User reviews

"Straight-Jacket" is a very funny satire showing what it must have been like for closeted homosexual actors living and working in Hollywood in the 1950's (and who's to say it's really that much better now?). Matt Letscher stars as Guy Stone, a matinée idol along the lines of Rock Hudson, who leads a tricky double life. To the public at large he's a macho superstar heartthrob, the fantasy love object of women the world over, all of whom dream of being the one to finally strip him of his status as filmdom's "most eligible young bachelor." In his private life, he spends most of his time prowling the bar scene for the next available hunk. In fact, Guy is so shallow that he doesn't even bother to learn the names of the star-struck men he sleeps with. Desperate to get the lead role in the upcoming epic "Ben-Hur," Guy agrees to enter into a sham marriage with a naïve young secretary working at the studio (she is unaware of Guy's sexuality and believes he actually loves her). Soon we're deep into a laugh-filled version of "Far From Heaven," with Guy struggling to maintain interest in his new heterosexual lifestyle, a charade that becomes even more difficult after he meets the man of his dreams, an idealistic young writer named Rick Foster, who makes Guy think twice about the life of deceit he's leading.

Director Richard Day has written a script (based on his own stage play) filled with lacerating wit, hilarious puns (starting with the title of the movie and the name of the main character) and absurdist situations. He casts a scathing eye not only on anti-gay prejudice but on Tinsel Town phoniness, Red-baiting and superficial relationships as well. The movie shimmers with the bright, shiny look of '50's films, while the sets and costumes capture the period with rib-tickling fidelity (Guy's peeling himself off a plastic, slip-covered sofa is priceless). The actors are all wonderful in their roles, particularly Letscher as Guy, Carrie Preston as his perfect little wife, Victor Raider-Wexler as the studio head and, above all, Veronica Cartwright (the young girl in "The Birds"), absolutely hilarious as Guy's understanding but pragmatic agent whose job it is to make sure Guy's career and hers don't suddenly come crashing down in flames around them.

"Straight-Jacket" is really a story about a man's coming to terms with reality, accepting himself for who he is, and changing society a little bit for the better in the process - with the Red Scare references serving mainly as allegorical allusions to the homophobia of today. This thematic layering is what makes "Straight-Jacket" one of the sharpest and most thoughtful movie comedies in a long time.

STRAIGHT JACKET began as a play by writer/director Richard Day and Day transforms this bit of fluff about Hollywood and its foibles and hidden secrets in the 1950s with the panache that true comedy must have: verisimilitude. The look of the film within a film has the constant appearance of being 'on camera' and that bit of execution makes the film really work. Day deals with issues such as closeted gay actors and actresses, film moguls with an eye on the buck more than on art, the sub rosa gay scene of the time (pre Stonewall) among others. Though there is some parody on the life of Rock Hudson it is only a sidebar.

Guy Stone (Matt Letscher) is a handsome, successful movie star with a devoted female audience who gives the public appearance of being straight while carrying on a wild but anonymous gay sex life. His agent Jerry (Veronica Cartwright) struggles to keep him in tow, always aware that should his sexual preference become public that his acting career would be over. When Guy is photographed en flagrante Jerry decides that the story must not leak, a story which would prevent his obtaining the role of Ben Hur, and convinces Guy to quickly get married - the most available 'wife' would be the ditsy, star struck secretary Sally (Carrie Preston) whose boss Saul (Victor Raider-Wexler) agrees as a solution.

Once married Guy discovers Sally's obsession with being a 1950s wife complete with the tacky re-do of his pad, drowning him in affection, and ...preventing him from his nightly sojourns into the gay world. Guy meets pro communist writer Rick Foster (Adam Greer) who has written Guy's latest film, a script that must be doctored to pass McCarthyisms. They do the courtship dance and eventually actually fall in love, much to Guy's consternation! The political and conscientious differences between the two are forgotten until their pairing is discovered. Guy is asked to go before the TV cameras to confess his homosexuality (which the McCarthyites equate with Communism) and to give names of others who are of like nature.

At this point the film becomes poignant and the manner in which the films is resolved is best left to the surprise of the viewer. While some may feel this 'change of direction' in a comedy is melodramatic, others will see the conclusion as a meaningful resolution that maintains that 'comedy' is just the other side of the mask of 'tragedy'.

The sets and costumes and flow of the film are quite well done, successfully transporting us to the dazzle of the Fifties and the many mindless motion pictures that flooded the screens. The individual actors are good with especial kudos to Veronica Cartwright who can toss away one-liners with the aplomb of the best of comediennes. Carrie Preston is wholly convincing as the platinum blonde fluff head and delivers a song very well. While Letscher and Greer perform well there is no magic in their bond, even after their true feelings are revealed: they remain uninvolved with each other as actors so there is little to no sexual tension. The musical score is just this side of atrocious but it suits the era. In all, this is an entertaining if overlong film with an important re-enactment of a scary time in Hollywood that meanders a bit too much for the final punch it could have had. Grady Harp

I wasn't expecting too much out of this little gay indie, but I was happily surprised at how much I ended up liking the characters, laughing at the jokes, and being delighted by the cinematography and art design. With the exception of some of the exterior shots (some done with CGI and some with grainy stock footage), the film looks exactly like a vintage production from the late-Fifties or early-Sixties, which is the era in which the film is set. In fact it's a perfect pastiche of the old Rock Hudson Universal comedies of that time like "Lover Come Back" and "Man's Favorite Sport?"

