The norms governing gay life have not been written authoritatively, so expectations are sometimes based on a model of straight relationships that may be inappropriate. The soap opera Queer as Folk, which began on cable in 1999, grapples with the adjustments made by young gays as they encounter the unexpected. Slutty Summer, directed by Casper Andreas, presents a feature-length soap opera with similar issues, though with an extremely graphic dialog. Markus (played by the director) comes home one day, only to discover that his lover Julian (played by Christos Klapsis) is having sex in bed with a stranger. His expectation of monogamy shattered, he tells Julian to hit the road. However, Julian has been paying his expenses for the past four years while Markus concentrated on writing a novel, so the latter now takes a job as a waiter at a gay-owned restaurant near his New York apartment to support himself. Most of the other servers are gay, though Marilyn (played by Virginia Bryan) is a frustrated fag hag, looking for a boyfriend without success. All provide a support group for Markus, who wears his disillusionment at first on his sleeve. The first rule of scriptwriting is for at least one character to undergo a transformative experience, and in Slutty Summer almost all the characters learn lessons, and many give advice. Luke (played by Jesse Archer), a budding actor who is a bitchy queen, has sex whenever he can find a trick and claims that he does not seek a continuing relationship, but at the end of the film he admits that he would like to meet Mr. Right. Tyler (played by Jamie Hatchett), an actor from Europe, has been sleeping around, including a seventeen-year-old weekly sex partner (played by Huy Nguyen), whom he rejects as too young for a relationship. Although he falls for Markus, why he does so is a mystery. Peter (played by Jeffrey Christopher Todd), the only waiter who is not a slut, has been looking for a romance without success, pays for an ad in a publication, is angered when his ad is posted in the men's room at the restaurant, but a restaurant patron approaches him based on the ad, and the two appear to be on the road to bliss at the end of the film. Julian, coming to his senses after his fling ends, begs Markus to restart the relationship. However, Markus has been sleeping around, so he has become aware of the advantages of playing the field. He therefore turns down his former lover's invitation to resume the relationship, and he also declines to get involved with Tyler, who as a result returns to Europe at the end of the summer. As for Marilyn, alcohol gets the better of her search. In the mix of abrasive personalities are rude patrons at the restaurant and a restaurant manager, Kevin (played by Lance Werth), who must umpire the battle between the neurotic gays and, often threatening to fire them unless they get back to work. The elusive happy ending, in short, is not provided in the film, though there are enough muscular bodies en route to provide eye candy. The young and beautiful people in the film may wise up in a sequel to Slutty Summer, but presumably only when they are no longer young or beautiful. MH
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