Written and directed by Todd Stephens, whose semi-autobiographical Edge of Seventeen is a sterling example of a quality coming-out story, Another Gay Movie is a devastating disappointment. Badly acted, amateurishly directed and woefully unfunny, Another Gay Movie attempts a raunchy, X-rated satire not of gay movies, but straight fare like American Pie. At stake are the virginities of four gay high-school grads who make a pact to have sex before college.

By virtue of the fact that this is a family newspaper, it's difficult to venture much further in discussing the subjects Stephens sees fit for derision (enemas, glory holes, penis pumps, butt plugs and so on), except to suggest that he seems determined to be as outrageous as possible. Where gay movies are notorious for their bait-and-switch antics (advertising with naked beefcake posters, but delivering at most a fleeting butt shot on screen), Stephens insists on hardcore humor and full-frontal nudity.

Most upsetting, there was an honesty to Edge of Seventeen that's entirely subverted here. Perhaps that movie was a purgative experience for Stephens, as personal coming-out stories are for many gay filmmakers. His follow-up, Gypsy 83, was a similarly genuine melodrama about small-town high-school outsiders, but nobody saw it. Another Gay Movie, by contrast, represents an unctuous, lowest-common-denominator ploy to reach audiences by taking the Kevin Smith approach to storytelling: the crasser, the better.

But even Smith is a sentimentalist with real affection for his characters. Not so the Stephens we see here. He's bitter and jaded, resorting to ironic detachment and damaging stereotypes where he's not brave enough to be sincere. Could the same story have been told with characters who resemble real people? You bet, and instead of coming across like a deliberate attempt to antagonize Jerry Falwell, it might have shown that gay teens are just as over-sexed and inexperienced as their straight peers and that their first time is every bit as precious.

As much as gay teens may want a Porky's or American Pie they can identify with, there's little satisfaction in a point-by-point send-up of those films. Satire works best when it's funnier than the source material, and Stephens' only inspired decision comes in casting gay icons (Richard Hatch, James Getzlaff, Graham Norton, Darryl Stevens and Matthew Rush), whom he then subjects to degrading acts of self-humiliation.

Another Gay Movie isn't offensive because it dares to find humor in taboo corners, but because it refuses to take anything seriously. Gay movies don't matter, it implies. And while the vast majority aren't any good, when you consider the uphill battle it takes to get any film made, the very existence of gay movies is a miracle deserving of respect.

[as featured in The Miami Herald]