GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE July 20, 2001

eveningsout

Predictable but fun film flips straight man's fantasy

Reviewed by Kalzaad Kotwal

Fantasies are fundamental to our survival. Who among us hasn't dreamed about slipping into the leather seats of that perfect convertible, or about moving into a mountain-top mansion with Tom Cruise as the house boy, or about winning the super 200 million dollar lottery? Fantasies are what makes reality seem bearable..

It's also well-known that the number one heterosexual male fantasy is to be with or watch two women in bed. A new film from Lane Janger takes that fantasy, puts a delicious twist on it and tells the story of Just One Time. Released by Wolfe on video and DVD, Just One Time is a funny, warm, breezy and lovely jaunt through the world of fantasies of the boudoir.

Firefighter Anthony is about to marry his dream woman, a very straitlaced lawyer named Amy. Anthony simply can't seem to stop fantasizing about Amy being with another woman. He hopes to lay this obsession to rest before their impending nuptials. Amy is adamantly opposed to this.

She soon relents to Anthony's fantasy with one, teeny weeny twist. She promises that she will fulfill his desires if he would promise to do the same. Anthony, in the heat of realizing that his fantasy is about to be made reality, consents. Little does he know that Amy is serious about him being with another man to level the playing field of her being with another woman. Enter Victor, a young, gay man who consid-

ers Anthony to be his ideal man. Victor is all too eager to be the object of Anthony's lust, if only for one night as part of a silly promise. Michelle, a lesbian woman, is to be Amy's consort.

Anthony buys himself some time, hoping that Amy will not let him go through with his sexual tryst with Victor: Anthony says that before he sleeps with Victor he needs to get to know him a bit better.

What follows is a series of madcap escapades between Anthony, Victor, Amy, Michelle and Anthony's firefighter buddies. In order to get to know Victor, Anthony agrees to go to gay bars and ropes his very straight friends to go along. In the meantime Michelle and Amy are getting to know one another. As both Anthony and Michelle push the limits to see who will call off this silly game first, they both develop jealous feelings for the other's emerging closeness to their partners of the

same sex.

Anthony gets increasingly perturbed about Amy's spending a lot of time with Michelle and Amy seems to start regretting that she opened this Pandora's box. Meanwhile Victor is enjoying all his time with the very hunky Anthony and the firefighter friends are getting a crash course in Homo 101.

The film doesn't take itself too seriously and allows itself to be very playful, very colorful and sweet in its simplicity. It should appeal to both straight and gay audiences and is one of the better crossover films to emerge in recent memory. A huge favorite at many film festi-

vals including the Seattle International Film Festival, the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and Outfest Los Angeles, Just One Time, is smoothly directed by Lane Janger, who also plays the dreamy Anthony.

Langer plays Anthony as a sweetly bumbling yet good as gold Italian guy who truly loves his woman. He has a truly interesting screen persona and he plays the comedy and sexual confusion with precision and affability. He's a immensely lovable protagonist and even though he has no real desire to sleep with Victor, Anthony is not portrayed as boorish, homophobic or hateful. It's refreshing to see a straight guy go with the flow of things, particularly given the circumstances.

Joelle Carter (High Fidelity, The Horse Whisperer) turns in an equally sweet and affecting performance as his tricky girlfriend Amy.

Guillermo Diaz is also likable as Victor, especially when he finds love with one of Anthony's firefighter buddies. While the coupling is fun and makes one root for them, one can see it coming right from the start of the film.

David Lee Russek plays Dom, Anthony's gay firefighter buddy who falls in love with Victor. Russek gives Langer a run for his money in the hunk department and is lovable as well. It is heartwarming to see both Anthony and Victor and Amy and Anthony get together at the end.

Jennifer Esposito (Summer of Sam, and

Joelle Comter and Guillermo Díaz

TV's Spin City) plays Michelle with a cool collectedness and calm confidence. The film's true sparks come from watching Anthony with Victor and Amy with Michelle.

Just One Time is predictable for the most part, but it is still worth watching. A short version of this feature length film was recently featured as par of Boys Life 3, a compilation of gay shorts. The film is a great date film, gay or straight, and perfect for lighter summer fare.

It's about time that someone put this twist on that age-old male fantasy and give straight men a taste of their own medicine. After all, fantasy is the only truly equal-opportunity world.

on the airoff the press

Media ignores Wimbledon player's 'faggot' comment

by John Graves

The mainstream media largely ignored homophobic and other offensive comments made by Croatian tennis player Goran Ivanisevic at a July 9 news conference following his victory over Patrick Rafter at Wimbledon.

