User reviews

This film was a rare treat in that it presents its subject matter with dignity and fun. The comedy, directed by Tommy O'Haver never goes for cheap shots. The story of this somewhat naive photographer trying to make it in Los Angeles, under another writer/director would have gone for the 'on your face' attitude, rather than give it the romantic tone Tommy O'Haver imparted on the movie.

The performances are good. Sean Hayes, who has gone to bigger and better things, is fine as Billy, the photographer. Brad Rowe, as Gabriel, the object of Billy's love, is fine also. Best of all is Meredith Scott Lynn, a fine actress, who is the best asset of this movie. Her Georgina serves to tie all the different plots, and in doing so, she contributes to make the film better. Paul Bartel, Holly Woodlawn and the rest, do a fine job.

Tommy O'Haver made a charming movie about people that are so normal they could be straight for all we know.

"Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss"

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)

Sound format: Dolby Stereo

An LA photographer (Sean Hayes) falls madly in lust with an aspiring model (Brad Rowe) who's been hired to pose in a series of pictures inspired by old-time Hollywood movies. But Hayes receives mixed signals from the object of his desire - is he gay, or isn't he? - which leads to complications of the heart...

Described as a 'trifle' by writer-director Tommy O'Haver (ELLA ENCHANTED), this unassuming confection asks little more of its audience than to enjoy the scenery (both geographical and human!) and to pine along with its luckless protagonist as he pursues the hunk of his dreams. Those familiar with Hayes' outrageous turn in TV's "Will & Grace" may be disappointed by his restraint as a bland, scatterbrained idealist who learns the hard way that the course of true love never ran smoothly, especially in LA. Spiced with dream sequences that recreate moments from Hollywood's 'golden age' (most impressively, an Astaire-Rogers dance routine between Hayes and Rowe to the strains of Petula Clark, with drag queens on backing vocals!), the film pays affectionate tribute to the movies of a bygone era, movies which inspire the leading character on his never-ending quest for perfect happiness. Watch out for the magical scene in which Hayes and Rowe share a bed for purely platonic reasons, only to end up touching each other by 'accident'...

Also starring Meredith Scott Lynn (STANDING ON FISHES), Richard Ganoung (PARTING GLANCES), Paul Bartel (EATING RAOUL), Carmine D. Giovinazzo (IN ENEMY HANDS), and Warhol 'superstar' Holly Woodlawn (WOMEN IN REVOLT) as a musical attraction at the gayest party in town! Beautiful widescreen cinematography by Mark Mervis (HELLBENT).

If you watch this movie expecting Sean Hayes to play a Jack McFarland ("Will & Grace") type character, you'll be disappointed. His portrayal of Billy is low-key & pensive. He's adorable (instead of obnoxious & swishy) with a little boy twinkle in his eyes. Billy is a photographer from Indiana who has relocated to Los Angeles. He comes across a waiter/bass player (Brad Rowe as Gabriel, a character I'm not too crazy about) working in a coffee shop, who becomes his model & the object of his affection. Supposedly, Gabriel is straight & has a "girlfriend" in San Francisco. The sexual tension between these two can be cut with a knife (it's nerve wracking.) I especially like the scenes where Billy opens up to Gabriel about his life & experiences. Telling him the types of things you'd only share with someone you truly feel connected to. Is Gabriel gay?? Will they get together??... (The film has great sets, & beautiful colors. There are also hideous drag queens on hand. The one who lip syncs Petula Clark tunes is horrendous looking & it's amusing hearing/seeing Pet Clark's voice come out of that face!)

This very nicely photographed film is not going to go down as a great classic.

But it is entertaining with very likable characters.

Actor/Director Paul Bartel (Eating Raoul, Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills) has a good role as a gay photographer.

The fantasy movies that run in Billy's head are very nicely done. The tacky drag all through the film are the only laugh-out-loud scenes.

All-in-all quite an enjoyable, low-budget film.

I doubt that this film was intended to make any serious social commentary other than, perhaps, that gays are quite capable of poking fun at themselves.

The movie was funny and amusing. The singing trio that's a running gag throughout the film is hysterical. The spoofs on classic films and the movie-like dream sequences were at times side-splitting.

I thought the film possessed a certain serious subtext but it never competed with the comedic intent of the script. The actors were flawless in their understated deliveries of their often witty lines. Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss is a delightful film that should be seen and enjoyed by gays and straights alike.

