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With: Sean Hayes and Brad Rowe
B+
By Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum is a film critic for EW

BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN KISS (Trimark, R) With this cherry tart of a story about a likable, boyfriendless photographer (very likable Sean P. Hayes) with a crush on a dishy L.A. newcomer for whom the sexual-orientation jury is still out (Brad Rowe), writer-director Tommy O'Haver has come up with a gay, as in homosexual, romantic comedy that's also gay, as in sparkling, high-spirited, debonair.

This is the fruit of a new, relaxed chapter in gay filmmaking, one in which discrimination, AIDS, psychological distress, and gender politics take a breather while attractive men make entertaining comments about movies, relationships, thissa-and-thatta. For such a teeny premise, O'Haver piles his after-dinner plate awfully high -- characters living life like a Hollywood melodrama, music by Petula Clark and Nina Simone, a color palette out of an old MGM extravaganza, transvestites, general fabulousness. But, hey, have a bite, it's just dessert.


Posted Jul 31, 1998
 

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