Here’s an affinity test for the new comedy Straight Up: If you see the comic potential in a gay man who’s dating a woman dressed up as Brick from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for a costume party, sit down right now and start streaming this movie. Straight Up has the pop-culture density of a Quentin Tarantino script filtered through the sensibility of an intense young gay man with OCD.
Straight Up is written and directed by James Sweeney (writer/director/star of the short film “Before Midnight Cowboy”), who also plays protagonist Todd, a 20-something programmer his best friends describe as a “Kinsey 6” — that is, as gay as you can get. But Todd’s a virgin — insecure, asexual and intimidated (maybe repulsed) by the gay dating scene in Los Angeles. So when he meets fellow “Gilmore Girls” fan Rory (Katie Findlay, ABC‘s “How to Get Away with Murder”), a struggling actress with her own troubled relationship track record, the two bond and start dating.
The film’s main virtue is its literate, clever, rapid-fire dialogue, and its humor doesn’t flag, right up to the finale — a rare thing for an indie comedy. Its vibe is reminiscent of early Hal Hartley or Whit Stillman films, in which young people talk intensely and with minimal expression, favoring words over overt emotions. Visually, it reflects Todd’s OCD, with rigorous compositional symmetry and striking interior locations justified by Todd’s second job as a professional house sitter. But it’s never arch: A number of scenes are just thoroughly entertaining riffs on the movie’s premise, most memorably a dinner with Todd’s parents (The Interview‘s Randall Park and Betsy Brandt of AMC‘s “Breaking Bad”) and his sessions with his jaded therapist (Tracie Thoms, Rent).
In an earlier day, Straight Up might have been considered politically radioactive for pairing a man who’s clearly gay with a woman who’s clearly straight. But Todd’s predicament and motivations are entirely credible: He’s not trying to de-gay himself; he’s just trying to find a soul mate who wants what he wants. Rory’s motives are more amorphous, and some viewers may find her willingness to pair with Todd unjustified. But the balanced, fragile performance by Findlay as Rory assuages most concerns: She’s lonely and understandably suspicious of straight men and finds Todd a comfort.
Sweeney wants viewers to question the centrality of sexuality in our pairing customs, particularly for people for whom sex is either undesirable or just a low priority. But viewers can ignore the social context if they just want to go with the flow of the comedy, a showcase for Sweeney’s dense, witty writing. Here’s hoping Straight Up propels him into a writing gig where he creates his own “Gilmore Girls” for the next generation of Todds and Rorys.
Now available to rent via grailmoviehouse.com
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