This movie starts as a comedy, but somewhere along the way, it becomes a touching drama. The story about Billy who is often rejected by his love interests will give you a very different view of homosexuals, whom often portrayed as a group of people who have sex a lot and always change partners. This movie will show you that that is not the case. It's worth the money.

"Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" is a small 1998 film about a gay photographer (Sean P. Hayes) who falls for a young Brad Pitt/Robert Redford type waiter named Gabriel (Brad Rowe) but isn't sure if he's gay, straight, or undecided. Billy's looking for love in all the wrong places - a boyfriend committed to someone else is his latest. He uses Gabriel as a model for some of his photographs, which are re-enactments of famous movie scenes, and tries to figure out where he stands.

There are some nice performances and neat touches in this film, including some fun drag numbers by Mr. Dan and Billy's dream sequences. The best scene in the film is a bed scene between Billy and Gabriel, strictly PG-13, that says more than pages of dialogue ever could.

The late Paul Bartel plays an older, successful photographer, and Days of Our Lives fans will recognize Matthew Ashford as his boyfriend. Everyone is very good - for me, the beginning seemed a little stilted, but that faded quickly.

I was interested in reading some of the reviews on IMDb that for some, this film was somewhat of a revelation about gay life and gay people. As I have many gay friends and am not a kid, it wasn't for me. It's nice though that people see Billy as a lonely person without a ton of self-esteem who'd like to make a real love connection - in other words, just a human being.

This is another one of those "discovered by accident while channel surfing" movies that I am always grateful to have found. Before the movie was over, I was online buying the DVD. O'Haver must have summoned all his Indy Film clout to muster the likes of Paul Ganoung, Meredith Scott Lynn and the fabulous Paul Bartel to lend their talents both on and off the camera, but the coup of coups was casting Sean Hayes.

Hayes is superb as Billy, a struggling gay photographer yearning for love. He falls for Gabriel (Brad Rowe) who may or may not be gay. The rest of the film dances around the inevitable question and let's just say that things have a way of working out for the best, albeit differently from what we often expect.

Actor, writer, director and absolute gay icon Paul Bartel, who unfortunately passed away a couple of years after Screen Kiss, is deliciously unctuous as a would be mentor. Brad Rowe is passable, if a little lightweight, and benefits immeasurably from his co-star. Sean Hayes, even before the runaway success of Will and Grace, demonstrates the comedic genius that steals almost every scene. Spliced throughout the movie are several numbers by Mr. Dan, a notable drag artist and promoter from L.A., and as Petula Clark he helps generate the sheer joy of watching this movie.

If you remember Lou Reed's classic "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" you may enjoy watching Holly Woodlawn ("Holly came from Miami F-L-A" - yes THAT Holly) as the party hostess.

The DVD commentary is worthwhile, and offers an inside view of the resourcefulness it takes to make a good indie film. It does not detract from the importance of BHSK that it is not an original film. O'Haver had been toying with the basic story idea since his earlier Catalina, but in BHSK the story is more fully developed and humorous. Touching, moving, gentle and risqué, an uplifting and life-affirming message wrapped in a carnival of Angelean queer decadence.

Billy is an aspiring art photographer in Los Angeles, drawn to LA, as he explains in the opening monologue, because of its tolerance to gays like himself, unlike his small Midwestern hometown. Now after years in LA, he misses the sedentary monogamous lifestyle of the straight world he left behind. He yearns for his Mr. Right.

Into Billy's life struts Gabriel; waiter, musician, model. He and Billy hit it off immediately. There is an attraction, but is Gabriel also gay? He says he has a girlfriend, or does he really? The entire movie is the romantic kabuki dance Billy and Gabriel engage in while sorting out their relationship.

Not bad, but this one-note movie stretches it's story pretty thin before crossing the finish line. It does keep its legs though and is not a bad rental when in the mood for a trifle.

Aptly described by its producer as a trifle, this is a cheerful little romantic comedy about a gay photographer (SEAN HAYES) who fantasizes about what it would be like to connect with a gay hunk (BRAD ROWE) who seems to be leading him on in a homo-erotic relationship that Rowe prefers to keep platonic. The bedroom scene is the best acted, best scripted, best directed moment in the whole film, done with rare sensitivity and acting skill by both. It culminates in nothing, which is what one feels by the time the movie has come to its disappointing finale. Nothing really new has opened up food for thought.

