Since the 1990s, when movies began including gay character who weren't villains or victims, the standard romcom model gives the focus girl a gay bff. He doesn't actually do anything gay, like check out hot guys or look for a boyfriend; he just swishes about, offering witty or catty comments and advising the girl on whether she should choose the rich jerk or the down-home boy.
Isn't It Romantic (2019) parodies the genre: under-appreciated, overweight architect Natalie (Rebel Wilson) thinks that she is unworthy of love. Her assistant claims that her best friend Josh (Adam Devine) is in love with her, but Natalie doesn't believe her. Wait -- Adam's Bumper was dating Rebel's Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect 1-2. Way to keep it in the family, guys.
So, Adam has corpulent girlfriends or potential girlfriends in Pitch Perfect 1-2, Isn't It Romantic, and The Righteous Gemstones (I don't care what he told Keefe, Kelvin was dating Taryn). And probably other works, too. I don't have any first-hand experience, but I have heard that corpulent women are often considered unattractive. Adam is one of the most attractive men on the planet. Are we supposed to find the juxtaposition funny?
Back to Natalie: after being hit over the head, she awakens in a world where everyone plays different roles, sort of like Dorothy's experience in The Wizard of Oz. She lives in a huge upscale apartment. Everything on the street is bright and shiny. The women are all supermodels, the men chiseled hunks (left: Hugh Sheridan as one of several "Cute Guys"). People burst into heavily choreographed songs at random movements. The downside: Natalie can't have sex, because the scene always cuts from the kiss to the next morning.
More after the break
Soon realizing that she is trapped in a romcom, Natalie reasons that the only way to get home is to let the plot play out, and choose between two potential boyfriends. Her choices are: Blake, a sexy Australian billionaire (Liam Hemsworth, top photo and left), and Josh (Adam Devine), a boy-next-door who is dating supermodel Isabella.
To make things more complicated, her assistant is now an arch-nemesis, and her surly neighbor Donny (Brandon Scott Jones) is now her fluttering, flamboyant gay bff. Blake doesn't work out, so obviously boy-next-door Josh is the one. She tries to invade his wedding with a grandiose gesture out of The Graduate, and fails. But it's a happy ending, anyway, because she realizes that she doesn't need a man to be fulfilled.
Natalie clicks her ruby slippers, and zap! She's back home. But this is a romcom world, too, so she starts a relationship with the now-single Josh. Another happy ending, people. You get two for the price of one. But doesn't it negate the whole "you don't need a man" message?
I don't mind the flamboyance of the gay bff, since he's a parody of romcom conventions. Besides, he gets a boyfriend of his own (Bowen Yang). And both of them are gay in real life.
By the way, Liam Hemsworth took off his clothes in Episode 6.1 of Workaholics, playing the guys' new, driven coworker.
This is when they were trying to make Liam into a leading man- but he lacks his brother's star power- they have another brother who is less hunky but still handsome enough
ReplyDeleteDo you mean Chris as the star and Luke as the less hunky one? Personally, I prefer Liam.
DeleteAll the Hemsworths are good looking men-
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