The Year in Queer Movies

Heading the onerous pack of gay-panic-steeped comedies was the wannabe biker wannabe comedy Wild Hogs, which somehow attracted the participation of William H. Macy alongside Tim Allen, John Travolta and Martin Lawrence. Several of the film’s gags were based on these saggy comrades winding up in compromising “gay” positions and reacting with accordant horror, and of course there’s a leering, closeted gay cop thrown in to make things all the more uncomfortable, not to mention knee-slappingly hilarious.

Seriously, this is the best anyone could come up with in 2007? And I’m sorry, but I know some gay bikers who could kick these guys’ asses … and that’s where the interest in said asses would end.

Even a film like Disney’s Enchanted, which told the story of a fairy tale princess who is transported to modern-day New York to promote The Little Mermaid on Broadway, tossed in a gay joke to get an “eeew!” out of the audience. In this case, the dashing, empty-headed prince (James Marsden) comes across a leather daddy who gives him a “how’s your father” look in a comic sequence where the prince is popping into apartments looking for his ladylove.

Harmless? Probably. Necessary? No. And frustrating when it’s the only gay element in a fairy tale that features a voice-over by Julie Andrews, numerous musical numbers, Patrick Dempsey, and a scenery-chewing Susan Sarandon? Uh, yeah.

Death at a Funeral, a British drawing-room comedy helmed by In & Out (1997) director Frank Oz, similarly mined discomfort — including that of the gay variety — for laughs, although with a bit of a lighter hand. In the lukewarm farce, Peter Dinklage played a gay man who shows up at his dead lover’s funeral to attempt to extort money from the deceased’s family who are shocked to learn that their departed patriarch had a lover (of any gender). Most of the humor was of the ill-executed physical variety, but honestly, Dinklage seemed to be tossed around more because of his size, not because of his character’s sexuality. Still, not much of a success by any means.

The quirky fantasy film Stardust was a bomb at the box-office, although it was marginally more successful in how it handled its gay-related humor, and despite boasting Michelle Pfeiffer (who deserves the Rafter-Gnasher of the Year Award, between this and Hairspray), Claire Danes, and Robert De Niro as Captain Shakespeare, a vicious flying pirate who also happens to be a cross-dressing poof.

Sounds atrocious, I know, but aside from a few questionable can-can moments, the character was actually refreshingly different for the genre and undeniably heroic, which is also something all too rare.

De Niro’s transformation from gruff taskmaster to blousy fairy godfather was actually one of the comic highlights of the film, and the fact that his motley crew knew about his ill-concealed sexuality and couldn’t care less sent a message of tolerance that was welcome and fitting for the buoyant film. (Unfortunately, no one actually saw it, but there ya go.)

Stardust also featured supporting turns by out actor Rupert Everett and Little Britain’s (2003) David Walliams, and was narrated by none other than Sir Ian McKellen.