Gay Best Friend: George Hanson (Paul Rudd) in The Object of My Affection (1998)

Series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Doesn't it look like these two crazy, beautiful kids would make a cute couple? Think again.Another week, another 1998 comedy about the relationship between a woman and her gay best friend starring a cast member of Friends. You have to love a specific subgenre. While Lisa Kudrow and Martin Donovan traveled across the country to find Christina Ricci in The Opposite of Sex, Jennifer Aniston stayed in New York in a more familiar genre -- the romantic comedy.

As the title The Object of My Affection suggests, Aniston falls in love. Unfortunately for her, the titular role is her new gay best friend, a first grade teacher played by a baby-faced, charming Paul Rudd. Wendy Wasserstein’s adaptation of the Stephen McCauley book of the same name uses genre tropes to sand some of the thorny elements of the premise. Yet, this not-always-perfect movie gives a really interesting look at a codependent friends who love each other, but also hold each other back...

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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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Gay Best Friend: Robert in "The Next Best Thing"

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

Both Madonna and Rupert Everett made some key mistakes in "The Next Best Thing."Gay men love their one named divas, and with good reason. Madonna is in the upper echelon of gay icons. Her outspoken nature, incredible discography, ever-evolving persona and culture-defining fashion have given her a remarkably enduring legacy that should be lauded. Still, every gay icon has a few flops in their closet. 

The Next Best Thing has been virtually wiped from the world. Unavailable from all streaming platforms (including transactional video on demand services), in order to gaze upon this Sodom and Gomorrah of filmmaking I had to order a used DVD from an Amazon seller. The Next Best Thing both did and did not disappoint. It's an epically misguided trainwreck not just in scope (the film takes place over a 7 year period) but in the colossal ways it fails its characters, stars, director and the media of filmmaking itself. Adding insult to injury, it also is an early digital film, making it look like part home movie and part snuff film. Move over The Room, The Next Best Thing is a midnight trash-terpiece...

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Gay Best Friend: Duncan in "Set It Up"

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

At 13 minutes into the movie, we meet Duncan (Pete Davidson). Very quickly after, we wish we hadn't met him.

I can admit this. Many of my choices for Gay Best Friend have been examples that I’ve loved. In the 90s and 00s, this was often one of the few ways we would see positive gay representation on the screen. Still, this trope can be negative when it leans on broad characterizations, the gay best friend as an empty accessory.

Netflix’s Set It Up (2018) was a breath of fresh air in some ways. Theatrical releases were reserved for either superhero movies or more “cinematic” prestige fare. The romantic comedy genre was being edged out, only to find its home on Netflix. Set It Up had all the makings of a Pillow Talk old-fashioned romantic comedy with the modern sheen of a How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Harper (Zoey Deutsch) and Charlie (Glen Powell) are overworked assistants who set their respective bosses up with each other (Taye Diggs and Lucy Lui) so they can have more work-life balance. Sparks fly between the bosses and assistants. 

Unfortunately, it features a “gay best friend” character that embodies everything that’s wrong with the stereotype and threatens to derail a perfectly fun movie...

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Gay Best Friend: Jack Hock in "Can You Ever Forgive Me"

by Christopher James

What fun it would be to sit with Melissa McCarthy's Lee Israel and Richard E. Grant's Jack Hock in Julius.

After covering Victor/Victoria last week, we got to thinking about that great sub-section of the “gay best friend” trope - The Gay Accomplice. Often a personal friend, the Gay Accomplice loves to come up with big schemes and be at the center of mischief. The friendship between the protagonist and the Gay Accomplice can exist before the scheme, but often times the friendship starts to revolve around their shared grift. Immediately, Richard E. Grant’s recently Oscar nominated performance as Jack Hock in Marielle Heller’s brilliant Can You Ever Forgive Me? lept to mind...

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