Eating Out - Austin American-Statesman

'Eating Out' gorges on bad acting, bad writing

By MICHAEL BARNES
Austin American-Statesman

It appears that the standards for low-budget, gay-themed movies have fallen so low that even half-lame comedies such as "Eating Out" merit distribution beyond gay film festivals and niche DVD sales.

Posh Pictures

'Eating Out'

1 out of 5 stars

Director: Allan Brocka
Starring: Scott Lunsford, Jim Verraros, Emily Brooke Hands, Ryan Carnes, Rebekah Kochan
Run time: 90 minutes
Release date: April 8, 2005
Rating: Not rated.

On the web
Official movie site

The college-age story of reverse coming-out opens with a standard bait-and-switch scene of heterosexual heat that could pass for a parody of bad pornography. It switches quickly to a hackneyed scenario: At the urging of Kyle, his gay roommate, straight University of Arizona student Caleb pretends to play for the opposing team in order to land loud-mouthed Gwen, who has a yen for gay men, including her roommate Marc.

The major obstacle to this disguise-and-confuse scenario: Emily Stiles' Gwen looks and sounds like a screeching creature from an early John Waters movie, hardly worth Caleb's elaborate ruse. As Caleb, well-formed Scott Lunsford at least keeps his performance low-key, but he reads immediately as bi/curious/confused, thereby cooling any potential comic friction during his long gambit/date with Marc (Ryan Carnes). For his part, Carnes retains some diginity, because his main functions are looking pretty and responding sensitively to Caleb, then, in the denouement, switching his attentions swiftly to Kyle (played by Jim Verraros and ultimately sympathetic, although stuck with the screenplay's most juvenile dialogue).

One scene probably earned "Eating Out" its distribution: During the faux gay date, Gwen engages in gentle phone sex with Caleb, while he is engaged, so to speak, physically with Marc. It's sweet and guileless in a way that really shouldn't work.

Otherwise, "Eating Out" gorges on bad acting, bad writing and bad cinematography. It even manages to make gorgeous Tucson, Ariz., look uninviting. It's a testament to the sad state of gay cinema that it has won numerous awards at lesbian and gay film festivals.

Our friend Paul Talley collects gay-themed movies the way our friend Mark Shaw collects gay-themed literature. In both cases, they revel in the utter badnesss built into 90 percent of these specialized fields. Paul is gonna love this one.