Blades of Glory (2007)
This over-the-top slapstick comedy takes a look at the wonderful world of figure skating. It has the style of humor typical to Will Ferell movies – good for you if he makes you laugh, but mostly he made me groan in embarrassment.
Self-proclaimed “sex on ice”, Chazz Michael Michaels (Will Ferell) and boy prodigy Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder) are competing skaters in the men’s singles. With inflated egos, it is too much for the two of them to bear when they receive the same scores at the championship and tie for first place. A brawl erupts between the two of them as they stand on the award podium – a public embarrassment that sees the two of them banned for life from men’s singles skating.
After some much needed soul searching, MacElroy thinks of a loophole to get back into skating, but he needs Michaels’ help. The two of them are forced to get over their differences as they make the outrageous move to compete together, in pairs skating. This shift of division puts them in the same arena with some stiff competition, namely the incestuous brother and sister duo played by Will Arnett and Amy Poehler who are bent on keeping their title.
Michaels and MacElroy take advantages of their male on male team, inventing all sorts of crass and painful looking manoeuvres – everything from crotch-grabbing spins to skating 69’s. It’s uncomfortable even for a gay man to watch. If you’re not in tears from all the silly humor, keep an eye out for cameos by famous figure skaters.
Testosterone (2004)
This gay-themed comedy/thriller showed at the Toronto Film Festival. The film has several laugh-out-loud moments but its convoluted plot will leave you guessing right to the end.
Dean Seagrave (David Sutcliffe), a comic book illustrator, accidentally fell in love with Pablo (Antonio Sabato Jr.) who voluntarily swore to never leave him. This made the disappearance of Seagrave’s Argentinian lover that much more mysterious.
Cast out of his house by a fire, and tackling a severe case of writer’s block, Seagrave is desperate for closure more than anything – and it is eating him up inside. When he runs into Pablo’s supremely bitchy mother at a comic art exhibition, the woman attempts to ignore him and then laughs in his face when he demands answers. She does say, however, that she and Pablo are returning to Argentina and that Seagrave will never see him again. Hah, we’ll see about that!
Seagrave takes time off work to travel to Argentina to track down his lost lover, but his attempts to breach the house where Pablo’s mother is staying are met with speedy police and hired goons. He develops a wary friendship with the enigmatic Sofia, who works in the restaurant across the street from Pablo’s mother’s house. She seems to know something about Pablo that she is not letting on. Little does he know that he is becoming hopelessly entangled in an elaborate plot to keep him from his past love – but for what reason? Getting to the bottom of this mystery may very well be what Seagrave needs to get the juices flowing again, if he does not lose his sanity in the process.
Additional perks to this film are that Sutcliffe appears partially or fully naked at several points in the story, and we even get an unimpeded glimpse of Antonio Sabato Jr.’s substantial manhood. Yowzers!
Kinky Boots (2006)
This heart-warming, feel-good English comedy is a story about understanding one another and working together – a great view for audiences both straight and gay.
Charlie Price (Joel Edgerton) is thrust into the job of running his father’s shoe factory when the man passes away. The factory manufactures good-quality men’s shoes designed to last a man a lifetime, but alas, retailers are more interested in the cash grab from cheap shoes that need to be replaced each year. To make matters worse, Charlie finds that the buyer of a large order has gone into receivership, forcing him to lay off several loyal employees.
But fate hits Mr. Price over the head...literally. When leaving the pub one night, he comes to the rescue of what he believes to be a woman who is being surrounded by a group of punks with malicious intentions. In a flurry to defend herself, the drag queen swings her boot at the attackers, scaring them off but accidentally knocking Price out cold in the process.
He wakes up in the drag room of Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the large sassy drag queen rescued thanks to his chivalry. A brilliant idea dawns on him, as Lola complains about how women’s shoes are not built to hold the weight of a man. Though Price’s lack of knowledge about Drag Queens is obvious, he enlists the help of Lola to develop a new line of boots for a niche market – sturdy, long lasting shoes for women...who are men.
There are many obstacles along the way. Meeting Lola’s demands are the easy part – getting the factory workers’ respect and support is slightly more difficult, especially as Price himself is unsure of his leadership. But the bigger trials are yet to come as Price’s fiancée reaches the end of her patience, and Price suffers a relapse of understanding for Lola’s drag lifestyle.
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