GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

FEBRUARY 24, 1995

Evenings Out

Jane, Robin, and Holly (Whoopi Goldberg, Mary Louise Parker, and Drew Barrymore) celebrate Jane's birthday in a Tucson lesbian bar.

No more ice-pick killers

Boys has Hollywood's first genuine take on lesbian life

by Dale Reynolds

You might be misled if you believe that Boys on the Side is Whoopi Goldberg's latest film. That it is, but this fine, funny, and deeply moving film turns out to be, ultimately, Mary Louise Parker's.

In this road film, Robin (Parker) and Jane (Goldberg) meet through a New York City advertisement in order to move to California; Goldberg to Los Angeles to rejuvenate a faltering lounge-singer career, and Parker, a white-bread real-estate agent, to San Diego "for a new life." Goldberg diverts them to Pittsburgh to rescue a failed love (Drew Barrymore) from her abusive drug-dealing boyfriend. They then take to the road and some minor adventures before settling down in Tucson when Parker's illness turns out to be AIDS. By the sad end all three women have learned valuable lessons on love and loss.

The kicker of the film-something the producers lied about to this reporter a year ago, in order to keep it quiet-is supposed to be that Goldberg's character is lesbian, a big sowhat in that Whoopi plays it straight-on and dignified. Herbert Ross has directed Don Roos' involving, if meandering, script with sensitivity and style, keeping it slightly distancing as they try to steer away from cliches in the characterizations, amid some formulaic plotting. But with the women as well drawn as they are, and a script which lessens the melodrama with healthy doses of humor, and as most of the male characters are caring, loving and positive, it's a great, big, enjoyable ride.

It also comes the closest we've seen in Hollywood to having a story where lesbians are

not pathological, but loving. That Goldberg's Jane DeLuca has had a habit of falling in love with straight women (Parker and Barrymore being part of a pattern which has kept her unfulfilled) is played with quiet understanding, and many gay women and men can testify to that reality. But her love for Robin is shared by the non-lesbian Holly (Barrymore), creating a relationship which reinforces the definition that, simply put, family is what you make it.

What's nicely bizarre, however, is that all the creative team, except for executive producer Patricia Karlan and costumer Gloria Gresham, are men-how nice to see what creative, non-prejudiced humans are capable of. The film has a lovely, romantic sheen to it and the acting is excellent, although Goldberg could have used something other than ironic detachment in making her Jane deeper.

Parker, especially, brings a simple reality to her Robin: alternately perky, depressed, and richly comic (she is well-remembered from the 1990 AIDS drama Longtime Companion). Barrymore, too, brings humor and intelligence to her ditzy Holly, thus contributing to Roos' scripts as a fine balance of wit, caring, drama, and adventure, which never sacrifices the honesty of the characters' needs. The "politically-correct" elements work, too, with Goldberg ending up in a relationship with a Latina who has children, a plus in that the needs of representing much of our female community is accommodated. We even get to see some resentment from the older boy: realism where you wouldn't expect it.

The entire film has a romantic haze to it, a patina not undone by the negative situations. This is a real audience pleaser, especially for queers of every stripe.