8/10
About friendship and one man's (comical) struggle against his own homophobia
4 September 2017
Just as I think of the movie Jeffrey as being set in an alternate 1995 where everyone in New York City is gay friendly, Hazlo Commo Hobre seems to be set in an alternate 2017 Mexico City where where only one guy in all of Mexico City seems to be homophobic (not counting some trash talk from sports opponents). Just random strangers question Jeffrey's reluctance to have another boyfriend, and the particular one he's met who is HIV+, none of Raúl's friends and relatives understand his reaction to his friend being gay. It also reminds me of the Saturday Night Live fake commercial showing parents of gay children popping pills that treat homophobia.

I have a soft spot for movies centered around male friendship, even nonsexual; that's one of the many reasons I identify as a gay man. I liked the rough macho affection between Raúl and Santiago, and was really rooting for their friendship to survive. I like how his loyalty is unwavering and his homophobia takes the form of disbelief and of ham-handed attempts to cure his friend of what he sees as an illness. The only similar movie I recall ever seeing is Date and Switch (2014).

The reported cursing was toned down somewhat in the English subtitles for the U.S. release. I caught just enough of the Spanish dialog to notice a couple of times when words like "jerk" and "idiot" were translated from p--- and m------ words I think are a little stronger, and maybe I missed the even more colorful stuff because I'd never heard those words at all. And speaking of offense, contrary to one reviewer being offended on my behalf and the disclaimers in the closing titles I wasn't fluent enough to fully read, I for one was not offended by anything in the movie, and I found it refreshing that Santiago didn't conform to any gay stereotypes (in my culture anyway) and that his straight friend Eduardo kind of did. (I do in turn feel offended on behalf of women when the guys refuse to forego one last video game to set the table for the meal the women are implied to have cooked, and I imagine they don't appreciate the attitude Raúl expresses about women in his brags.)
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