New York City, mid 1990's, the heart of America's theater community, a mecca for artists, and thus, filled with a gay population that is certain to be over the rumored 10 percent. For handsome Steve Weber, frustration with his sex life and lack of a romantic life, his decision to concentrate only on working out is stalled with a handsome spotter (Michael Weiss) who happens to be HIV positive. This at first isn't an obstacle for the somewhat neurotic Weber but when it comes to making it to their first date, he can't bring himself to go there. So what does Weiss do? Call him up and ball him out? No. Go to a bar and drink to forget? No. He cries a little, dances around the room to get over his hurt, but then picks himself up, dusts himself off, and starts all over again. But like Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli in "Arthur", Weber and Weiss get caught between the moon and New York City, and thanks to some very understanding friends (among them, acerbic Patrick Stewart), come to terms with their differences, all with humor and tears, and only a bit of pathos.
Gay camp humor is abound here as you have Sigourney Weaver as a self-help guru (she can spot a homosexual and a heavy-set woman with low-self esteem immediately in her audience), Christine Baranski as a socialite hosting a "Hoe-down for AIDS", Olympia Dukakis as the mother of a transsexual lesbian (shades of her character from "Tales From the City") and Nathan Lane as a show-tune singing priest. Stewart offers both bitchy humor ("Does this scarf make me look like some gay super hero?") and wise father-like advice as he deals with his own crisis (his dying lover, a chorus boy from "Cats" who shocks Stewart by revealing he has no idea who Ann Miller is!), while a cigarette smoking Mother Theresa look-alike keeps popping in and out. There's wonderful sights of New York's Greewich and West Village (Sheraton Square and Washington Square) and a disturbing gay bashing scene (where one of them appears to be hiding his own sexuality), plus a starry finale that might appear over the top and unrealistic, but certainly every romantic gay man's fantasy. So this isn't a picture perfect adaption of a hit Broadway play, but it is totally entertaining and fast moving, one that may satisfy more for its moments than its total structure. The acting is first rate, although some of the performances are often characteratures rather than fleshed out individuals. This makes it a bit sitcomish in spots, but in the case of this film, that is not an obstacle to enjoying it, only a minor snafu.
Gay camp humor is abound here as you have Sigourney Weaver as a self-help guru (she can spot a homosexual and a heavy-set woman with low-self esteem immediately in her audience), Christine Baranski as a socialite hosting a "Hoe-down for AIDS", Olympia Dukakis as the mother of a transsexual lesbian (shades of her character from "Tales From the City") and Nathan Lane as a show-tune singing priest. Stewart offers both bitchy humor ("Does this scarf make me look like some gay super hero?") and wise father-like advice as he deals with his own crisis (his dying lover, a chorus boy from "Cats" who shocks Stewart by revealing he has no idea who Ann Miller is!), while a cigarette smoking Mother Theresa look-alike keeps popping in and out. There's wonderful sights of New York's Greewich and West Village (Sheraton Square and Washington Square) and a disturbing gay bashing scene (where one of them appears to be hiding his own sexuality), plus a starry finale that might appear over the top and unrealistic, but certainly every romantic gay man's fantasy. So this isn't a picture perfect adaption of a hit Broadway play, but it is totally entertaining and fast moving, one that may satisfy more for its moments than its total structure. The acting is first rate, although some of the performances are often characteratures rather than fleshed out individuals. This makes it a bit sitcomish in spots, but in the case of this film, that is not an obstacle to enjoying it, only a minor snafu.