Best. Gay. Week. Ever! How gay is "Sex and the City 2?" (Very!) Plus, "Death at a Funeral" and More!

NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE GAY CHARACTERS. OH, AND A DEAD ONE, TOO!
Note! Below I discuss some spoilers from Death at a Funeral and The Joneses.

Well, this week was a pleasant surprise when it comes to the movies! I obviously knew there was a gay character in Death at a Funeral given that it is a remake of a British film we previously reviewed. And from the previews, I knew there was a gay hairdresser in The Joneses, but I didn't know that movie had a second gay character. Woot! I won't ruin it for you, but we'll be posting our review a little later today so you can find out their identity for yourself.

Ben Hollingsworth, some woman I don't know and don't want to look up, a scarily good-looking Demi Moore, David Duchovny

As for The Joneses, I was pleasantly intrigued for the first two thirds of the movie as I A) didn't know much about it, and B) was genuinely surprised by much of it until the last act when it pretty much felll apart. For a while there I thought the film was actually going to make a point but since this is a Hollywood film, it was obviously dumb of me to think that. 

As for the gay characters, the identity of the first one was made clear in the trailer as Demi Moore's new hairdresser is ogling her husband. Billy, played by Chris Williams, is the gay hairdresser we've seen a zillion times before. He's not exactly offensive, but is still very much a cliché. Frankly, I would've been annoyed by him if not for the second gay character. 

Billy: Ooooh, girlfriend that man of yours is hot!
And there is absolutely nothing new about my character! Triple snap!

As for Death at a Funeral, I was honestly quite prepared to hate it, but instead found it to be very middle of the road. I suspect how you feel about it will depend very much on your expectations. 

This is one of those film farces where one crazy thing happens after the other, all building up to a crazy over-the-top climax that is nearly unbelievable. And I did find it unbelievable if only because about 50% of what goes wrong in the movie could have been avoided if Elaine (Zoe Saldana) had simply explained why her boyfriend Oscar (James Marsden) was acting like a total nut.

But for no particularly good reason, she says nothing and wacky hijinks ensure. Fortunately, much of those hijinks include Marsden running around starkers and, pardon me for being really shallow, but that was definitely a plus.

As for the "gay" aspect, it's pretty much like the original. Much of the humor depends on two things: the deceased's family being horrified at learning he'd been on the "down low" and rescuing the naked Marsden which involves some inadvertent "junk/facial" contact.

Was I offended by any of it? Not really. Learning a sexual secret about a family member would be shocking and I wouldn't want to have rescue most anyone naked (James Marsden excepted), but it would have been nice if one character had been a little more, "What's the big deal?"

By the same token, better writing could have given us something fresher and more original. Frankly, I'd love to see what the writers from Modern Family would have done with script. 

Next page! Need proof I'm gay? Here you go!