The D Word
Reel Affirmations 2005
Review by Nancy Legato
Rating: 
(4 out of 5)
Saturday, 10/22/2005, 6:00 PM
Shorts presentation, $9 at Lincoln Theatre
IF YOU CAN’T get enough of The L Word in the off-season, Dasha Snyder, Cherien Dabis, Noelle Brower and Maggie Burkle have a solution for you: Their schticky spoof The D Word will have you laughing riotously over all the foibles of your favorite L.A. denizens, transplanted to New York and magnified a hundredfold.
In some ways, The D Word corrects for what The L Word lacks: butch women who actually seem butch, women of color who actually hang out with other women of color, and working class women who actually exist. In other ways, The D Word just takes advantage of every gaping opportunity for parody The L Word so helpfully provides, such as Bette’s narcissism and Tina’s codependence, here played to perfection by the inimitable Marga Gomez as Bette’s spoofy counterpart Dot and Jessica Horstman as Tina’s alter ego Dina Cunnard. (At one point, Dot tells Dina ”I love you, babe.” Dina enthusiastically replies, ”I love you more!” and Dot grins without missing a beat, ”I know!”)
Be forewarned: If you haven’t seen each episode of season one of The L Word at least a couple of times, you may miss some in jokes. And, even so, The D Word runs a little long for pure spoof. However, if you’re willing to run with it, The D Word will get you to a happy place, and keep you primed for the next season of The L Word, whenever Showtime gets around to it.
Also showing is a brilliant short, Who’s the Top (), by Jeannie Livingston, a tightly-woven pastiche of musical numbers, hot sexual fantasies, boring sexual realities, and wry humor topped with one or two insightful thoughts thrown in for good measure. I’m amazed that Livingston managed to pack in so much diversely good stuff into Who’s the Top, including musical selections as divergent as ”I’m Beginning to See the Light” and a punked-out version of ”Happiness is a Warm Gun,” large ensemble dance numbers, mild S&M scenes, and a cameo by Steve Buscemi. You might not care for Alixe’s (Marin Hinkle) solution to lesbian bed death (actually, I think you will, but to each their own) but I think you will love how she gets there, and where she ends up afterward.
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