Gay Best Friend: Nigel in "The Devil Wears Prada"

In this series by Christopher James we investigate the 'Gay Best Friend' trope in movies.

With the release of The Prom this Friday, people have been talking about the ethics of straight men taking on gay roles. As Nathaniel noted in his review, James Corden’s limp wrist and flouncy take on Barry is a tone deaf disaster. A large part of this comes from him, a straight man, constantly feeling like he must don exaggerated gay affectations rather than actually sketching out a three dimensional character. In 2020, we are in a place where we do have big name, openly gay actors more than qualified to tackle the gay roles that Hollywood writes.

While queer people should be prioritized when telling queer stories, there are many great gay performances by straight men. Perhaps one of the strongest examples is Stanley Tucci as Nigel in The Devil Wears Prada. While it’s clear from the jump that Nigel is gay, Tucci doesn’t “play” into the stereotype. Instead, his first point of reference for Nigel is a driven professional who is comfortably hyper-confident in his field...

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The 2020 Christmas Movie Catalogue

by Tony Ruggio

It wasn’t so long ago that Christmas movies were dead and buried, outside of Hallmark’s copious output anyway. They were no longer of much interest to major Hollywood studios and inherently verboten for indie distributors. Thanks to Netflix, Hulu, and the streaming wars, the genre is back and more prolific than ever. And in a year like 2020, we might need them more than ever...

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Gay Best Friend: Wallace Wells in "Scott Pilgrim vs the World"

by Christopher James

Get your hot topic graphic tees and turn on some Clash inspired rock music, we’re going back to 2010 for this week’s installment of Gay Best Friend. Inspired by comments from readers Scott C and Jesus Alonso, we returned to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World for the first time since seeing it in theaters 10 years ago. It turned out to be a fascinating watch in more ways than one, so thank you for the suggestion!

It’s fitting we’re examining the role of Wallace Wells, played by Kieran Culkin, 10 years later. Culkin has graduated from “Maculely Culkin’s talented brother” to stardom thanks to his Emmy-nominated work in Succession. Additionally, in a movie stuffed with zaniness and stylization, Wallace’s role as the GBF is more as a stabilizing, grounding force. While it’s a small role, the film makes Wallace an interesting, modern portrait of a gay man that strays away from typical characterizations...

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Smackdown '87: A Fatal Attraction to Moonstruck

The Supporting Actress Smackdown series picks an Oscar vintage to explore. Now it's time for the season finale featuring the year 1987. 

THE NOMINEES 1987's shortlist of supporting characters featured three very different moms (victim/monster/old-soul-wiseass), one selfless caretaker, and a gossipy neighbor. The actresses gathered were all mature talents, enjoying what would turn out to be their sole brush with Oscar.

THE PANEL  Here to talk about the performances and films are, in alpha order, the actor Ato Essandoh (Away, Tales from the Loop, Chicago Med), critic/author Manuel Betancourt (Judy Garland's Judy at Carnegie Hall), critic Naveen Kumar, critic Kathia Woods, and your host Nathaniel R. Let's begin!

1987
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page... 

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Over & Over: 1987's "Baby Boom"

by Eric Blume

Baby Boom, directed by Charles Shyer with a script by him and his then-wife Nancy Meyers, encapsulates 1987 beautifully.  From young James Spader's Wham!-like hair to Keaton's fashions to the dated woman-in-the-workplace-can-she-have-it-all plot, it could be a time capsule film for the year and its essence.  While we're celebrating 1987, this film couldn't be a better example of exactly where we were.

And yes, Baby Boom is a mercilessly commercial enterprise, engineered with cliche characters and "adorable" cutaway shots to the child inherited by the "Tiger Lady", J.C. Wiatt, played by Diane Keaton.  I can't defend this movie as a work of fine cinema, but I've returned to it over a dozen times for the sheer joy in Keaton's peerless performance...

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