Lie Down with Dogs

Tommie, a fairly unattractive young man (by the usual Hollywood standard of gay film characters at any rate) with a dead-end job handing out fliers in New York, an occupation not normally associated with people who use an American Express card as he does, decides to head off to Provincetown to join in the gay life there. Although it's meant to be a summer adventure, many of the background shots of Provincetown imply it's actually late fall or winter and that Provincetown is a ghost town.

The object of his quest isn't entirely clear because much of the film is given over to him traipsing about from guest house to guest house seeking employment as a house boy and, somewhat incidentally, looking for someone with whom to form a relationship. He rejects making any attempt to meet the one guy who everyone else regards as the best catch out there and who, by the end of the film and too late in the summer stay, turns out to be quite a nice, intelligent person. I guess the lesson to be learned is that one shouldn't prejudge others or that one should seize opportunities when they present themselves.

Most of the people he meets, whether gay visitors or locals, come across as weird and display some of the worse gay stereotypes, in some cases verging on the venal or psychotic. At least one gay stereotype … that they all possess a fashion sense …is laid to rest. Tommie's wardrobe often suggests he's auditioning for the lead in a revival of Leave It to Beaver. His pursuits of employment and a relationship are a disaster, but despite lengthy periods of un- or under-employment he has his American Express card to keep him going. I wonder where the monthly statements are sent.

There are some mildly amusing moments, but for the most part the film drags on and on with no apparent point or direction other than to imply that most gays are low-life types and that the people of Provincetown form a colony of weirdos. I'm not sure if the rather preposterous title, Lie Down With Dogs (and you get up with fleas) refers to this subset of humanity, but I'm pretty sure Tommie brought along his own fleas.

Unlike some other reviewers, I wouldn't say it's the worst gay film ever … that's a pretty crowded field … but I can't think of any reason to recommend that anyone bother to watch it. I notice this is Wally White's only venture into film making, for which we can all be grateful.

"Lie Down With Dogs" probably only exists because it was a product of the mid-90s, and as such has become a bit of a time capsule of an era that is now long gone, for good or ill. In the early 90s entertainment with gay themes began to capture the interests of straight viewers; "Philadelphia," "Priscilla Queen Of The Desert," "The Crying Game" and the PBS mini- series "Tales From The City" were all successful and proved to Hollywood that there was money to be made in "gay cinema." The sole motivating factor in Hollywood is making a buck; suddenly gay meant cash, and there was a flood of gay-themed movies. Most of them were pretty terrible, some of them ("Broken Hearts Club," "Jeffrey," "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss," "To Wong Foo") had bigger budgets and tried hard, and sometimes succeeded. The main thing Hollywood created was content: for the first time in history, there was an abundance of gay-themed films that took the subject matter more or less for granted-- these were not stories about perverts, degenerates and losers, the homosexuals of these films were heroes.

Nowadays it's hard to imagine how a film like "Lie Down With Dogs" would get any attention at all. Gay-themed films are the "B-movies" of the day, micro-budgeted without much distribution, but there are scads of them. Most of them are, like "LDWD," fluffy, forgettable and mostly fun, low on budget, acting or story but entertaining enough--like a trashy summer read. "LDWD" in particular shows a time when gay men looked a certain way, acted a certain way and thought certain ways...just listening to the soundtrack is like hearing a time capsule of what the 90s *sounded* like.

I picked this movie up for a dollar out of curiosity recently and found that what the movie is "about" was of little importance--that it isn't about a conflicted gay man trying to come out in a straight world or writhing in shame is the significant thing. That it's a mindless comedy about a young man on the prowl for love makes it no different than thousands of rom-coms made for straight people, which is also significant. There are now dozens of such movies to choose from but that wasn't always the case, and in a weird way makes "LDWD," which is NOT a particularly good film, a bit of a landmark. Also too the fact that the "author" of the film seems to have passed away lends the film a bit of significance, or at least poignancy; all the bubble-headed, insatiable, selfish characters in the film would now be a good deal older as would be the target audience for this film, gay men in 1995. The 90s are gone, the world has changed and "Tommy" and his buddies would have passed the torch to a younger generation of egocentric P-Town tourists by now. It makes the film seem almost sad somehow, in that light. I would be surprised if anyone even remembers this movie at all in another 10 years (or even today), and that's not the end of the world, but as a time capsule of a different era I think it's rather thought-provoking.

The movie is fun. Wally makes you wonder what to do with a summer... work or play... hmmm... PLAY of course! The characters are human and the relationships are predictable but, life is just that way sometimes.

I read a lot of bad reviews of this movie and I saw it 2 times in almost 4 years, but it remains not funny. Well, I have to admit, some things are really original, but that doesn't mean it's well performed. The actor's couldn't act and the director is the star is the producer is the screenplay writer! This picture was doomed to fail, because only Welles and Tarantino can do this. If you're planning to direct a movie you've written and payed for, and acted in, fine, go ahead, but don't show it to people outside your family.

But I don't want to write too many bad things about this (cult?!) movie. This picture is good because it's bad and that's the reason you should see this film: to watch and learn how you shouldn't make movies. And if you watch it when you're happy, you can see that the clichés were showed for a reason.

I was somewhat disappointed after seeing Lie Down With Dogs. I had a friend tell me that it was hilarious and that I would love it. I don't think "Love" is the word to describe how I liked the film. While it wasn't a complete waste of time, it wasn't a really good use of my time either. I love to see new gay themed movies coming out more and more often. However, when making a gay themed movie it is a good idea to develop your characters to some extent and have some plot. Just making a gay movie for the sake of making a gay movie is not a good enough reason. There are some funny moments in the film but overall the acting is really bad and there is really no story. Again, I don't advise NOT watching this movie, as I know some who thought it was hilarious...just don't go into it with really high hopes.