Gay Best Friend: Hedy & Graham in "Single White Female" (1992)

a series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope   

You wanna hear a story about how me and this bitch fell out? It’s kinda long, but it’s full of suspense.Gay Best Friends aren’t often paired with gay panic. Especially in movies made more than 10 years ago, we either were taught to laugh at queer characters, cry for them or fear them. Single White Female asked us to do two of the three. The 1992 thriller didn’t just settle for giving our jilted protagonist, Allie Jones (Bridget Fonda), a supportive gay best friend (Graham, played by Peter Friedman). They also paired her with a roommate nursing a lesbian crush on Allie and refining her murderous skills (Hedra Carlson, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh).

Broad doesn’t begin to describe the movie. While it swings for the fences with its queer characterizations, a large degree of camp shines through. This makes for a pleasurable “turn-your-brain-off” wild thrill ride...

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Gay Best Friend: Jane in "Boys on the Side" (1995)

a series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope 

Incredibly disappointed I only now realized there was a road trip dramedy with Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore.Long live the era of Whoopi Goldberg vehicles (aka the 90s).

Goldberg kick-started the 90s by winning a (well-deserved) Oscar for Ghost and headlining the smash-hit Sister Act. From there, we got a string of movies where Goldberg was the leading lady. Though they varied in quality and weren’t always progressive, it was impressive to see movie after movie built around a black actress. Who else could do Eddie, Bogus, The Associate AND Ghosts of Mississippi all in 1996? We’re going a year earlier for this week’s gay best friend. No, we’re not talking about Theodore Rex (though… should we). Instead, we are talking about the messy dramedy I didn’t know I needed in my life, Boys on the Side.

Unlike in past weeks, our gay best friend (technically) takes center stage. Jane (Goldberg) is a lesbian musician looking to get out of New York and move Los Angeles after a tumultuous breakup...

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Gay Best Friend: Bill Truitt in "The Opposite of Sex" (1998)

A series by Christopher James investigating the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Martin Donovan stars as Bill Truitt, a kind teacher whose life is torn apart by his half-sister (Christina Ricci)

In this column, we haven’t really looked at many movies that were written or directed by queer people. You don’t have to be gay to include a gay best friend in your film. If that were a prerequisite, we would have so much less gay representation onscreen. But something magical does happen when queer people tell queer stories. It changes and affects the DNA of the movie. Take for example this week’s choice, The Opposite of Sex, written and directed by Don Roos. There’s a daring and unflinching energy to the film that can only be described as inherently queer. This allows the movie to take large swings that don’t always connect. It’s emboldened by the confident voice behind the camera that knows what it wants to do. 

The movie is narrated by Deedee (Christina Ricci), a sixteen year old girl with a mean streak who runs away from home in Louisiana and moves in with her half-brother, Bill (Martin Donovan), in suburban Indiana...

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Beauty vs Beast: Sibling Rivalries & Sexual Reveries

Hello and happy Monday, everybody - Jason from MNPP here with another round of our "Beauty vs Beast" series! This week we're turning our eyes to the 20th anniversary of Don Roos' The Opposite of Sex, which is tomorrow. The film came out on May 22nd 1998, and all good gays (and gay-adjacents) have been quoting Christina Ricci's surly sexpot DeDee and Lisa Kudrow's snide spinster Lucia ever since. But what if I told you you had to choose??? That's not a hypothetical - I am actually asking you to choose. Right now!

image polls

PREVIOUSLY She might not have taken an Oscar earlier this year but Saoirse Ronan can comfort herself that she's now won one of these polls, I guess - her Hanna trounced Cate Blanchett with 70% of your vote. Said Lady Edith:

"Joe Wright gave Saoirse her start and then handed her Hanna which solidified her amazing talents. We get to see the whole range of emotions from her. No disrespect to Cate but I want Saoirse to win this and trounce her evil Mom."

Lisa, it's your birthday...

She’s now had 50 years on this Earth, and I think we can safely say that Lisa Kudrow – who’s certainly smarter than any of the characters she’s played – has given a lot of joy to the world in that time. Dave here to pay the Film Experience's respects to this fine actress. To the world at large, Kudrow will always be Phoebe Buffay, but of all the Friends, she’s surely the one with the spiciest CV after the show. It’s only her affinity for hard-edged, pitiful characters that's kept her from continued mainstream success. For the connoisseur, Kudrow remains one of the most adept comic actresses working. We salute you, Lisa, on your special day.

Watch, learn, and don’t eat her cookie.

-x-

Phoebe Buffay, Friends 

If you want to receive e-mails about my upcoming shows, then please, give me money so I can buy a computer.

six more indelible characters after the jump!
which is your favorite?

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