On DVD: Outing Riley
So there's this whole sub-genre of direct (or close to direct) to DVD videos that usually start on the Gay & Lesbian film circuit and make their way to DVD very soon after. A lot of these movies end up on Netflix, and we wind up watching a lot of them. Some are medium-budget but most are fairly low-budget. Some are actually really good, but most are mediocre, at best. You get what you pay for, no?
Outing Riley is one of these films. I suppose it may have played in New York or SF or LA for a weekend, but never would it have made its way to Baltimore. On the good-to-mediocre independent gay film scale, it falls just below the midpoint. It's the story of a 30-something gay guy who hasn't come out to his Irish Catholic brothers, and what happens when he does. Some of the family interactions were actually well written and well played, and they could almost pass for a family at times.
But the film suffered from two major issues:
- It's written and directed by and stars a straight guy and good Lord does it show. There are more perky naked breasts in this movie than in most "straight" films, and honestly, there was never a single moment in the film that I believed the guy was gay. Well, actually, I didn't believe his performance for one second in the film, but that was less egregious than the straight guy thinking he knew how to write a convincing gay character.
- Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. There were a number of bits in the film which were egregious (aside from the number of naked-boob shots) where it was obvious that the writer/director/star was like "Oh, I've always wanted to do a musical number/action sequence/metafilm scene, so let's do it!" So very, very unnecessary.
Interestingly, though, the film wasn't terrible. There really were some genuine moments of family interaction and brotherly bonding in the film. And that made it watchable, in spite of all the missteps. At the least, it's a good lesson in making bad storytelling choices, and a few good ones.
