Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Knight at the Movies: Adam & Steve
by Richard Knight, Jr.
2006-03-29

This article shared 4238 times since Wed Mar 29, 2006
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Pictured From Adam ( Craig Chester ) and Steve ( Malcom Gets ) .

In tried and true romantic comedy form, Adam & Steve begins with a flashback. It's 1987 and Adam ( Craig Chester ) , a double for The Cure's Robert Smith, and his hefty gal pal Rhonda ( Parker Posey ) wander into Manhattan's Danceteria thinking its Goth night. It's not, but seeing the fetching Steve ( Malcom Gets ) , dressed only in a skimpy loin cloth, up on stage leading his dance troupe in a typical 'I Eat Cannibals' style number, they decide to stay. After a tentative meeting, a nightmarish one-night stand between the two men involving lots of cocaine cut with baby laxative follows.

We then flash forward 17 years later where the duo will meet again, not remember each other until much later in the picture, and become involved in a relationship that, like the movie, proceeds in fits and starts. Adam has become a recovering drug addict, Steve a psychiatrist/counselor. Both are now in their mid-30s and neither has found a satisfying relationship. Not that golden boy Steve with the gym bunny body is particularly searching either—he's more than happy trysting away at the health club showers or at the baths while the mournful, pessimistic Steve, with the dark circles under the eyes, is like a walking case of anxiety who seems to walk around with a 'Victim' sign taped to his forehead.

Somehow—and it's never quite clear just how—these two hit it off and start dating. What ensues is a sort of cross between the mid-'90s gay comedy Jeffrey and The Way We Were. In this version Steve is light WASP Robert Redford to Adam's dark Jewish Barbra Streisand. Nothing seems to suggest that Adam and Steve really belong together but somehow the relationship, like the film, keeps bumping along and after a while, the clunky rhythms have a cumulative effect and you start rooting for the mismatched pair.

The odd coupling is helped by Rhonda, now slimmed down and doing stand-up comedy and hindered by Steve's oddball friend, Michael ( Chris Kattan ) , who plays … well Chris Kattan. Once these two hook up ( in a funny scene over a shared bong and an evening of American Movie Classics on TV ) , their characters, annoying up to that point, are fleshed out and actually their romance in some ways becomes more interesting than the one between the two leads. Maybe because instead of seeing Adam and Steve in those little unusual moments, we see the usual stuff—like those standard set pieces where each meets the other's parents. Steve's mother ( played by Melinda Dillon ) and his father are disapproving uptight conservatives while Adam's ( played by Julie Haggerty and Paul Sand ) are Jewish, accepting and sweet but are described as 'unlucky' and seen to be so in a scene that is so over the top as to be cartoonish. These familiar actors aren't really given much to do, however, and could have used some help from the writing department.

All this before either Adam or Steve has the 'aha!' moment when they realize they met back in the 1987 that fateful night at Danceteria ( which actually closed in 1986—but let's not quibble ) and suddenly the relationship is in crisis. Next, also in typical romantic comedy fashion, come scenes of the lovers apart, trying valiantly to put their lives back together with the aid of their friends, until a slam-bang, physical comedy finish ( this one taking place at Steve's two-step class ) .

Out writer/director Craig Chester is best known to GLBT audiences for 1992's Swoon, which delved deeply into the gay relationship between murderers Leopold & Loeb, so this return to queer cinema with a gentle, loopy romantic comedy is a decided change of pace. And though the film is diverting and has its share of laugh-out-loud moments ( Chester has a gift for those acidic Neil Simon one-liners and the luck to have Posey and Kattan spouting them ) , the freshest thing about it is that it focuses on two 30-something gay men as opposed to the typical youngsters these romantic comedies ( gay and straight ) usually focus on.

