Gay Best Friend: Bill Truitt in "The Opposite of Sex" (1998)

A series by Christopher James investigating the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Martin Donovan stars as Bill Truitt, a kind teacher whose life is torn apart by his half-sister (Christina Ricci)

In this column, we haven’t really looked at many movies that were written or directed by queer people. You don’t have to be gay to include a gay best friend in your film. If that were a prerequisite, we would have so much less gay representation onscreen. But something magical does happen when queer people tell queer stories. It changes and affects the DNA of the movie. Take for example this week’s choice, The Opposite of Sex, written and directed by Don Roos. There’s a daring and unflinching energy to the film that can only be described as inherently queer. This allows the movie to take large swings that don’t always connect. It’s emboldened by the confident voice behind the camera that knows what it wants to do. 

The movie is narrated by Deedee (Christina Ricci), a sixteen year old girl with a mean streak who runs away from home in Louisiana and moves in with her half-brother, Bill (Martin Donovan), in suburban Indiana...

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Cate is camp and crazy-good in "The Man Who Cried"

by Nathaniel R

I'm pleased to share that I have returned for a second appearance on Murtada's fun podcast "Sundays with Cate" in which he's surveying Cate Blanchett's whole career (not chronologically) with various guests. This week's topic is the strange Sally Potter misfire The Man Who Cried (2001), a pre World War II drama about dancing Russians, singing Jews, and operatic Italians in Paris. I requested this one because I remembered being absolutely bewitched by one closeup in particular when the film was in theaters. But the film had become so entirely forgotten (even by me) that I could barely remember anything of the context. The film stars Johnny Depp and Cristina Ricci (both having just co-starred in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow) placing it forever in a very specific place in Hollywood time. Give us a listen! 

Beauty vs Beast: Queens of the Night

Happy Tuesday, Jason from MNPP here with our weekly "Beauty vs Beast" fun - the year of movies in focus for June is the year 1994 thanks to the Smackdown (Nat just introduced you to the panelists) and so I'm going to take you back to a movie of 1994 for this week's poll... namely Neil Jordan's Interview With the Vampire, which starred Tom Cruise as Lestat and Brad Pitt as his blood heir Louis locked in a battle of diabolical foppery from the story by Anne Rice.

Handily this is also a film that works thematically for Gay Pride Month too, although lord knows it should've been far, far gayer - no doubt the forthcoming TV series rights that wrong. But whose side will you take today? The unrepentant and giddy evildoer, or the sad romantic that looks like Brad Pitt in 1994? As Lestat says, "Don't be afraid, I'm going to give you the choice I never had..."

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PREVIOUSLY Most of expressed feeling bad that you were voting against Christina Ricci in our Opposite of Sex poll from two weeks back but that sure didn't stop you - Lisa Kudrow's Lucia trounced her with almost 80% of the vote. Said James From Ames:

"Have to give it to Lucia. They've both overbearing as hell, but at least Lucia's comes from a messed-up sense of protectiveness, right? One of my favorite movies of all time, and Ricci's best performance in my opinion. I don't remember when exactly I first saw it -- but I never was the same again after that summer."

Beauty vs Beast: Sibling Rivalries & Sexual Reveries

Hello and happy Monday, everybody - Jason from MNPP here with another round of our "Beauty vs Beast" series! This week we're turning our eyes to the 20th anniversary of Don Roos' The Opposite of Sex, which is tomorrow. The film came out on May 22nd 1998, and all good gays (and gay-adjacents) have been quoting Christina Ricci's surly sexpot DeDee and Lisa Kudrow's snide spinster Lucia ever since. But what if I told you you had to choose??? That's not a hypothetical - I am actually asking you to choose. Right now!

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PREVIOUSLY She might not have taken an Oscar earlier this year but Saoirse Ronan can comfort herself that she's now won one of these polls, I guess - her Hanna trounced Cate Blanchett with 70% of your vote. Said Lady Edith:

"Joe Wright gave Saoirse her start and then handed her Hanna which solidified her amazing talents. We get to see the whole range of emotions from her. No disrespect to Cate but I want Saoirse to win this and trounce her evil Mom."

The Furniture: Wednesday Addams Sets Thanksgiving on Fire

"The Furniture" our weekly series on Production Design. Here's Daniel Walber

Happy Thanksgiving! In three days, Americans will gather together to cook, feast and argue. The acrimonious presidential election has launched a multitude of think pieces on the subject. How do you talk to your relatives who voted differently than you? The classic stereotype of the young, liberal, usually-white urbanite going back to conservative “middle america” for turkey is certainly more fraught this year than it’s ever been. Does that scenario now come with the moral obligation to speak up?

This may seem like a weird way to begin a column about Addams Family Values, a comedy sequel without an overt political message. But there's some Thanksgiving advice to be found in the Oscar-nominated design of legendary production designer Ken Adam (The Spy Who Loved Me) and set decorator Marvin March (Annie). Beyond the social satire of the early 1990s ("But Debbie...pastels?"), a blunt clash of historical narratives is built into the sets for Camp Chippewa...

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