Gay-oriented
films tend to present problems, sometimes very profound, mixed
with tension-release comedy. In Trick, directed
by Jim Fall, the problem seems quite simple—that Gabriel (played
by Christian Campbell) meets Mark (played by John Paul Pitoc),
the two want to have sex, but they are unable to have sex
all night, and therein lies the effort at situational comedy.
The tagline of the film is "A story about two guys trying
to make it in the big city." Gabriel, a budding writing of
musicals in New York with "all American boy" looks, shares
a one-room apartment in West Village with a straight roommate.
Mark is an awesomely handsome and muscular go-go dancer who
lives at home with his mom in Brooklyn. After Mark finishes
for the night and Gabriel leaves to go home, the two turn
up in the same car of the subway; when Gabriel disembarks,
Mark suddenly gets off and successfully propositions Gabriel.
For the rest of the film the audience is on edge as one thing
after another intervenes to prevent the two from having sex
together. Since Mark lives at home, the obvious place for
a trick is Gabriel’s apartment, so they go there. Gabriel,
however, is nervous, and by the time Mark calms him down,
Gabriel’s roommate returns and insists on having another night
of sex with his girlfriend, who has returned from Paris after
six months. Gabriel then realizes that his faggy friend Perry
(played by Stephen Hayes) has an empty apartment while performing
at a gay nightclub. Perry walks them toward his apartment,
but runs into his on-again-off-again lover on the street,
and the two decide to make up and go home, leaving Gabriel
and Mark in the lurch again. Mark then takes Gabriel to a
popular gay dance bar, where a drag queen Coco Peru (played
by Clinton Leupp) maliciously gossips about Mark while he
is trying to urinate in the toilet. Believing the jealous
lies of Coco Peru, Gabriel exits the bar, while Mark is being
approached by several good-looking guys. Mark then leaves
the bar to catch up with Gabriel, easily contradicts the drag
queen’s story, and points out that he lost his keys at Gabriel’s
apartment, so they return, but the apartment is now occupied
by his best friend Katherine (played by Tori Spelling), whom
he dated in high school. Katherine is printing up resumes
to launch her on an unlikely acting career, awaiting 150 copies
on a slow dot-matrix printer. After Gabriel tells Katherine
to leave, Gabriel’s roommate returns, continues to behave
like a jerk about having more sex with his girlfriend, and
will not give up the apartment so that Gabriel and Mark can
enjoy each other. Gabriel then suggests that they share a
meal, but Katherine unexpectedly joins them at the café along
with three of her friends. When Katherine explodes with verbal
diarrhea, clearly jealous that Gabriel has attracted such
a macho man as Mark, Gabriel chastises Katherine for monopolizing
the conversation. Katherine gets flustered and leaves, whereupon
Gabriel exits to apologize, and he then rejoins Mark, whose
name should be Job for the patience that he demonstrated throughout
the entire "mess" of the evening, as Gabriel describes it.
However, they agree that the good thing is that they have
met, they get along famously, and they are determined to meet
again, since they have managed to turn a potential one-night
stand into an opportunity to appreciate each other platonically,
the basis for what might become a lasting relationship between
two guys who ultimately have to adjust to the unlikelihood
of success in careers of their choosing. Trick
seems to follow a formula found in some gay films of those
in their 20s: The major hero is gentle and kind but inexperienced,
refusing to be overwhelmed by the complexities and uncertainties
of gay life, whereas straights tend to be insensitive and
narcissistic, a view that is widely shared within the gay
community. The main message of the film is that straights
who pretend to like gays in order to appear progressive have
a lot to learn. Interestingly, after starting at a cinema
in gay West Hollywood, within two weeks Trick
was being exhibited at several theatres in Los Angeles where
the gay population density is much less, but that is probably
because the two lead actors are straight, and the film is
directed at opening the eyes of the progressive straight community
while titillating the gay community. MH
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