By turns, sad, wistful, funny, irreverent, with a cast full of what we call misfits (and rather shallow ones at that), it fails to do anything more than pass the time as the kind of interesting little gay trifle that gains sympathy for Sean Hayes' character. At the same time one can't help being irritated by his hopelessly romantic character molded by the tacky romantic films he grew up on. Makes its point by having strains from Max Steiner's "Now, Voyager" as part of the background score.

Certainly not for everyone, but amusing enough to please fans of SEAN HAYES who will no doubt like seeing him in a more restrained role than the gay man he played on "Will and Grace". He does well in the part. BRAD ROWE is a bit stiff as his fair-haired dreamboy (and would-be lover), lacking the ability to create any sympathy at all for his character by the film's end. He's really too bland to care about.

Darkly handsome JASON-SHANE SCOTT as Brad might have been a better choice for Rowe's key role since he shows considerable more dramatic ability in a minor part as well as the model looks required.

One of the very few movies I saw twice this year, and not just because newcomer Brad Rowe is so terribly easy on the eyes. Whether you're gay or straight (although, I suspect, particularly if you're a gay man), you're bound to see yourself on the screen more than once. Billy (Sean P. Hayes) rushes headlong to a place where we've all gone before, a place where angels fear to tread: the Territory of Unrequited Affection. We've all been there; we've all done it. The desire and need for emotional as well as physical intimacy is a great and terrible thing, and Billy's struggle is one we can identify with while still seeing the humor inherent in our own all-too-human endeavors. Bright, cheerful cinematography makes the most of the distinctly L.A. locations (West Hollywood, Catalina Island). Gentle, tender, funny, for the most part honest, and not a diatribe--which meant that I could recommend it to my straight friends, too.

For the gay world here's a theme that all gay men can understand. Crushing out on what you think is the ultimate sex object, only the object doesn't quite reciprocate. Sean Hayes plays the title role as a gay man who makes his living as a photographer in Hollywood.

The object of his affections is Brad Rowe whom he meets at a Starbuck like establishment in West Hollywood and he's serving him his order. Rowe is stunningly attractive and he seems unsure of himself in terms of where he belongs in the sexual universe. He's quick to mention he has a girlfriend back in San Francisco, but doesn't really want to talk about here.

If you're gay you've been in Hayes's situation and if you are as stunning as Rowe is you've been where he is. Hayes thinks Venus has smiled on him, but Rowe gives a great performance of a sexually confused man who could probably get anyone he wants in the straight or gay world. But Hayes is Hamlet like in whether to make a move.

It's a gay universal theme that's explored and will be such a theme until there's no one out there willing to raise a great hue and cry about whom we kanoodle with. Hayes who usually plays some pretty outrageous characters is both subdued and effective here.

I do love the fantasy sequence where the elegantly clad Hayes and Rowe do a nice dance to Charlie Chaplin's This Is My Song. If I didn't know better I would swear it was written for this film.

I recommend this film for all kinds of audiences, but especially those made up of gay youth and young adults.

Gay-themed fluff about a photographer with an infatuation for a straight waiter whitewashes the whole prospect of two men caring about each other in the physical sense. In an example of what has become typical of gay cinema, the characters are allowed to say they're gay but not to BE GAY. They have gay impulses, but are not allowed to act upon them. These movie-gays are in the same closet as James Coco's actor from 1981's "Only When I Laugh" (who tossed off lines about painting his toenails and cruising Central Park, but never got to flirt with another man on-screen). Some viewers might say this is fine with them--perhaps they don't wish to see two men being intimate--but, unfortunately, writer-director Tommy O'Haver never gives audiences a chance to decide (he's too busy evading the issue and hedging his bets). Tellingly, the most vivacious character in the whole film is a straight woman (fetchingly played by Meredith Scott Lynn) and the only man-to-man kiss on display is played for a cheap laugh. It sets gay cinema back 20 years. *1/2 from ****

Considered in the context of an initial effort by a young director, I thought this was a very nice film. As a gay man, I found the characters all very believable and recognizable, and the protagonist Billy utterly charming. All in all, skillful, original and sweet. Don't go in expecting a deep cinematic experience, but accept it for what it is and I don't think you will be disappointed. However, those who are not gay or who cannot empathize with the gay experience, will probably not be moved, notwithstanding the director's attempt to show the universal character of human love and experience.

