The AfterElton.com 2007 Visibility Awards

Best Independent Theatrical Release Featuring Gay Characters

The Nines

Though the gay festival circuit was as busy as ever this year, only a few films that would qualify as "gay interest" got even limited release. The best of the bunch was The Nines, the mind-bending and often hilarious maiden directorial effort from gay screenwriter John August (who wrote Go, Big Fish, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, among others). One of the three overlapping stories that make up the film features Ryan Reynolds (who stars in all three) as a gay television producer whose first big series is rapidly spinning out of control.

Based loosely on his own experiences working in television, the fictionalized account of August's own nervous breakdown is so wonderfully, horribly unflinching in its gaze that it becomes legitimately uncomfortable to watch, no easy feat to pull off. Aside from coming from the mind of a gay man, this puzzling and delightfully clever sci-fi thriller comedy mashup is notable in that its gay character's sexuality is simply another part of him, and has no real bearing on the story at hand. It's refreshing to see gay people as part of everyday life, even when that everyday life involves virtual reality, clairvoyant children, and cabaret-singing nuns.

Worst Theatrical Release

Wild Hogs

With a worldwide box office total of nearly $250 million, no doubt none of those involved with this heaping helping of homophobia will care what an offensive piece of crap this film actually is. But that doesn’t mean we won’t call them out on it. Demonstrating a debilitating case of classic "gay panic", the “heroes” all but shriek every time they actually touch each other or, heaven forfend, see each other’s junk. The film also trades on creepy stereotypes of gay men as effeminate perverts desperate for sex.

Demerits to all those involved, but extra ones are awarded to Scrub’s John C. McGinley for his revoltingly offensive portrayal as the “highway patrolman” who drools over and comes on to John Travolta, William H. Macy, Tim Allen, and Martin Lawrence. In the first place, gay men don’t come on to groups of strangers they happen to encounter, and secondly, we certainly wouldn’t hit on this collection of saggy, overweight, middle-aged straight men if they were the last ones left on earth.