Out at the Movies: "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," yes, but so much more

Posted by

on April 10, 2009

The long-awaited screen adaptation of Michael Chabon's polymorphously perverse The Mysteries of Pittsburgh finally opens today in New York and Los Angeles, but with a little digging, we can find some queer subtext in all of this weekend's new movies.

Read on for more!

The big gay movie release of the weekend is The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, starring Jon Foster (above) as a young man having one last summer fling before adult responsibility begins. This entails having affairs not only with his boss (Mena Suvari) at his menial bookstore gig and with the beautiful but enigmatic Jane (Sienna Miller) but also with Jane's boyfriend Cleveland (Peter Sarsgaard).

The reviews have not been great, but if you've been impatiently awaiting the movie of the Chabon book, it might be worth at least a look-see.

Also opening this weekend is the exceedingly dark comedy Observe and Report, which critics seem to either love or hate. While there's lots of hetero posturing on display, keep an eye out for Brandi's (Anna Faris) gay sidekick at the department store makeup counter.

Another woman obsessed with shopping is Miley Cyrus in Hannah Montana: The Movie, also opening today. She plays Miley Stewart, a regular high school girl who is secretly also international pop phenom Hannah Montana. When her dad thinks she's spending too much energy on being Hannah, at the expense of her life as Miley, he packs her off to Tennessee for some good old fashioned family values. (The catfight in a Rodeo Drive shoe store with Tyra Banks was probably the last straw.) Anyone who spent their adolescence hiding an identity that their parents didn't like will probably relate in some way or other.

And finally, there's the dopey but totally fun live-action anime adaptation Dragonball Evolution. Justin Chatwin (who played a gay teen on the Weeds pilot) plays a young martial arts expert obsessed with balls. That's as much queer subtext as I can dig up on this one, folks. Enjoy your holiday weekend.