In West Hollywood, young photographer Sean Hayes (as William "Billy" Collier) appears bored with his amorous, model-perfect lover Armando Valdes-Kennedy (as Fernando), who would like to make it a threesome with even younger lover Mark Allen Anderson (as Peter). An aspiring, but unemployed "Polaroid" photographer, Mr. Hayes wants a monogamous, romantic relationship. While out for coffee with straight girlfriend Meredith Scott Lynn (as George, short for Georgiana), Hayes admires model-perfect waiter Brad Rowe (as Gabriel). Hayes is stricken. Later, he meets Mr. Rowe at a shallow party and offers the young hunk a job modeling for a series of photographs he's taking of beautiful young men kissing drag queens...

Not to put this film too far down, but it fails if we're supposed to question whether or not Rowe's character might be gay or bisexual. It could be that what writer-director Tommy O'Haver conveys is Hayes' insecurity and/or fear of rejection. Even the declaration "I have a girlfriend in San Francisco," seems like an invitation. We do want Hayes and Rowe to get together, so the story can be disappointing if they don't. Also, it may be difficult to feel sorry for a guy who slips out of bed with one attractive lover and appears to be headed for another, just because he doesn't get the one in between...

There is not much on-screen sex in "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss", as Mr. O'Haver reveals in the opening. That's not bad in itself, but we know there would be a lot more shown if the story focused on a man and a woman. Consequently, our suspicion that both Hayes and Rowe prefer to be sexually passive (with other men) is sketchy. That seems be their problem. Through most of their hesitating courtship, we wonder why Hayes doesn't take more of a lead. Most of the time, "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" plays like a "gay film". It would have been better as an offbeat film about the appealing characters created by O'Haver. Still, the music and dream sequences add an exceptional charm, both celebrating and lifting us out of the genre.

******* Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss (1998-06-04) Tommy O'Haver ~ Sean Hayes, Brad Rowe, Richard Ganoung, Meredith Scott Lynn

"Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" is something I think gays have been missing for a while; that is, a simple, fluffy, light-hearted, funny love story. This isn't a complicated film, and if you're looking for a movie that gets all angst-filled and dramatic with its portrayals of gay relationships, this isn't it. This is just a very charming and delightful movie about the bittersweet longing for someone you fear you can't have. I think the ending, sometimes maligned, is simply saying that the quest for love is universal and unending. You just gotta keep looking. It seems that very few people actually ever find true love, so the rest of us just have to make do the best we can with the journey. BHSK is, up to a point, also about that.

I am a straight guy and I LOVED this movie. My friend told me to rent it and watch it without reading the summary, so I did. I never would have seen this movie otherwise, but I am so glad that I did. It was educational for me as well as entertaining. I definitely recommend seeing this movie to anyone who is deciding whether or not to see it. It was GREAT!!!

I scanned the comments to see if this had come up, but unfortunately it had not.

Richard Ganoung, who plays the older friend who does in fact plant the titled kiss, starred in one of my all-time favorite (and rarely seen) gay movies.

Ganoung was the male lead of 1986's Parting Glances. I had only sought the film out a couple of years back, because a couple of clips were featured in The Celluloid Closet. In checking out his filmography, this is his first good role in the 12 years since.

While Ganoung may not be the most spectacular of actors, he does display depth. Contrasting both of his roles will probably give you a better appreciation of the role he plays in this one. He went from being the youthful object of affection to the older man longing for his younger friend.

Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss can't hold a candle to Parting Glances, which also features early work from Steve Buscemi and Kathy Kinney before her Drew Carey fame.

I highly recommend getting the video and watching both films to see the different ways gays and relationships are portrayed.

Ratings..... Billys: 7 Parting Glances: 10

I thought this movie was a masterpiece. The movie is a delicate blend of stereotype and reality, allowing the audience to realize what's real and what's fake. It centers around a young man and his object of affection. The fact that this object of affection is another man throws an interesting twist that makes the audience realize that there is very little difference between gays and straights. Very thoughtful, the wisecracking Billy spends the entire movie trying to figure out if Gabriel (His love from afar) is gay or straight. It centers around relationships and how difficult they are no matter what sexual preference. Superbly done by all actors and actresses, but especially Sean P. Hayes.

I avoid a lot of "gay" cinema (and books) because I fear the clichés and internalized homophobia one so often finds there. But every once in awhile, I try to check out something in the hope that things have changed.

This was not a movie that met my hopes.

Frankly, I was irritated by this movie from the opening narration, full of the sort of sad "melancholic gay me, outcast as a child with Mom my only friend, unable to really connect as an adult which has made my life sort of sad, but I try to joke my way through the pain" narration that should have dropped out of gay art years ago, along with pink feather boas and bad Judy Garland impersonations.

