To critique the way the press (mis)treats celebrities, Rob Williams (Make the Yuletide Gay) apparently made a list of talking points and hired two actors to recite them. That they do so in various stages of undress, often in bed, is supposed to make Role/Play (out on Feb. 8) entertaining; however, the actors look better than they talk—and they talk a lot.
Closeted soap star Graham Windsor (Steve Callahan) has been fired from his job. What's more, his relationship has ended after he was outed by a sex tape that mysteriously appeared on the Internet. He retreats to a gay Palm Springs inn to plan his next move. It must be the only gay resort there without a clothing-optional policy, but Graham swims naked anyway.
Arriving around the same time is "that big gay-marriage activist" Trey Reed (Matthew Montgomery), who was caught cheating and is in the throes of a divorce. They start out dissing each other about the negative impact of their behavior on the community, but before you can say "rebound affair" they're having a—well, you said it.
In post-coital moments they discuss whether gay actors should come out, whether a gay divorce hurts our arguments for marriage equality and whether a free press has the right to invade the privacy of public figures. When they run out of things to say someone reveals a secret that changes things a little and gives them something else to talk about.
The script is like a debate and the actors sound like they're at a casual reading, not a performance, more concerned with diction than emotion.
David Pevsner adds a bit of life as the only other significant character, Alex, the owner of the inn. He encourages romance and offers bits of worldly wisdom. Jim J. Bullock cameos as Graham's agent, who at one point is charged with drafting a press release moments after Graham said he was writing his own.
Brief insights into how the industry conspires to keep the secret of gay actors threaten to become interesting, but don't go deep enough.
A side discussion about whether gay publications should be writing about non-gay celebrities, even if they're our allies, may be as relevant today as it was 40 years ago, but it's a lot more tired. It doesn't help that Trey voices his opinion at the same time that he complains about the bad press he's getting in the gay media. Maybe he'd rather they gave the space to Lady Gaga?
A real-life couple as well, Callahan and Montgomery show a lot of flesh in Role/Play but their performances are only skin deep.
It's a new year but the same old SCARCE ( www.myspace.com/scarcemovie&; is still the highlight of Steve Warren's career. Watch for him in Always & Forever (ABC Family) and NeverFail (Cartoon Network).
