confusing thing in this movie is that Johnny Depp plays two separate characters: the first is a drag queen in jail, and the second is as a Lieutenant who interrogates Arenas. It's not clear if this second character is the first one out of drag, or if Depp is playing someone else entirely. Carter Burwell composed the music. The screenplay was written by Julian Schnabel, Cunningham O'Keefe, and Lázaro Gómez Carriles, based on the autobiography by Reinaldo Arenas. The Spanish title is "Antes Que Anochezca". Available in Spanish and English languages.

Almost Normal (2005)

Gay college professor Brad Jenkins ( Andrew Keitch) has a mid-life crisis at age 40 and is tired of being different because he is gay. Brad's best friend Julie (Joan Lauckner) urges him to end his self-pity and attend the upcoming family reunion that he has been dreading for months. The thought of the family gathering causes Brad to drink too much alcohol before getting behind-the-wheel. A violent crash yanks Brad back in time to his high school days, and the transported teenager soon discovers that in this parallel universe all of his former classmates are gay. The world is gay and to be straight is considered deviant behavior. Brad has to decide whether to remain in the past and be "normal" or attempt to return to his old life. Local jock Roland (Tim Hammer), who had ignored him before, now dates him. However, he grows attracted to a girl--his sister-in-law in the real world. Eventually, everyone dances with people of the opposite sex at the school ball, although they are in the gay fantasy world. Brad decides to return to his life as a professor, and is alarmed by a homophobic discourse on TV.

The film describes itself as "Back to the Future meets Peggy Sue Got Married", and that's a good description of this gay-themed comedy. It's good-natured, amusing, and conventional in its storytelling--except that it's a low-budget contemporary fantasy intended for a gay audience. Jonathan Joyner composed the music, and Marc Moody wrote the screenplay and directed.

The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000)

In West Hollywood, photographer Dennis (Timothy Olyphant) prepares to celebrate his twenty-eighth birthday and says, "I can't decide if my friends are the best or worst thing that ever happened to me." His group of gay friends lean on each other to work their way through life. They gather around Jack's Broken Hearts restaurant and lounge, with owner Jack (John Mahoney) acting as their father figure, adviser, and the coach for their inept Broken Hearts softball team. The group includes: Cole (Dean Cain), a handsome, charismatic actor who often ends up with other people's boyfriends; Benji (Zach Braff), the youngest member of the group who finds himself going through some bad times; Howie (Matt McGrath), a psychology student who is known for overthinking every situation; Patrick (Ben Weber), the cynic of the group; and Taylor (Billy Porter), who has long boasted about his long-term relationship, which has just come crashing to an end. When the group's newest member, 23 year-old Kevin (Andrew Keegan) attempts to fit in, their friendships are put to the test.

This sweet and charming film is also known as "8 x 10", "The Broken Hearts Club" (UK), and "The Broken Hearts League". The characters support each other, annoy each other, and guide each other through trials and tribulations with relationships, careers, getting older, and life in general. It's fun, touching, and honest, with a few sad moments. Christophe Beck composed the music, and Greg Berlanti wrote the screenplay and directed.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)

Chuck Levine (Adam Sandler) and Larry Valentine (Kevin James) are best friends who are firefighters in Brooklyn. Chuck is single and Larry is a widower trying to raise his daughter Tori (Shelby Adamowsky) and son Eric (Cole Morgen). Distracted by sadness over his wife's death, he neglects to change the primary beneficiary of his pension from his wife to his children within the deadline. His only option is to marry someone, but he finds no woman who can be trusted with his children. Inspired by an article about same-sex domestic partnership rights, he decides to register Chuck as his partner, making him Larry's beneficiary and caretaker of Larry's children. Larry saved Chuck's life, so he agrees to the arrangement.

On the advice of their lawyer Alex McDonough (Jessica Biel) they are legally married in Niagara Falls, Canada when it becomes clear that their case is likely to be investigated. But when investigator Clinton Fitzer (Steve Buscemi) becomes suspicious, the two straight guys are forced to behave as love-struck newlyweds. Eventually they are taken to court, and the case becomes a media spectacle. The fraud is exposed, all the firemen claim they helped Chuck and Larry, and all are sent to jail. Councilman Banks (Richard Chamberlain) offers to free Chuck and Larry if they admit to a misdemeanor and raise funds for AIDS research. Larry meets another woman, suggesting he is starting to move on from his previous marriage. Singer Lance Bass makes an appearance to play a song emphasizing the importance of freedom.

Adam Sandler told Newsweek magazine: "I know Kevin, and it's kind of a strange thing to have to play. So to ease the tension, before the first day of shooting, we had sex with each other. We just got it out of the way so it wouldn't be an issue. It's an old tip I picked up from working with Jack Nicholson." The movie received mostly bad reviews. Newsday's John Anderson wrote, "What were they thinking? Simple: They weren't." Rupert Gregson-Williams composed the original music. Barry Fanaro, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, and Lew Gallo wrote the screenplay. Dennis Dugan directed.