Talking about a pair of line judges who had ruled against him during the match, Ivanisevic, who has trouble with English, complained, "First of all, that game, I was 30-love up. I play some stupid shots. I make myself in trouble, then first foot fault. Hit great serve. He [Rafter] missed it, first foot fault all tournament. That ugly, ugly lady. She was really ugly, you know. Very serious. I was like kind of scared, you know.

"Then I hit another second serve, huge." Ivanisevic went on. "And that ball was on the line, not even close. And that guy, he looks like a faggot a little bit, you know.

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This hair all over him. He call it. I couldn't believe he did it."

Only ESPN and the Los Angeles Times covered Ivanisevic's outbursts, according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

"GLAAD is concerned that an athlete can casually drop a word like faggot in a high-profile media interview, and not only is there very little media coverage of his comment, but several reporters in the room can be heard laughing at it," said GLAAD spokesman Scott Seomin. "If Ivanisevic had used the N-word to refer to a linesman, I doubt that press reaction would have been this muted. I hope the media does not have double standard when responding to public expressions of bigotry."

After being contacted by GLAAD, ESPN aired a detailed report on the incident in its prime-time Sports Center pro-

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gram, and had a story on its web site.

This is not the first time Ivanisevic has given vent to his bigotry, ESPN's Cynthia Faulkner reported in the web site story. Earlier this year, when a reporter at the Masters Series in Indian Wells, California asked Ivanisevic if breaking a racket was mostly in the wrist, the temperamental tennis player said, "Hey, sometimes I watch the TV, and then I see the guys when they throw the rackets. They throw like a faggot, you know. They throw it not to throw it.

""

In a front-page column, Los Angeles Times sports columnist Diane Pucin wrote about Ivanisevic's comments and the lack of coverage the media gave them.

.

"Imagine if, during her three-set victory over Justine Henin in the final, Venus [Williams] had received a couple of questionable line calls," Pucin wrote. "Imagine had Richard [her outspoken father] been asked after the match about those

calls, and he said what Ivanisevic said.

"Headlines. We would have had headlines. Venus would have been hounded about what her father said. Richard would have been condemned. And rightly so. Whether said in anger or as a joke or simply out of emotion, certain words and descriptions are especially hurtful and people who feel free to say them should also be prepared to deal with angry criticism."

Well, blow me down

In a report on how No. 2 companies take more chances in their advertising, USA Today business correspondent Michael McCarthy focused on a Minute Maid orange juice television ad campaign featuring those old cartoon enemies Popeye and Bluto as very close buddies.

So close in fact, that many have speculated the former adversaries appear to be a gay couple. The two play on the beach, get matching tattoos, and ride past a puzzled Olive Oyl on a tandem bike..

"Around the office, we joke about what's next," quipped GLAAD's Cathy Renna. "Will Popeye and Bluto join the Village People?"

Renna said marketers like to use "gay vague" ads that hint at a lesbian or gay subtext but are not overly explicit.

Minute Maid marketing director Charles Torrey denied there was a hidden message in the ads.

"Anybody who knows Popeye and Bluto knows they're not friends," he told McCarthy, "and they're certainly not known for being sensitive. I'm personally amused by how many people are reading something into the commercial."

Kevin Reilly, account director for Leo Burnett, the Chicago advertising firm that produced the ads, told McCarthy, "We wanted to create orange juice advertising that gets noticed. We have met our objective of creating breakthrough advertising.”

'Bunky, get a spine'

Unless he's been kicked off after this goes to press, look for Bunky, an openly gay contestant on Big Brother 2 on CBS Thursdays at 8 pm.

USA Today TV critic Robert Bianco took Bunky, a homophobic cast member named Kent and the whole show to task in his July 6 column.

"The current, oversexed group has many candidates for the reality hall of shame, including the doctor who let us know he wants to seduce a woman for the advantage it would give him in the voting. For now, however, my vote is split between Kent, the bigoted dolt who proudly proclaims his homophobia, and Bunky, the weepy gay man who puts up with Kent's rants.

"Kent, get a clue; Bunky, get a spine."

John Graves is the producer and host of Gaywaves, a lesbian-gay public affairs show on Cleveland's WRUW 91.1 FM Fridays at 7 pm, and at http://radio.cwru.edu. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contributed to this column.