"To a Tee"
Keep Your Eyes on Matt Riddlehoover
Amos Lassen
Last night I was privileged to watch two movies by a new and young moviemaker, Matt Riddlehoover—"To a Tee" and "Bookends". I had actually already seen on Riddlehoover film without realizing it was the same guy. In Watch out", he plays the lead, a man so in love with himself that he is victim to himself. Now I have seen two films that Riddlehoover stars in, directs and writes and I predict that he is a force to be reckoned with in gay cinema. "To a Tee" is a seriously comic film about a gay playwright who finds himself constantly attracted to the wrong kind of guys. He manages to gain the attention of a newspaper reporter (Lindsay Hancock, a quite beautiful and talented young actress) and she favors his work. He feels that he is on his way to fame but then he meets her boyfriend (Jonas Brandon) and things happen as we watch both relationships sink and fail. Riddlehoover opens the film with a monologue that shows his self-absorption and we see right away that there is something not quite right with him; he has a tragic flaw (interestingly enough he also plays the understudy of Hamlet, the character with the greatest flaw of all). The film has some interesting aspects. All of the men that Riddlehoover meets and falls for are played by Brandon and this is as if to say that the playwright is doomed relationship wise. It took me a bit to get into the film but after listening to the monologue, I thought to myself that this film will be something special. It is not our usual movie fare and it certainly made me think about some of the people I have been involved in. When the film was over, I really felt like I needed a drink as I seemed to have used my gamut of emotions while watching it. It is realistic for sure and by watching it you get to get a new look at rising talent. This is one that you do not want to miss.