But what I loved most about Adam & Steve is that throughout the course of the courtship between the gloomy Gus and the perky prancing pony there are lots and lots of kisses—passionate ones, swift ones, Honey I'm Home ones, Going Out To Get The Paper ones. Lots and lots of every sort of kiss—just like those any gay ( or lesbian ) couple would engage in. Although Chester puts in some of these kisses to inject a comedic plot device ( Adam & Steve are 'hilariously' gay bashed each time they pucker up in public ) , all those kisses pointed out something I found very interesting. In every single film I've seen in which straight actors have played gay ( including Brokeback Mountain ) , not one has shown the intimacy of one of those I'm Kissing You Without Thinking About It kisses like this movie does. Michael Ontkean and Harry Hamlin didn't have it in Making Love, neither did Steven Weber and Michael T. Weiss in Jeffrey, and for all the hoopla, neither did Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain. There's always been that little nagging voice in my head saying, 'This isn't how real gay men in love behave. They kiss and touch a LOT more than this and I oughta know.'

Is it different in this movie because the two leads are played by two openly gay actors and are completely at ease with the physical intimacy and probably did it without thinking about it? That would be my guess—and boy is it a pleasure to watch this instinctive chemistry happen. It's the same kind of thing you see in the best straight romantic comedies. The camera turns and the thing happens. It certainly gives Adam & Steve an extra dimension—and makes its claim of being 'a tempting gay romantic comedy' an example of truth in advertising.

Opens this Friday at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema. www.landmarktheatres.com

Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com Feedback can be left at the latter website.


This article shared 4238 times since Wed Mar 29, 2006
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

JP Karliak morphs into non-binary character for Disney+'s X-Men '97 2024-03-22
- series X-Men '97, a revival of the popular X-men: The Animated Series that's both continuing the ongoing mutant storyline and breaking new ground along the way. The character of Morph now looks more like the comic ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21
- It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21
- Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15
- Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08
- Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01
- Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

Dorian Film Awards: 'All of Us Strangers' takes top prizes 2024-02-27
- February 26, 2024 - Los Angeles, Ca. - For its 15th Dorian Film Awards, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics fully embraced All of Us Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh's fantastical and tear-inducing tale of two ...


Gay News

SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors 2024-02-25
- Queer entertainers made their mark—although not a major one—at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...


Gay News

WORLD Caribbean ruling, Pussy Riot, Russian raid, Canadian warning, anti-trans bar 2024-02-23
- The top court in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines dismissed a challenge to colonial-era anti-gay laws, Reuters reported. Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish—two gay men who had pushed to decriminalize ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Kristen Stewart, Rock Hudson, Talia Keys, 'True Detective,' Marvel comic 2024-02-23
- At the Berlin Film Festival, Kristen Stewart defended her photo shoot for a Rolling Stone magazine cover that went viral and divided audiences on social-media platforms, per The Hollywood Reporter. "The existence of a female body ...


Gay News

Second Glance Productions hosts LGBTQupid Soiree 2024-02-16
- In celebration of Valentine's Day, Chicago based film and media production company Second Glance hosted The LBGTQupid Soiree. The event, which was focused on spinning attitudes on this particular day, was presented at The iO ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Elton John, Hannah Gadsby, video game, Jennifer Lopez, queer thriller 2024-02-16
Video below - Sir Elton John has sold his Atlanta home and is now auctioning off more than 900 of his personal items that were kept in the 13,500-square-foot condo, The Daily Mail noted. The massive collection includes rare ...


Gay News

GALECA announces nominees for the Dorian Film Awards 2024-02-07
--From a press release - Feb. 5, 2024 - GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, consisting of over 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons, today announced the group's democratically chosen nominees for its 15th Dorian Film Awards. All of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ JoJo Siwa, Tom Holland, Bowen Yang, Pet Shop Boys, Mariah Carey 2024-02-02
- In the wake of Nigel Lythgoe exiting So You Think You Can Dance, queer personality JoJo Siwa is returning to the series, per Deadline. Siwa, who was a judge on season 17 of the Fox show, will replace Lythgoe, who left ...


Gay News

Leather Archives & Museum announces 2024 Fetish Film Forum 2024-01-27
--From a press release - CHICAGO, Illinois—After a wildly successful inaugural year, including a 10-film series at the Leather Archives & Museum and a 5-film series at FACETS, the Leather Archives & Museum is thrilled to announce the continuation of Fetish ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.