The characters, for their part, at first come across as being a bit annoying. A surprisingly buffed-up Matt Letscher (who played the anchorman character in the TV sitcom "Good Morning, Miami") is a closeted gay movie star in the Fifties (based on Rock Hudson) whose promiscuousness is matched only by his vanity; Carrie Preston plays a dippy studio secretary who's conned into marrying the actor as a "front" to the public; and Veronica Cartwright (looking a bit like Joan Crawford in the 1964 horror film called "Straight-Jacket") is his ball- busting, dyky agent.

Eventually, these characters do come to actually seem somewhat lovable, if not exactly like three-dimensional human beings. Letcher, when he finally falls in love with a man (the slightly dorky but utterly adorable newcomer Adam Greer) ends up seeming almost gallant in a Cary Grant sort of way. Preston, while she never loses her cartoony quality, ends up— especially after a fun musical number—seeming as delightful as she does ditzy. Her performance winds up being much like that of Ellen Greene's in "Little Shop of Horrors", a film with which this one has much in common.

Best of all is Veronica Cartwright, who plays Guy's agent Jerry. She's an absolute delight. She's always been one of those actresses who commands the screen whenever she's on it. Her short little part in "Kinsey" (virtually a cameo) as Alfred Kinsey's mother was perhaps the best performance in that film. As the other woman, besides Sigorney Weaver, in the first "Alien", she delivered a masterpiece of on-screen hysteria that should have gotten her an Oscar nomination. Here, doing broad comedy, she practically steals the show. Simple little throwaway lines like: "Can I just say that's beautiful… and retarded?" become dialogue classics in her hands.

Finally, the look of the film is beautiful. In creating a pastiche of 50s/60s Hollywood, it comes close to the bigger budget but not nearly as good Renee Zellweger film "Down With Love" from 2003. I strongly disagree with the review here that says this is a good film but more of a DVD rental than a "go out and see it" movie. Half the film's charm is in its Technicolor CinemaScope big-screen splendor.

In short, "Straight-Jacket" is a great little gay date movie. It's much better than, though similar to, a number of other gay indies I've seen recently like "Eating Out", "Slutty Summer", and "The Broken Hearts Club". It's not going to win any Academy Awards at the end of the year (not that comedies do anyway!) but if you want a fun big-screen film with a gay focus, you can't do much better than this screwball gem.

"Straight-jacket" is a slight low-budget comedy. And I don't mean that in any patronizing way. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a funny movie with little or no pretensions. So, all that aside, this is an amusing, charming and pretty forgettable effort. The dialogue is witty and occasionally hilarious, acting decent and in case of Veronica Cartwright, right on a spot(she has an impeccable timing). As far as script goes it has its ups and downs. Can't really make up its mind. Bit of screwball, bit of satire and a big pinch of preachy melodrama in the end. Nice little mixture of different genre for everybody's taste. To conclude it's a sparkly cocktail that goes flat unless you drink it very fast.

I had the privilege of attending a screening of STRAIGHT-JACKET at SXSW Film 2004, and it's been, hands down, my favorite film so far from this year's selections.

It's a smart and sassy homage to fifties films that expertly balances farce with message. Guy Stone (Matt Letscher), a Hollywood sex symbol whose randiness keeps threatening his career until his agent (Veronica Cartwright) and studio boss marry him off to a naive secretary (Carrie Preston). Everyone knows the marriage is a sham but Sally, who enthusiastically tries to domesticate Guy. Meanwhile, Guy meets Rick, (Adam Greer), who challenges his promiscuous ways as well as his willingness to live a lie at the height of the communist scare.

Letscher has the part down perfectly; he's an adorable cad who could be inserted into any romantic comedy of that era and fit right in. Preston and Greer, both from the original theatrical cast, are also solid casting. Cartwright seems to channel several actresses of the era known for being ballsy women. But the most enjoyable moments are the droll lines delivered by Michael Emerson, as Victor, Guy's Butler; I couldn't wait to hear what he'd say next.

Stylistically the film captures the spirit of the era, from the titles, to music, and the creative use of computer imagery and set design. The in-jokes are fast and furious, remaining suggestive without being offensive. It's solid film-making from top to bottom.

This is a movie I intend to own the moment it's available on DVD, as well as see again as soon as it gets distribution.

There is a quote by a popular musical duo where they talk about some of their albums as being meant to be taken seriously where as others are meant to be taken as entertainment or for the pleasure and enjoyment. I think film should be viewed this way as well. On that level, this works fine as an entertainment. It's very obvious an independent film with a limited budget and, if anyone bothered to do some research or get the DVD and listen to the voice over, they would have discovered that Skywalker Sound donates their services to films that wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it. So the people complaining about the CGI or the sound obviously have no conception of what an independent movie is. The fact that mainstreams studios have been funding $5 and $10 million movies and releasing them through their art house labels skewers the fact that a number of films are still made and released for budgets well under that. There's no way they had $10M for this movie.

