Said Murray Bartlett, who plays Peter's un-kissed lover, "We just wanted to keep it very simple and very pure." As opposed to complicated and nasty. Australian audiences can also look forward to “pure” retellings of Romeo and Juliet where the star-crossed lovers only shake hands, and a staging of Titanic where Jack and Kate only interact via instant messaging.

Tragically, no one is similarly looking out for the welfare of British audiences who, later this year, are going to be inflicted with the polluted and unwholesome (my word processing program says those are the opposite of pure) sight of Ewan McGregor snogging a bloke. The horrifying same-sex smooch is reported to take place in the film, Scenes of a Sexual Nature, with McGregor playing one half of a gay couple considering whether or not to have children. The British government is already acting, installing thousands of miles of fence along the coast to prevent horrified filmgoers from hurling themselves into the British Channel.

IMAGINE WHAT HE'D SAY IF HE WERE DRUNK
I have to admit that before this week I'd never heard of film critic Jeffrey Wells, who writes online movie reviews for Hollywood Elsewhere. Wells is a serious journalist having written for N.Y. Daily News, Rolling Stone, People, Entertainment Weekly, Men's Journal, and the N.Y. Times. Which makes his recent comments about the film adaptation of Amistead Maupin's The Night Listener that much more disappointing.

***THE NIGHT LISTENER SPOILER ALERT***
The Night Listener tells the story of Gabriel Noone (played Robin Williams) a gay man who befriends a fourteen-year old boy who may or may not exist. Wells, after having seen the movie twice had this to say about it:

I haven't read any reviews that have brought this up, so I guess I'll have to: a 50ish gay man developing a fondness for a 14 year-old boy over the phone -- hello? -- feels icky ....A gay journalist friend explained to me last week that older gay guys having nurturing relationships with teenage boys isn't necessarily what it seems to be. It can be just an uncle-mentor type thing.

Isn't that nice? It can be an uncle-mentor type thing, but I guess it's usually not. Does anyone else think this “gay journalist friend” is about as real as Tinkerbell – or was seriously misquoted? Wells goes on to say that no other critics have mentioned “icky” stuff, but they are “dancing around it”. He provides no citations of said dancing and then finishes up by saying anybody who saw the movie had to be thinking the same thing as him.

Um, no, they don't, Jeffrey. I understand how someone who hadn't seen the movie, but only heard the plot, might think it sounds a little off. But having seen the movie myself, I find it absolutely unbelievable that anyone could see it and find their relationship icky. Well, not unless they were predisposed to think gay men are child molesters. And that is basically what Wells' is saying about Maupin, as The Night Listener is semi-autobiographical and Maupin did develop a similar “icky” relationship.

Let's get a few things straight here. In the movie, the fourteen-year old boy is the one who contacts Gabriel because he is a writer and the boy has written a book detailing his horrible upbringing. Gabriel is also the boy's idol and only reluctantly gets in touch with the boy, gradually developing a friendship with him. However, suspicions soon arise over the boy's actual existence and that, in large part, is what drives Gabriel to fly to Wisconsin to find the boy. Oh, did I mention the boy is dying, often unable to talk because he is coughing so hard or is in the hospital? Which is more likely then— Gabriel plans on molesting the kid or comforting him?

I'm not sure what's going on in Wells' mind, but a number of his regular readers posted comments suggesting this isn't the first time Wells' writing has had a tinge of homophobia. I did read his review of Brokeback Mountain and he did get the point of that movie, even identifying with Ennis. I wouldn't call Wells a homophobe, but like Mel Gibson, I think he should do some soul-searching and ask himself where such ugly stereotypes about gay men are coming from.

Speaking of Mel, FakeGayNews.com has a very funny article up regarding Mel's recent tirade about Jewish folks. Let's just say Mel has no love for the gays either.

Page 1 / 2 - Next