Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss

Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss

Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss
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DVD details

Actor: Brad Rowe, Matthew Ashford, Meredith Scott Lynn, Richard Ganoung, Sean Hayes
Brand: Lions Gate
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-12-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate

DVD Reviews of Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss

DVD Review: Is he or isn't he? I don't care all that much.
Summary: 4 Stars

Okay, it's another homobittersweetsexual movie. This one is set in a garish place called Hollywood, if you choose to believe a place populated by such shallow people really exists. It's also a delightful trifle.

Had I written this review shortly after receiving the DVD I would have gone on gushily about how great it is, but it hasn't worn that well with repeated viewings. The slender thread - should I say tease - upon which the plot hangs, "is he or isn't he," "will he or won't he," hasn't sustained my interest that much on subsequent viewings.

Still, it's a fun movie.

Sean Hayes is wonderful in this endearing role he created before becoming a stereotypical queen on "Will and Grace." The other characters are not as well drawn and mostly too true to simplistic stereotypes but are entertaining. Brad Rowe plays the somewhat naive but just-a-little-bit curious hunk well. It isn't a role that I'm very sympathetic to. I realize he was supposed to be more wooden and less graceful than Billy, and a bit of a tease and a bit of a jerk, but I kept wondering if he was chosen just for his Brad Pitt looks.

I am not a fan of drag or musicals, but the fantasy sequences were a real hoot, particularly the dance number with Billy and Gabriel and the Petula Clark numbers. Besides Hayes acting, these are the best parts of the film.

Director Tommy O'Haver has a few cute cinematic tricks up his sleeve. The use of the Polaroid as integral to the story was fine, but he was overly fond of it's use as a cinematic device. I found the opening sequence and "groovy" credits tedious the first time thru and even more so on subsequent viewings. When a film starts out by playing down to the audience and talking down to the audience, it's usually not a good sign, but fortunately the rest of the film treats the audience more intelligently.

The Polaroid device is also unfortunately used to present the tedious flashback of Billy's coming out, which I suppose is actually somewhat autobiographical of the director. I suppose everybody thinks their coming out story is absolutely fascinating, but in truth they seldom are to anybody other than the teller. Anyway, its preferable in a movie to show a prior coming out experience, if it's essential to the story, rather than just have a character narrate a slide show. Billy's character is already the only well developed character in the film and this extra insight isn't necessary to the plot.

Besides the tiresome overuse of the Polaroid as a cinematic device, the scene in which Billy gets some quality PosturePedic time with Gabriel and starts acting like a rabbit in a lettuce patch was a bit heavy for a trifle like this. I was grateful Gabriel quickly put a stop to it.

One of the best parts of the DVD is the track of director's comments; don't miss it. There is a lot to the film that doesn't catch the eye of a casual viewer and I hope Mr. O'Haver has the opportunity to make more films, so long as he loses the Polaroid next time around.

More Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss reviews:
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Description of Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss

BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN KISS - DVD Movie
First-time director Tommy O'Haver garnered a lot of critical acclaim for this contribution to the "new queer cinema." But he seems more clued in as to its weight than the reviewers. O'Haver rightly calls Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss a Tommy O'Haver "trifle" in the credits and he's on the money in estimating what his film is worth. For sure, the movie has much going for it; it's wholeheartedly enjoyable and packed with the usual dynamic that saturates most gay-themed films: what does one do when that object of desire is heterosexual? In this case O'Haver at least gives his protagonist, Billy, played by Sean P. Hayes, another obsession besides the Brad Pitt-lookalike, prophetically named Gabriel, who is enigmatically acted by Brad Rowe. This is because Billy is a photographer, as addicted to finding the perfect picture as the perfect man. His world is formed by old movies: From Here to Eternity and Imitation of Life are his criteria and the flirty foreplay by which to gauge whether or not a love will have stamina and staying power. Of course, Billy is bound to be disappointed by gay-friendly Gabriel, who is struggling in his own way as much as Billy. Full of the usual mix of second-string players who inhabit the gay milieu (e.g., the best female friend who has man trouble of her own, and the older, secure pal who has secretly held Billy in his sights for some time), O'Haver's film breaks the mold by keeping to a dark note. It resembles a Pedro Almodovar spectacle initially with its saturated look and primary-color palette. But three-fourths through, Billy and his gang walk into the contemporary gay equivalent of a Gidget movie. The shift is surprising and even sometimes funny. Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss has a lot going for it, but it's still just a trifle, and not a milestone in the genre. --Paula Nechak
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