Silly post, but I’m running late this morning and I just wanted to throw up something silly. Mostly this is a recommendation post for three really great American family films that happen to revolve around homosexuality. One of my earliest memories is my mother and the video store clerk bonding over how ridiculous it is that The Birdcage is rated “R” since it is one of the most loving and warm family films to ever come out of Hollywood. Along with The Birdcage, you should also watch Kissing Jessica Stein and In and Out because they are all wonderful and loving and warm family movies. And then we can all recast them for India.

The Birdcage

Originally a French film La Cage Aux Folles. But while the original was a funny farce, the American remake turns it into a really deep loving movie about family. Robin Williams is a club owner and Nathan Lane is his headlining act. They are also long time partners who together raised Robin Williams’ son from a mistaken one night stand. Their son announces he is engaged, the girl is pregnant (so they really REALLY have to get married) and her family is conservative. Nathan Lane and Robin Williams go through some internal agony but finally decide they are willing to lie about themselves in order to make their son happy. In a comic set piece, Nathan Lane in drag pretends to be Robin Williams’ very conservative and charming wife as they try to get through a horrible dinner party with the girl’s family. But in the end the truth comes out and their son does the decent thing and stands up for his fathers (such a nice tear inducing moment of family love) and says he isn’t going into this marriage unless his parents are accepted. And it ends with a Wedding.

Perfect Indian movie, right? Engagement first meeting pressure, parents sacrificing everything for their son and being rewarded by him giving up everything for them, ends with a wedding? Plus, 4 great roles for older actors (nervously falling apart father, father in drag, conservative blowhard father, enduring but patience running thin conservative mother)

Kissing Jessica Stein

Our heroine is just out of a bad boring relationship and looking for something different. She sees a personals ad that really intrigues her and answers it, only to discover it was placed by a woman who is also interested in trying a same sex relationship. They start out getting to know each other and taking the physical part slowly, but finally sleep together and in love. Only, and this is the twist, it doesn’t last. After they have both come out to all their friends and family, even moved in together, they start fighting because our heroine is just not that interested in the physical part of it. They finally break up as she realizes that it was more about the friendship and trying something new than the physical part for her. And it ends with the girlfriend in a new happy relationship with another woman, and the heroine thinking about maybe starting something with her old interesting male friend from her job.

Interesting, right? The idea of a relationship being about who you fall in love with more than what gender they are, and the idea of this relationship ending but still being a good thing (our heroine got confidence and out of her rut, her girlfriend realized she was a lesbian), and ending on the kind of open question of if the heroine is going to get together with the nice guy or not.

In and Out

In his Oscar’s acceptance speech, the hottest new actor in the industry credits his gay high school teacher with inspiring his performance. But his high school teacher isn’t gay. Or maybe he is gay and has never admitted it to himself, that’s the question of the film. He’s engaged but is making his fiancee “wait until marriage”. And when a gay entertainment reporter arrives in town and starts flirting with him, he finds himself confused and tempted. Meanwhile his parents are pressuring him about the big wedding they planned, his fiancee is having a nervous breakdown because she lost a ton of weight and yet he still isn’t attracted to her, and the movie star is a mystery and no one knows why he said that. But it works out, in a series of dramatic revelations (SPOILERS if you want to stop here, the other two films were pretty predictable based on the set up but this one isn’t). Our hero admits during the wedding ceremony that, thanks to all of this, he has realized he IS gay and shares a super hot kiss with the reporter. The movie star rushes into town and reveals that he has had a crush on the fiancee since high school, he said that to try to break up the engagement. And the hero’s mother decides to throw her dream wedding for herself and renew her vows. The movie ends with 3 happy couples (hero’s parents, hero and reporter, and movie star and fiancee).

Maybe this is my favorite option? It’s got all those great twist endings, and the movie star plot. Plus, also ends with a wedding!

Yeah, don’t really have anything more to say, just was thinking about how good those 3 movies are. Have any of you watched them? If so, which would you pick to remake? Or heck, which would you pick just based on my descriptions?