“THE BOYS IN THE BAND” My rating: B
121 minutes | MPAA rating: R
Gotta be honest…the first half hour or so of Netflix’s “The Boys in the Band” is not terribly promising.
Based on Mart Crowley’s ground-breaking 1968 play (it was first filmed in 1970), this new version pretty much sticks to the original script.
In doing so Joe Mantello’s film clumsily displays its theatrical roots, not just in its claustrophobic single setting but also in the dialogue-heavy way it tells us (rather than shows us) what its characters and their predicament are all about. Especially in the early going the talk seems forced and artificial in its efforts to set up the situation.
But once it kicks in, once all the celebrants to a gay man’s birthday party in late-60s NYC show up and start interacting, “Boys…” finds its voice and its power.
What’s really driven home here is the realization that while the conditions under which gay people live have improved over the last 50 years, the human condition pretty much remains the same.
Here’s the setup: Michael (Jim Parsons), a witty and somewhat dictatorial fellow, has invited several of his closest friends to his apartment (Greenwich Village?) for a birthday celebration. Over the course of an increasingly drunken evening they will thrash out relationships, hopes, dreams and fears.
The birthday boy is Harold (Zacharay Quinto), pock-marked, cynical and carrying a substantial load of self-loathing.
Larry (Andrew Rannells) and Hank (Tuc Watkins) are a couple…at least for now. Randy Larry has a wandering eye (and other body parts), while staid Hank — who has an ex-wife and a couple of kids — takes comfort in monogamy.
Bernard (Michael Benjamin Washington) is a black man who, before the evening is over, will erupt over Michael’s barely-disguised race baiting.
Emory (Robin de Jesus) is the most overtly “out” of the bunch, a queen with an expansive personality who defies any attempt to put him in a box (or closet).
Donald (Matt Boner) used to live in the city but got burned out and is now visiting from upstate. He’s quiet…seems like a nice person.
Two newcomers round out the group. Cowboy (Charlie Carver) is a young hustler as culturally uninformed as he is sexually adventurous. Basically he’s the gay equivalent of a singing telegram, hired by the trouble-making Larry to make Harold’s birthday more memorable.
And last there’s Alan (Brian Hutchison), Michael’s whitebread college roomie who drops in unexpectedly and has his suburban world view rocked by what he witnesses.
The screenplay by Crowley (who died earlier this year at age 84) and Ned Martel hits its stride during a twisted party game imposed on the gathering by Michael. His idea is for every man to call up the person he has most loved and lost. Points will be scored for the degree of honesty and revelation brought to the conversation.
It’s noteworthy that “Boys…”, though written in the pre-Stonewall era, is not a play about gay persecution (unless it’s self-inflicted). Obviously that exists in the world outside Michael’s apartment, but inside the main topic is coming to an accommodation with oneself. That universality is the genius of Crowley’s creation.
The performances are effortless…as they should be. These actors all played the same roles in last year’s successful revival of the play, and they know their characters inside out.
Moreover, all the cast members are openly gay, something that would have been unimaginable back when “Boys…” first shocked not only the theatrical world but the larger culture.
| Robert W. Butler
Butler's Cinema Scene 
I wonder if this would’ve gotten a theatrical release — or if it was always intended for Netflix? Lots of movies that would have originally been in theaters in 2020 (like Relic, Onward, Mulan, Trolls 2) have been shifted to streaming in this difficult time. Curious, tectonic shift for the industry.