The Year in Queer Movies

So Just How Gay Can a Not-Gay Movie Get?

This year saw several releases of films that had very little or nothing gay about them in terms of plot or characters, but were nonetheless either the fruits of decidedly gay labors or films that gay audiences were uniquely positioned to enjoy.

First and foremost is Hairspray, a film with an all-gay pedigree (written by John Waters, scored by Marc Shaiman, directed by Adam Shankman) but with absolutely nothing gay about it whatsoever. What was initially drag performer Divine in a housedress became super-hetero John Travolta in a fat-suit (and doing a lovely job, as reluctant as I am to admit it). Fortunately, the gay sensibility of all involved shone through, and it is a musical after all.

Not a musical but just as gay was the figure-skating comedy Blades of Glory, in which hetero skaters played by Will Ferrell and Jon Heder compete together as a doubles pair to reclaim their professional glory. While this is an outwardly asinine concept, it’s executed brilliantly and with an amazing eye for tweaking reality to defuse any potentially anti-gay humor.

The film is ultimately about how silly the macho fear of male intimacy really is, and its central bromance is one of the most wonderfully subversive mainstream stories of the year. (Any movie that ends with two straight men literally flying off into the sky together is aces in my book.) Also watch for a stealth gay couple in the duo’s hard-assed coach and choreographer, who are the least flamboyant (not to mention insane) characters in the entire film. Nice work, Will.

Beowulf looked promising, both for its new 3-D motion capture technology and in how that technology was used to render Beowulf’s impressive warrior physique but aside from a few beefcake shots and a ridiculous nude fighting sequence in which Beowulf’s junk is cleverly blocked from view like something from an Austin Powers movie, the film was a total dud.

One last film that had a lot of folks scratching their heads for its perceived gayness was the teen sex comedy Superbad, which told the tale of three losers trying to score beer and get laid at the biggest party of the year. There were no gay characters in the film, but the intense friendship between the two lead characters (played wonderfully by the caustic Jonah Hill and the hilariously awkward Michael Cera) left a lot of viewers wondering exactly what their relationship was all about.