Straight-Jacket

"Straight-Jacket", despite it's horror film title is one of the best comedies, gay or straight, that I've seen in a long, long time. The sharp-witted script is a delight and the look of the film is great. You really feel like you're watching one of those old 20th Century Fox Cinemascope films from the Fifties (with color by DeLuxe, of course!) Especially wonderful is the new heartthrob discovery Adam Greer, who melts both the main character's heart as well as the audience's. It may seem hard to believe that a vain Hollywood movie star like Guy Stone (the film's protagonist) could fall in love with a Marxist novelist, but Greer makes that plot twist seem not only plausible, but inevitable. Veronica Cartwright (who I loved vomiting up all those cherries in "The Witches of Eastwick") gives another memorable performance as Stone's agent, Jerry. I can hardly wait until this film comes out on DVD so I can buy it.

"Straight-Jacket" is a very funny satire showing what it must have been like for closeted homosexual actors living and working in Hollywood in the 1950's (and who's to say it's really that much better now?). Matt Letscher stars as Guy Stone, a matinée idol along the lines of Rock Hudson, who leads a tricky double life. To the public at large he's a macho superstar heartthrob, the fantasy love object of women the world over, all of whom dream of being the one to finally strip him of his status as filmdom's "most eligible young bachelor." In his private life, he spends most of his time prowling the bar scene for the next available hunk. In fact, Guy is so shallow that he doesn't even bother to learn the names of the star-struck men he sleeps with. Desperate to get the lead role in the upcoming epic "Ben-Hur," Guy agrees to enter into a sham marriage with a naïve young secretary working at the studio (she is unaware of Guy's sexuality and believes he actually loves her). Soon we're deep into a laugh-filled version of "Far From Heaven," with Guy struggling to maintain interest in his new heterosexual lifestyle, a charade that becomes even more difficult after he meets the man of his dreams, an idealistic young writer named Rick Foster, who makes Guy think twice about the life of deceit he's leading.

Director Richard Day has written a script (based on his own stage play) filled with lacerating wit, hilarious puns (starting with the title of the movie and the name of the main character) and absurdist situations. He casts a scathing eye not only on anti-gay prejudice but on Tinsel Town phoniness, Red-baiting and superficial relationships as well. The movie shimmers with the bright, shiny look of '50's films, while the sets and costumes capture the period with rib-tickling fidelity (Guy's peeling himself off a plastic, slip-covered sofa is priceless). The actors are all wonderful in their roles, particularly Letscher as Guy, Carrie Preston as his perfect little wife, Victor Raider-Wexler as the studio head and, above all, Veronica Cartwright (the young girl in "The Birds"), absolutely hilarious as Guy's understanding but pragmatic agent whose job it is to make sure Guy's career and hers don't suddenly come crashing down in flames around them.

"Straight-Jacket" is really a story about a man's coming to terms with reality, accepting himself for who he is, and changing society a little bit for the better in the process - with the Red Scare references serving mainly as allegorical allusions to the homophobia of today. This thematic layering is what makes "Straight-Jacket" one of the sharpest and most thoughtful movie comedies in a long time.

There is a quote by a popular musical duo where they talk about some of their albums as being meant to be taken seriously where as others are meant to be taken as entertainment or for the pleasure and enjoyment. I think film should be viewed this way as well. On that level, this works fine as an entertainment. It's very obvious an independent film with a limited budget and, if anyone bothered to do some research or get the DVD and listen to the voice over, they would have discovered that Skywalker Sound donates their services to films that wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it. So the people complaining about the CGI or the sound obviously have no conception of what an independent movie is. The fact that mainstreams studios have been funding $5 and $10 million movies and releasing them through their art house labels skewers the fact that a number of films are still made and released for budgets well under that. There's no way they had $10M for this movie.

It's a good example of attempting to do what was done with Down With Love but without the budget. The performances are fine, with some really good work by a few of the performers, the dialogue was good although the situations and resolutions were, not surprisingly, predictable, especially at times. It should exceed your expectations unless you really are expecting a $5 or $10 million production or more.

Straight-Jacket is modern camp at its best. A well written script with witty dialogue reminiscent of the era it teases. The film would fall apart if it weren't for the deft handling of the homosexual aspect of the story; instead we are treated with a smart and strangely endearing film which ultimately turns into something of a love story. Loosely based on Rock Hudson's double life, our main character (a leading cinematic heartthrob) has to get married and make an attempt to tone down his lifestyle to cover the fact that he is gay. Set against the backdrop of 50's Americana and Hollywood blacklisting, the mix of comedy and emotion conspire to create a film which is most definitely memorable and absolutely enjoyable.

In 1950s Hollywood actor Guy Stone (Matt Letscher) is very popular--and secretly gay. He's in a gay bar which is raided. To save his image his publicist (Veronica Cartwright) arranges a quick marriage to sweet, adorable Sally (Carrie Preston) without telling her that Stone is gay. Then Stone meets hunky, drop dead handsome Rick Foster (Adam Greer) and falls in love...but what about his marriage and career?

Good gay comedy but far from perfect. Halfway through I thought the movie was going to end...but it kept on going. Basically this was a good hour long movie stretched out to 96 minutes. Also Letscher and Greer are obviously straight--I've never seen such uncomfortable kissing! But those are my only real complaints.

That aside this movie looked great and had a funny script. Most of the actors were recruited from the stage play for the movie so they had their roles down pat. Letscher is good as Stone--arrogant and obnoxious. He obviously buffed up for the role but he just wasn't handsome enough (to me) to be a big Hollywood star. Preston is very good as his wife Sally--sweet and lovable but doesn't overdo it. Greer is impossibly handsome as Rick. He's also buffed up and Stone's attraction to him makes perfect sense. That aside Greer is a very good actor too. And Cartwright is hysterical as Stone's agent --she barrels through this film tossing off one liners left and right.

So--I DID like it but this is no milestone in gay cinema. It's an entertaining well-done fluffy movie--but that's about it. Worth catching if you want an undemanding movie. I give it an 8.