Trick (1999)

It was a one night stand that wasn't...it made me smile:-)
The music is really good, especially in the club. Boy (Gabe) sees boy (Mark)dancing on the bar, boy then sees boy riding in the train, boy and boy go back to Gabe's place but can't do it. They can't do it for various reasons - Tori Spelling plays the best friend who wants Gabe and doesn't want anyone else to have him so stays until they throw her out; Gabe can't relax enough to do it so plays the piano, Mark tries to pleasure him which does work but then the roommate comes home with his girlfriend who has been in France (and comes back with hairy armpits). It is a one room place so that is the end of that because the roommate claims the place. The movie basically follows Gabe and Mark while they are looking for a place to 'do it'...but it becomes more than that. They have adventures on the way...they make you smile, they make you cringe. The scenes in the club show the relationship develop then break apart thanks to the drag queen, or should that be drama queen? I have to say the bathroom scene where Gabe can't go in front of the drag queen make me wiggle in my seat, praying that he starts to go becuase he really needs too. So like me, I can't go when others are there either...horrible. Anyway, things go bad because of a misunderstanding and Gabe beats a retreat home, Mark follows... The ditzy girlfriend of the roommate delightfully works to fix things while she sits there topless...yep, topless. What the movie ends up being about is the start of a relationship, not a one-night stand that wasn't. I like this, but realise not everyone will. Mark has a great body but the face? Am I being shallow again? This is cute and makes me smile...you know I always say who doesn't need a smile? There is overacting, mostly from Tori and her friends, and the friend who has just broken up with his boyfriend of 7 years. But in the main it is good, well I like it:0)

Don't let the provocative title mislead you...
"Trick"? Doesn't sound like your cup of tea.

... I know. This is what I was just saying. I think the movie's title is slightly misleading. I heard about it back in 2000 when it first came out on DVD but ignored it because I thought, erroneously and perhaps narrow-mindedly, that it was a movie about male prostitution. It definitely is not.

So what changed your mind? What made you watch it in the end?

Well, for one I now know that "trick" can also mean one-night stand, particularly in gay culture. As it turns out, while there is a reference to the term in the movie, it isn't really about that either. But more to the point, I saw it on the Logo channel while I was in the US on vacation recently. It was one of those late evenings where nothing else interesting was on. My sister and nieces had already gone to bed so I thought I'd give it a try. The more I watched it, the more I liked it. In fact, I loved it so much I decided I'd get it on DVD. This is one I could easily watch again and again and enjoy. As comedies go, it's an absolute hoot. There's nothing hardcore on display but there is male on male cuddling and kissing, so beware if that's something you'd rather not see.

So what was it you liked, exactly?

The movie made me feel nostalgic. It took me back to the days when I was a romantic young fool, fresh on the gay scene and looking for love, my innocent and naïve eyes wide with wonder. There's a scene in a bar toilet with a bitchy, calumnious drag queen for instance, and that really took me back. (I haven't meet that many drag queens but I have met a lot of calumnious bi****s). And I too have had my share of "me, me, me" so-called friends over the years. All the way through it, I was either smiling or laughing out loud. I think Christian Campbell, J.P. Pitoc and Tori Spelling gave very good performances, as did Steve Hayes as the incorrigible but loveable Perry and Lorri Bagley as the roommate's ditzy girlfriend Judy. I also fell in love with Camilla the dog, who played Trixie.

So what's the story?

Basically, aspiring musical theatre director Gabriel, the unworldly, romantic one (played by Christian Campbell) spots seen-it-all, done-it-all go-go dancer Mark (played by J.P. Pitoc) in a bar one night and his eyes light up. The pair meet on a subway train later on that evening, eyes lock and upon not much more than a nod and a smile, they decide to go back to Gabe's place for a one-night stand. I got the impression it's not the kind of thing Gabe would ordinarily do (whether that be pick up a man for casual sex or even go to a bar to meet one in the first place) but he's been told earlier in the day to "grab life by the balls" and so he goes for it. Unfortunately, all kinds of things get in the way, including a pet dog, thoughtless, self-absorbed friends, an utterly selfish roommate and last but not least, his own shyness and apparent lack of experience. The movie eventually goes off in directions I could never have predicted in a million years. As the night goes on, we follow the pair as they search for a convenient place to consummate their lust and as the night goes on, we get to see that there's much more to Mark than meets the eye (he's incredibly patient for one) and that he's not the one-track-minded stud muffin we originally assumed he would be. As a gay man, I think I do tend to judge books by their covers more often than not and this movie suggests there might be some folly in such actions. I also got the message that even those of us lucky enough to have bulging biceps and six packs still have hearts and whether we would want to admit it or not, we all just want to be loved at the end of the day. The ending actually left me with a nice warm feeling. Jim Fall directs with heart. He captures the essence of gay male New York in the summertime, perfectly.

Was there anything you DIDN'T like about the movie?

No, not really. Just a few trivial gripes maybe. There are lots of walking stereotypes in it but I can live with that. A handful of black people would've also been nice, although probably unrealistic. The DVD extras don't offer very much either; just a theatrical trailer and details of the cast and crew.

And oh yeah, speaking of which: If Christian Campbell is any less successful than his sister Neve, it is definitely NOT due to him being any less talented. Or any less pretty. I'm just saying.

Surprisingly fun for a non-gay...
And did anyone else notice that the poisonous drag queen & Tori Spelling look alike? I give this film three stars for the cliches it avoided and for the fun and laughs. Since I hate the type of club music on the soundtrack and am not a gay man, I can't personally give it any more. And gay men who're a bit more intellectual and individualistic may not love it either. What I applaud is its step in the direction of more progressive, open-minded films about gay and bisexual life. I liked Chasing Amy and Kissing Jessica Stein a lot more, only partly because its female characters are more than sidekicks. Maybe the biggest eye-opener was the portrayal of how women come off to a particular type of gay man, some of which made me want to flinch, and some of which was disturbing: the similarity between the drag queen and Tori Spelling characters for me pointed up the need of some gay men to caricature women or make them very "ugh," and that's hard to get behind.