Keeping Company (2021), on Paramount Plus, not to be confused with the other Keeping Company (2021), has a promo that looks very much like an insurance agent trying to sell to a gay couple. Naw -- impossible. The studio suits would never allow it. They must be brothers or something.
Still, it has gay performer Chris Estrada in a minor role, so it's worth checking out.
Scene 1: A drug dealer waits on a lonely corner. Shy eyeglassed Lucas (Jacob Grodnik) drives by, locks him in the trunk, and returns to his middle-class neighborhood. He glances at a photo of the Girl (heterosexual identity established at minute 1.48), opens the trunk, and does something off-camera to the drug dealer.
Scene 2: District attorney Glen Garry (William Russ, left) films a re-election commercial, promising to reduce the "all time high" crime rate.
Ok, the crime rate in the U.S. is at a 30-year low, and you don't elect district attorneys.
Left: William Russ's backside.
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The commercial is playing at the home of a newlywed couple (John Milhiser, Bryan Safi), listening to an insurance spiel.
They did it! They really did it! The insurance agents are trying to sell to a gay couple, with absolutely no discomfort or any indication that this is unusual. They are newlyweds like any other newlyweds!
More after the break
The actors are both gay in real life. John Milhiser has 73 acting credits on the IMDB, including Adam Devine's House Party, Saturday Night Live, UCB Comedy Originals, Gay of Thrones, Foursome, and Adam Ruins Everyrthing.
Left: It's been awhile since we got a look at Adam Devine.
Bryan Safi has 63 credits, including Throwing Shade, Superstore, Gay of Thrones, Young and Hungry, Modern Family, You, and 911.
A lot of stuff to look up later, but they don't appear again, so let's get on with the plot of Keeping Company
The insurance agency partners are:
Noah (Ahmed Bharoocha, left), who grew up an orphan, and is therefore trying to make the best life possible for his unborn son. He has the habit of describing his wife's incredible beauty ad nauseam to anyone who will listen, or who is trying desperately to escape. He also comes on too strong: he calls his partner Sonny his "best friend," but Sonny yells "We're coworkers! I don't even like you, you weirdo!"
Sonny (Devin Das, right) lives with his father, who disapproves of the insurance game and keeps telling him how much of a disappointment he is. Interestingly, Dad never tells him to "meet a girl and settle down," nor does Sonny ever express any heterosxual interest.
The Shy Eyeglassed Lucas has been grinding up the people he kills and feeding them to Chris Estrada, who is tied up in a locked room, on orders from his mysteriously manipulative grandma.
When Lucas accidentally rams into Noah and Sonny's car and admits that he doesn't have insuranced, they chase him into his house, and you can figure out what happens next, although there are some plot twists. They are all alike in some ways, trapped by parental figures who can never be satisfied.
Spoiler alert: only one of the three survives.
Subplots involve another pair of salespeople calling on Sonny's Dad, with disastrous results, and the evil insurance company CEO, who keeps charging yachts and Porsches as "business expenses."
The movie is very diverse, with most of the main cast either people of color or gay or both. Rex Lee (below), the insurance company's beset-upon accountant, played Bryan Safi's boyfriend/husband on Young and Hungry (2014-18).
Keeping Company was written by Devin Dash and Josh Wallace, whose previous credits include Funny or Die shorts. I can't tell if either are gay or not; Devin's Instagram and X accounts are marked "personal," and researching Josh Wallace is impossible because there's a Josh Wallace footballer, senator, and female p*rn star.
My Grade: B. They could have had Devin "openly" gay rather than just "not interested in women."
See also: Adam Devine's House Party, Episode 1.1, with Ahmed Bharoocha.
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