Sloppy Seconds

I'm a bit late to the festivities, but rather late than never, right?

Tomorrow is the last day of the Garbo Laugh's Blogathon, for which I have been preparing most diligently. The focus of this event is lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or otherwise non-heterosexual depictions in film. The OP wanted us to focus on classic films, but I've seen so many of it in the posts of my fellow bloggers, so I opted for something a bit more...modern. 

*Ahem* Ladies, Gentlemen and Superheroes, I give you the next best thing since American Pie--a  laugh-fest ripe with raunchy, heartpounding debauchery--EATING OUT 2 SLOPPY SECONDS!

Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds is a gay-themed romantic comedy film released in 2006. It is the sequel to Eating Out. The film debuted at the Outfest film festival before a limited theatrical release. 

Billed as "the first american gay sequal" eating out two was every bit as funny and sexy as it's prequal. Times Four!   

The story starts when Kyle (Jim Verraros, of American Idol fame) and his friend Gwen (Emily Brooke Hands) become attracted to Troy (Marco Dapper, who's straight btw), a hunky farm boy from Illinois who poses nude for their art class. Troy befriends and confides in them that he's slept with girls and guys, but is reluctant to embrace any gay feelings. The trio come up with a scheme where Kyle pretends to be an ex-gay and is dating Tiffani (Rebekah Kohan), in order to break Troy's shell and get him to sleep with the both of them.

Marco Dapper

This wacky plot is the reason I chose this story over it's prequel. It deals with a very sensitive issue some males face, and is often swept under a rug, as well as the antithesis of gay mens' fascination with straight guys--often to the detriment of their dignity. Although the story's moral does not transcend that of the minuscule setting (which I would've liked to see) it did, however, manage to somewhat capture Troy's struggle with his sexuality, much to the benefit of Kyle and Gwen, who were treated to many nude encounters. Despite this underlying issue, the movie managed to dish out the laughs--and boy did I laugh. This was my very first introduction to gay movies and although I was scared at first, I quickly realized that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There was no overt sexual romps of any kind, (save for Gewn and her sexcapades, which were more Cinimax Afterdark than Hardcore Porn); the love triangle was akin to YA novels or ABC Family Programming, and few of the characters were well developed and funny.

I did have some issues with it. Troy's (Marco Dapper) character came across as dumb yet perfect, a horrible cliche that is often used and abused. Sure, he has the body and looks of a god, but beyond that he was as smart as a teaspoon, which made me wonder: why go through all that trouble to woo him? All Kyle had to do was make his move and I'm sure he would've succumbed. Another irk of mine was the acting. Instead of showing us their emotions, one or two of the characters decided to tell us. Gwen was feeling bored, so instead of sighing and slouching to indicate her sloth, she said "I'm bored," in an upbeat manner. Sometimes I couldn't tell if this was to play upon the overall quirky vibe of the movie or just plain bad acting.     

All in all, it was a decent film. And as  Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times wote:  A Rubik's Cube of shifting sexual orientation and elaborate sex fantasies, Sloppy Seconds gathers all the accouterments of soft pornography ... into a plot of stunning imbecility. You may be right Ms. Jean, but the movie was a low budget film not meant to be taken seriously. Sometimes, a good ol' laugh is all we need. And this movie does just that.