Adam & Steve Reviews

The memory of the worst one-night-stand ever threatens a fine romance between two gay men who unknowingly reunite 17 years after the fact. New York City, 1987: Twenty-one-year-old Adam (SWOON's Craig Chester, who also wrote and directed) and his chubby friend Rhonda (Parker Posey, in a fat suit) stumble into the famed nightclub Danceteria thinking it's Goth night, but are aghast to find a glittery dance troupe (NYC's very own dazzling Dazzle Dancers) on stage performing a routine to Animotion's "Obsession." Despite their obvious differences, once Adam and lead go-go boy Steve (Malcolm Gets) lock eyes, it's lust at first sight. Steve gives Adam his first bump of coke, and several lines later they're back at Adam's place, tearing at each other's clothes and proclaiming their undying love. Then, without warning, the baby laxatives kick in and the evening comes to an abrupt and very messy end. Seventeen years later, Adam and Steve meet again, after Adam accidentally stabs his dog and rushes him to the hospital where Steve now works as a psychiatrist. Steve introduces himself, but without all the hairspray, eye shadow and body glitter, neither he nor Adam realizes that they once shared a less-than-special moment. Steve still carries the memory of that mortifying moment of incontinence deep within his psyche; it may be the real reason he never lets himself get close to any of the many guys with whom he's had sex. Adam, meanwhile, has matured into a typically neurotic New Yorker, insecure and in recovery; that bump at Danceteria was just the first step on the road to cocaine addiction. No longer Goth, Adam is still best friends with Rhonda (Posey, without the fat suit), now a skinny aspiring stand-up comedienne who's still working I'm-so-fat material no one gets. Adam and Steve begin dating and move in together (much to the chagrin of Steve's jealous but straight roommate, played by Chris Kattan), but just when things start to get really serious, the past rears its ugly head and threatens to upset the precariously perfect present. Written and directed by Chester, the film gets off to a strong start — those opening 15 minutes are just about perfect — but as the characters mature, the film begins to lose a sense of itself, mixing elements of absurd surrealism (Adam's "luck-challenged" family), wry observations about modern gay manners and a bizarre dance number. But it hits more often than it misses, and the best parts are always the simplest, in which the stars wing it with nothing to go on but their natural chemistry.