When Billy met Gabriel...

reviewed Mon, 10 Aug 1998 09:30:57 -0400

Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss is a sweet, charming romantic comedy with a healthy splash of acerbic wit. Billy is a gay man who, sadly, is cursed with being a hopeless romantic in a town --- L.A. --- where romance seems to exist only on studio lots. He is smitten with a Brad Pitt lookalike, Gabriel, who sends out very confusing signals about his sexual orientation.

The film is shot in the bright, clean colors of an MGM musical from the 50s. It's steeped in pop culture, sarcasm, and movies (when his romantic dreams crumble, Billy growls bitterly, "I watch too many goddamn movies" --- I can relate). Billy's dream sequences are film clips spoofing Hitchcock, Astaire, and others, and there's clever use of Polaroids --- Billy's art form ("Hollywood screen kiss" is the title of his series of Polaroids featuring Gabriel and a drag queen recreating classic movie scenes). The leads and the supporting cast are very good, especially Billy's roommate George (short for Georgianna) who, as the token hetero in the film, takes on the witty, tell-it-like-it-is, "neighbor" role usually reserved for a gay man in a straight movie.

My only complaint about the movie is excessive use of drag queens, which is SO five years ago. I should add that I just don't get the drag queen thing --- it was entertaining the first few times I saw it, but the novelty wore off quickly, and now it's just dull and tired and sort of pathetic. Unfortunately, this movie features endless scenes of a really bad trio of queens who are just painful to watch.

All in all, BHSK is an engaging, frothy film, very funny but also moving at times. I definitely recommend this one.

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