Queerly Beloved

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is as difficult to categorize as to watch. The two main male characters not only register as domestic partners in New York City, they later head to Canada and tie the knot legally.

The thing is, neither of them is gay and they're not really a couple. Chuck (Adam Sandler) marries Larry (Kevin James) for some legal reason involving Larry's kids. The two men are NYC firefighters, and their "relationship" doesn't go over big at the firehouse.

Although the wedding is played (mostly unsuccessfully) for laughs, the film has its heart in the right place. Its message is clearly one of trying to point out how much suffering and discrimination GLTB people experience from being denied their right to marry. Too bad it's not a better film.

Tru Loved (2008)

This one's a play on the usual "gay-relevant issue brought up by a wedding." Yes, a wedding is the catalyst that helps a gay character come out. But this wedding isn't a heterosexual one. It's the marriage of the two moms of a teenaged girl named Tru (Najarra Townsend), and the character who comes out is her best friend Lodell (Matthew Thompson), a closeted gay high school football player.

Currently playing the film fest circuit, Tru Loved is a feel-good family flick written, directed, and produced by Stewart Wade (Coffee Date [2006]). It features a very queer cast and crew, including Bruce Vilanch as the wedding officiant and Jane Lynch as a high school teacher. Even the soundtrack is gay, featuring songs by artists including Melissa Etheridge, Rufus Wainwright, and Janis Ian.

Tru doesn't just have two moms; she has two dads living in San Francisco. She and her mothers recently relocated to Southern California where Tru starts a Gay-Straight Alliance at her high school. When her fathers go to Canada and get married, it inspires her moms, played by Cynda Williams and Alexandra Paul, to throw a wedding of their own. Almost every character in the film, from the homophobic high school coach to Tru's closeted gay English teacher (Alec Mapa) show up at the affair. Their male principal (Tony Brown) even dances with Vilanch.

When football legend Dave Kopay, playing himself, attends the wedding as the guest of Tru's dads, it helps inspire Lodell to come out to his mother (Jasmine Guy) and grandmother (Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek's Lt. Uhura). Gran takes it in stride, simply questioning in her best Southern drawl, "Doesn't that school of yours have any nice black boys?" when introduced to Lodell's white boyfriend.

"This is really a family friendly film that happens to have LGBTQ characters in it," Tru Loved publicist Elizabeth Owen told AfterElton.com. "If it weren't gay families, the family-friendly folks would be all over it. But because it happens [to] include gay folks, they're all over it in the worst way."

Tru Loved premiered at the Sedona Film Festival in February and will be the closing film at OutFest this year. It's showing at most queer film festivals this summer, including Frameline, and also at the Hollywood Black Film Festival.

Photo credit: Mark Bennington