There's nothing HORRIFIC about this movie -- it just plods along its relatively predictable path, occasionally stopping to underscore silly or offensive clichés like the gay man with the fag had best friend, or the older gay gentlemen and his loud and crass sexual double-entendres or the standard attempt to portray a "gay" party that consists primarily of "witty" insults among the guests. The odd bits of drag and performance art were just annoying filler.

Sigh.

I will say that the "connection" between Hayes' and Rowe's characters does work and the scene where they are in bed together is played very well. (For those who haven't seen the movie, don't get too excited about the idea that there is a bed scene between them -- it's a good scene, but not what you're thinking.)

But, as at least one other reviewer has pointed out, the way that their relationship is left -- specifically the way Rowe's character behaves in his last scene, simply doesn't fit with how he's behaved (or what we've been told) before.

Overall, I didn't find that this movie warranted spending the 90-some minutes I spent on it and I really couldn't recommend it to anyone.

On a larger note, this film made me think a little about why so much "gay" cinema is unsatisfying. I suspect that one of the problems is that so much of it is based on material prepared by younger first-time writers/first-time directors, who often seem to be exploiting gay life as a way to get a first movie made or seen, but who then go off to do more mainstream projects afterward. What is missing are mature writers and directors (and I realize that "mature" in Hollywood means, at most, 35 but even that would be an improvement) making films about gay life when it has moved beyond the issues that pertain either to the coming-out/lost loves of early adolescence period or to the lives of gay men during the screw-around and party and try to get a boyfriend stage.

Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss is an uplifting gay film that appeals to both heterosexual and homosexual audiences. The bright colors, wide screen, and quirky, yet witty, sense of humor make this film a breath of fresh air! O 'Haver uses his knowledge in films to bring an old time romance to the 90's. Being a heterosexual woman, I loved the film and have experienced many feelings that "Billy" has. It really is a stroke of genius!

An infuriating movie. Sean Hayes, a gay unhappy in love (can we put that stereotype to rest PLEASE?) photographer falls in lust (understandably) with handsome, hunky Brad Rowe. Problem--is Rowe gay or not? Constantly the movie sets us up to see Rowe out of his clothes and, just as we think somethings going to happen, pulls back. This happens at least THREE times! It gets annoying and frustrating. Then it all leads up to a ridiculous and real bad conclusion--it's supposed to be happy, but it left me cold. This movie tries (too hard) to appeal to gay and straight audiences and ends up doing neither. The acting is pretty good (especially Rowe), but the movie is just bad. I gave it a 4 because it is colorful to watch and the drag queens singing and dancing numbers were enjoyable. Still, a must-miss.

I rented this movie and bought it the very next day. It was probably the most real movie about relationships that I've seen in several years. It continues to make me laugh after screening it at least five times. Great acting and filming. It also has an excellent use of color.

This movie is excellent. Good acting by all the actors and quite funny. It's a nice light tale of Billy who loves to produce his own art in the form of polaroids. He falls in love with the guy that he asks to be his model for his first REAL photo shoot. The model is supposedly straight but is breaking up with his "girlfriend" and seems to be slowly opening up to Billy and his lifestyle. Billy thinks he can have him but isn't sure if he's gay or not. Finally they get together but it's the model's first time and it falls through. He loses the model to a bigger shoot by another photo artist. The model goes to Catalina Island and Billy and others are invited (sort of) to the party afterwards. Billy chases after his model love just to find that his model has fallen in love with someone else. He also discovers that one of his best friends has loved him from afar for sometime but he never knew it. At the end he finally get's his photos seen at a show and another friend introduces him to someone else that loves his work and you can see that he is probably headed for love again and you leave the movie feeling that he is going to live happily ever after with the new friend.

I feel the movie is great because it takes a situation than we've all seen many times in movies about heterosexuals and switches it to the gay life. The nice thing is it shows that this is normal everyday life for anyone; gay or straight. Anyone could see this and love it gay or straight if they just watch it for what it is. This is not (in my opinion) a "gay" movie; it is a movie about they everyday life of anyone who's out there looking for love. The film maker simply showed that everyday life includes gays as well. Sure it centered around a gay man but it DID NOT center around gay life. It centered around LIFE. Period! :) I'm pleased with this film on many levels but the fact that it shows that everyone goes through the same thing and has the same feelings regardless of whether they are gay or straight is my favorite thing about this film. I highly recommend this film for everyone to see. :)