ANOTHER GAY SEQUEL
Written & Directed by Todd Stephens
Produced by Derek Curl & Stephens
Released by TLA Releasing
USA. 95 min. Not Rated
With Jonah Blechman, Jake Moser, Aaron Michael Davies, Jimmy Clabots, RuPaul, Lady Bunny, Wil Wikle, Euriamis Losada & Perez Hilton

Sometimes a one-night stand is enough. Two years ago, Another Gay Movie irreverently slammed most of the clichés of overly earnest gay indies in the form of an American Pie spoof. Its crotch shots and crude humor would make Judd Apatow envious. Then, four out-and-proud high school graduates and best friends spent the summer competing to see who would be the first to bottom. Now, they’re on spring break in Fort Lauderdale competing in a contest, “Gays Gone Wild,” to see who can rack up the most notches on the bedpost. Todd Stephens, the director of both raunchfests, gleefully sets the gay rights movement back by several decades or so.

Boyfriends Griff (Aaron Michael Davies) and Jarod (Jimmy Clabots) must decide where to draw boundaries with other sex partners. Redhead Andy (Jake Moser) wants to join the daisy chain, but he has just fallen for the shy and virginal Luis (Euriamis Losada), and doesn’t know whether to “follow his heart or his hole,” as his father sums up his dilemma. And then there’s flaming Nico (Jonah Blechman), who would give any grand dame a run for her money, but has no luck scoring (at first).

The foursome’s arrival immediately sets off sparks of jealousy from the reigning clique, the Jaspers (which doesn’t quite have the same ring as Heathers.) And if you want film references, this movie has plenty of them, from the predictable, The Wizard of Oz, to the old punching bag Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? But a George A. Romero classic is one of the film’s few send-ups that comes out of left field.

Pink-haired blogger Perez Hilton plays himself, one of the boys’ fellow revelers until he’s hit on the head while giving head, a knock which turns him into a religious zealot: “All sex and pig play give gays a bad name.” And bad scripts.

Most of the actors are in on the joke, but there’s a strong whiff of desperation whenever the hammy Jaspers strut on the scene, sabotaging the four boys’ luck. Much of the humor is cruel, not playful. (Lubricant replaced with glue? Try imagining that without clinching.) And not since Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life has so much vomit been spewed in one scene. With the boys flaunting their AussieBums, even low-budget, digitally shot films aren’t safe from product placements. Isn’t anything sacred? Kent Turner
August 29, 2008