The gay-scripted, partly gay-themed hit American Beauty--in which Kevin Spacey lusts after a female cheerleader--may have taken top rah-rahs at September's Toronto International Film Festival, but it wasn't the only comedy shaking pompoms up yonder. But I'm A Cheerleader, director Jamie Babbit's colorful tale of a high schooler (Natasha Lyonne) whose parents send her off to a homosexual rehab camp run by hellish Cathy Moriarty and perked up by Clea DuVall, conjured laughs and a pick-up deal with Trick-sters Fine Line Features.
Free Line also took to The Five Senses, not a prequel to The Sixth Sense but the latest smart gay-inclusive ensemble drama from director Jeremy Podeswa (Eclipse).
Other Toronto tongue-waggers: the high-concept Just One Time (a straight couple decide to try sex with a same-sex partner for each!); a shallow version of the play All the Rage, with Andre Braugher and Friends' David Schwimmer as dysfunctional lovers; and James Toback's rowdy Black and White, about a gay filmmaker--played by Robert Downey Jr.--who at one point gets clocked when he hits on a real-life Mike Tyson.
Candy-coated sexuality
Special ed: Colbert, Sedaris, and Dinello (from left) sweeten Strangers With Candy. |
The dearth of major nonhetero characters on TV has gotten some media play lately, but we haven't heard anyone trumpeting the Comedy Central sitcom Strangers With Candy--even though the show boasts two high-profile, if insane, types that fit the bill. Fans know star Amy Sedaris plays buck-toothed Jerri Blank, TV's first 47-year-old drug-abusing ex-con, ex-hooker high school freshman. Jerri is fond of saying that she "likes the pole and the hole"; the less blunt Mr. Jellineck (Paul Dinello) is her closeted art teacher.
Sedaris, who's actually 37 and the sister of renowned gay author David, tells us that the show's fan base is "14-year-old girls and gay people." That Spice Girls--worthy demographic will be thrilled this December, when, according to Dinello--who cowrites with Sedaris and fellow cast member Stephen Colbert-- Mr. Jellineck is disfigured in an accident.
"First he's really depressed, but then he meets this plastic surgeon," says the straight Dinello. "He starts thinking maybe he wants to look like Isabella Rossellini."
