Bob Gay-Paris (Chris Tanner), the transsexual matriarch
of the titular family (which includes dad Rod played by Frank Holliday and younger son Tommy played by Flip Jorgensen), rolls through an extensively demented monologue
for her baby boy Alex (soon to be played by Mike Russnak, but here played by the camera). She has grand plans for her son, from
rivaling Jeff Stryker to “master[ing]
the tambourine” and with a hell of a lot in between. Forward to “present day” 1997, where Alex and
Kevin (Nicholas Wilder) meet at a
local bar and strike up a conversation.
While nursing their beers, Alex lets Kevin in on the philosophy his
family practices as well as preaches.
The Gays is writer/director T.S.
Slaughter’s second feature, and it’s certainly an interesting piece of
work. Its central conceit is that the
scenes wherein the family interacts with one another are sending up traditional
family sitcoms. But I think it’s not so
much concerned with the form of the sitcom and its tropes as it is with the
content. The filmmakers here eschew a typical
sitcom three-camera setup, and while we get similar framing for various scenes
set in the same rooms, this movie gravitates toward more cinematic shooting and
editing, especially in the scenes set at home.
Here much of the camera work is handheld, and they’re not afraid to
shoot from low angles. The use of jump
cuts during continuous action (I’m thinking here of a spectacularly overwrought
fit that Bob throws) and the repetition of phrases in fast succession fracture
time and emphasize mood in ways regular sitcoms would never do. Surprisingly, I only counted two sequences
where a laugh track was included. Conversely,
the scenes in the bar are those closest in approach to standard sitcom form. These scenes are also the oases of sanity
amidst the rest of the film’s action, and Kevin acts as the incredulous
audience member trying to process what he and we are witnessing. As counterpoint to the scenes with the Gays,
it’s a pretty smart move.
Traditionally, family sitcoms are
concerned with teaching life lessons, and this film is no different. Nonetheless, the lessons Rod and Bob impart
to their sons, while they could definitely be considered life lessons, are more
about raising Alex and Tommy to be gay sociopaths. I’ll give you a few examples. After Alex neglects taking sexual advantage
of his friend Billy (Roberto Larancuent)
during a sleepover, Rod makes Alex get into “the Sling” and then has Billy fuck
him. This is shot undercranked (or I
guess we can just say sped up for stuff now shot on digital, couldn’t we?) and
set to Gioachino Rossini’s William Tell Overture. Alex’s straight friend Chris (Matthew Benjamin) is forced to fellate
Rod as a thank you for dinner and also because Alex is always forced to watch
football when they’re at Chris’ house.
The boys are taught all about the perineum (that space between a man’s
scrotum and anus, also known as the “taint” [the pronunciation I’ve always
known it as rather than “haint,” which seems more popular in some circles, but
I digress…]). This inbred insanity is
reinforced particularly (for me) by off-kilter, extreme closeups of Bob
cackling like The Cryptkeeper (okay, maybe not quite that shrill).
The behavior of the Gays is
presented as untethered, not only to the viewers watching the movie but also to
Kevin, a member of the gay community. He
can barely believe what he’s hearing. So,
even to other gays the Gays are considered kind of abnormal, and I think this
is a comment on the way homosexuality is often portrayed in popular
culture. Additionally, it’s a sensory
smack to the back of the head for the ignorati who genuinely (no matter how
inexplicably) believe that this is the sort of thing that gay people actually do
at home. By extension, then, it’s also a
satirical retort to the people who think that gay marriage perverts and
destroys “traditional family values.” But
in the same way that the work of John
Waters revels in its trashiness, Slaughter
and company embrace the absurdities they put forth.
Now, The Gays is far from a perfect film, and it is absolutely not for
everyone. It’s quite graphic, and makes
no bones (pardon the pun) about being so.
There are glimmers of visual skill on display, but they’re also
inconsistent. While this is an
expectation of movies shot with little to no budget, it doesn’t prevent such
things from standing out. Furthermore,
the scenes which are the most fun to watch can also be the toughest to
take. And it’s not the ideas. Many of the ideas here are great, including a
Brady Bunch theme song parody titled
“Each Other’s Lunch,” a board game mashup of Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit
called Eat A Pussy Or Be A Pussy, and
a Christmas scene which proves to be most instructive for the lads. The problem for me is much the same as the
problem that I have with a lot of Troma’s
output. All these antics tend to be a
bit of an onslaught over time, and if that’s something you’re not predisposed
to, it can be off-putting. Thankfully, Slaughter never goes quite far enough
to completely wear out his welcome, and the belly laughs his film generates are
honestly earned.
MVT: Slaughter shows off some nice filmmaking chops, and if nothing
else, his work here is largely successful in its ambitiousness.
Make or Break: There is a
riff on The Exorcist that is funny,
revolting, and witty all at the same time.
You can feel here that the filmmakers have a fondness for the source
material, and it doesn’t come off as cynical like a lot of these things tend to
do.
Score: 6.25/10
For more info about The Gays, visit their website: http://thegaysmovie.com/index.html
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