This afternoon my boyfriend and I went to Stardust. Really enjoyed the movies. I won't go into much detail about the plot because I don't want to spoil the whole movie but there is a guy and a girl on a quest and they are being chased. Along the way they are picked up by some ruthless pirates who fly the skies collecting lightening and selling it at market. The pirates are lead by a guy with a reputation of being merciless and cruel. The dreaded pirate is played by Robert De Niro. But here is the twist....the ruthless pirate isn't so ruthless, he's actually a lispy, mincing cross-dressing homosexual. DeNiro played the pirate over the top gay. Way over. If "you go girl" and "Mary" had been around in 16th Century Britain then he's have been saying it. BUT! I wasn't annoyed or insulted by it...that was the character. He was a total queen. When his cabin doors were open he was a butch mean SOB, then they were closed he was nelly. The most interesting thing was the reaction of the audience. I don't know if they were doubled over laughing at the fact that Robert De Niro was playing a lisping queen in a corset or if they were laughing at the over the top homosexual. I tend to think it was the way the character was played that they were laughing at, it was a much older audience. I'm 20 and we were probably the only people in the theater under 30. It was a very early showing. But they were doubled over laughing. All men doing the laughing.

But even if I was going to hold the character against the movie I'd still say I'm glad it had the stroy the way it did for two reasons - 1) The captain was outed in the end and the whole crew of cut throat pirates said "We knew and you're still our captain." They accepted him even though it was his biggest fear that he'd lose his reputation. 2) Several times in this storyline and two other running storylines in the movie the point was made, "Why would you want to be something you're not?"

And in the end Robert de Niro flirts with a cutie.

Plus! And here is something I really want to know about - Who was behind this movie? It was SOOOOO gay. Ian McKellan was the narrator. Ruperett Everett was one of the princes and had some very brief scenes. The pro gay storyline.

Did anybody else see the movie?