Strange Bedfellows

Date: Saturday, 10/15/2005
Time: 3:00 pm
Venue: Lincoln Theatre
Tickets: $9

Type: Feature presentation

Metro Weekly Rating: (4 out of 5)

by Will O'Bryan

WITH THE ADVANTAGE of a budget and big-name talent that would make any indie filmmaker jealous, Australia's Strange Bedfellows manages to satisfy. It's by no means ground-breaking, but it's worth some laughs, social commentary and tender moments.

In short, as so many have done before them, longtime straight buddies Ralph (Michael Caton) and Vince (Paul Hogan) need to play gay. This time it's not to get the girl, but rather the tax break. Mayhem of course ensues in this small-town setting of Yakandandah, a fictional, rural Australian town that could easily pass for a small Midwestern U.S. town in autumn. Keeping with the formula, Vince and Ralph need lessons on how to gay it up. ''For God's sake, Ralph -- mince!'' This bit's a little tired, but Strange Bedfellows makes amends by sending our small-town seniors to the big city for field study, where ''Crocodile Dundee'' Hogan can elicit a few laughs trying to navigate gay club land.

But it's back to formula as the story ends on the night of the firemen's ball back in Yakandandah, with all the townsfolk learning lessons about character, acceptance and all the rest. Not to be a spoiler, but the movie follows an American movie formula, rather than Australian. Director Dean Murphy keeps it light, not hitting us over the head with cancer or a stroke or some other dire calamity just when we're in the middle of a laugh.

Film Links:
· Reel Affirmations details
· Internet Movie Database
· Rotten Tomatoes

Festival Venue:
Lincoln Theatre
1215 U Street, NW; Washington, DC 20009. (202) 328-6000. (map)
Directly across from Green Line Metro / U Street-Cardozo station.

Tickets:
You may buy your tickets or passes in advance: Online at BoxOfficeTickets.com or by phone at (800) 494-TIXS (494-8497). Or you may visit the Lincoln Theatre (1215 U Street, NW, WDC); the DCJCC (1529 16th Street, NW, WDC); Lambda Rising (1625 Connecticut Avenue, NW, WDC); or Universal Gear (1601 17th Street, NW, WDC).
 

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For more info visit the official Reel Affirmations website.