Trick
Date viewed: August 1, 1999
Location: Chelsea Cinemas, Manhattan

The premise sounds tacky and horribly sexist but please read the entire review before making any judgements.

Here goes. Two young, attractive gay men cruise each other on a New York City subway. They hook up and spend an entire night looking for a place to have sex with each other. Ick! Could they have found a more stereotypical story to tell about homosexuals? But the movie turned into a very sweet love story.

Gabriel is a sweet, cute-as-button, songwriter that never dreamed a hot stripper like Rick would be interested in him. But he was and they spend an evening wandering around Manhattan looking for a place to get jiggy wid it. Their misadventures and seemingly endless line of failed attempts draw them closer together and give them a chance to get to know each other before hopping into bed.

Miss Tori Spelling plays Gabriel's best friend. I've never thought much of or about the actress, but Miss Spelling has a real knack for comedy. Her rendition of Gabriel's showtune masterpiece, "Enter You", had me in stitches. She also has a great breakdown at the end of the movie over her lack to desire to be a lesbian and the missing topping for her cheese fries. Who knew she could be an asset to a movie?

It's fantastic to see a movie about gay men that doesn't deal with gay bashing, AIDS, coming out or family problems. How refreshing to see two gay men living their lives and experiencing the problems that all people face. It's about time such a movie hit theaters.

It isn't all peaches and cream though. Several scenes in the movie are way too long and certain situations (like Gabriel and Rick attempting to attend Miss Spelling's play as they had promised) are completely missing. And I'm all for hiring "real" talent, but be sure they can act. Coco Peru, a drag queen in real life, is hilarious as a bitter queen Rick once jilted. But Harry Weston, a cabaret singer in real life, is woefully overused as a cabaret-singing friend of Gabriel's.

Listen to me: Enjoy a sweet story about two men falling in love. Laugh all you want. It's a funny movie.

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