It's a good example of attempting to do what was done with Down With Love but without the budget. The performances are fine, with some really good work by a few of the performers, the dialogue was good although the situations and resolutions were, not surprisingly, predictable, especially at times. It should exceed your expectations unless you really are expecting a $5 or $10 million production or more.

Occasionally you come across these little pseudo-erotic movies, that aren't really pornographic, just an excuse for a series of soft-core sex scenes. In the more ambitious -- and frequently, the worst -- of these films, the scenes are strung together with a desperate attempt to justify the sex with a narrative, usually consisting of awkward storytelling and an even more awkward attempt at humor. STRAIGHT-JACKET consists of those awkward attempts at storytelling and equally awkward attempts at humor, only they aren't justified with any sex. That is not to say that STRAIGHT-JACKET would be better with a little bit of sex (hard-core, soft-core, simulated, whatever), but even some naughty nudity would have helped considerably. Most of the film seems to be waiting for the erotic moments that never come.

Directed by Richard Day from his script based on his own play, STRAIGHT-JACKET has genuine promise. It is obviously based loosely on the life of Rock Hudson (the main character is even named Guy Stone), though Hudson certainly wasn't an isolated case. The plot involves an actor in 1950s Hollywood who is gay, but gets marries to avoid a scandal and to squash scandal sheet gossip. Meanwhile, he finds the true love of his life, a young, left-wing writer. This is a great premise: a man in the spotlight who has to juggle a wife, a male lover, old boyfriends, a public image, a batch of studio guys and his own conscience. One would think that complications would write themselves and create a romantic farce not unlike the ones that Rock himself played with such seeming ease.

Day's dialogue is okay, with a few really great one-liners scattered throughout, but his story and direction sidesteps the tone of romantic comedy, skips past farce and goes straight to parody -- and, more than that, wallows in camp. The characters are pure stereotype, right down to the condescending, wisecracking butler. There's never a sense of reality, even screen reality. Other than the cars and the clothes, there is no feel for the 1950s; the jokes, the dialogue and the prevailing attitude is that of modern gay posturing. One female character is even played by a man in drag for no apparent reason other than to supply a little knowing wink at the audience. There is something vaguely insulting about the idea that comedy material aimed at a gay audience has to be as overtly campy as a drag show.

At least in the early stages everything is played so broadly and with such self-consciousness that there is a feeling that you are watching a poorly made sitcom (Day's background is in TV comedy). The NAKED GUN films are played with greater subtlety and have characters with greater complexity. That wouldn't be so bad, were it not for the fact that the film eventually switches gears and tries to be "serious" and deliver "a message." Groan! What begins as silliness eventually shifts gears to shoehorn aching sincerity into the mix of obvious gags and broad jokes. The sex comedy gets lost in plot twists that involve homophobia, gay bashing and McCarthyism. The film becomes just the sort of political diatribe that it makes fun of in its film-within-a-film sequences.

The film, I suppose, deserves to be cut some slack because it is obviously such a low-budget effort, which is painfully obvious by the flimsy, half-decorated sets and establishing shots made up of mismatched stock footage and computer generated images. But the problem is not in those details or in Day's unimaginative and clumsy direction; the problem is that the film serves up a modern-day sermon about the importance of being honest and coming out that is totally inappropriate in 1950s Hollywood. Stone's lover, a communist screenwriter (who, for some reason, also works as a mailman), continuously nags the actor about his not going public with his homosexuality, like it should be no big deal. Filmmaker Day seems to be viewing the era with skewed hindsight, apparently faulting gays of the periods for not having an out and proud gay sensibility that did not and could not have reasonably existed back then. The film seems to be totally ignorant about the social and moral views of the time. Being openly gay was not just a matter of putting integrity over a paycheck, it carried with it a good deal of social, professional and moral disgrace. Coming out didn't create self-respect; staying in protected self respect. The film's attitude and lack of understanding of it subject undermines all the self-righteousness that the story has to offer

"Straight-Jacket", despite it's horror film title is one of the best comedies, gay or straight, that I've seen in a long, long time. The sharp-witted script is a delight and the look of the film is great. You really feel like you're watching one of those old 20th Century Fox Cinemascope films from the Fifties (with color by DeLuxe, of course!) Especially wonderful is the new heartthrob discovery Adam Greer, who melts both the main character's heart as well as the audience's. It may seem hard to believe that a vain Hollywood movie star like Guy Stone (the film's protagonist) could fall in love with a Marxist novelist, but Greer makes that plot twist seem not only plausible, but inevitable. Veronica Cartwright (who I loved vomiting up all those cherries in "The Witches of Eastwick") gives another memorable performance as Stone's agent, Jerry. I can hardly wait until this film comes out on DVD so I can buy it.

This film tries to skewer the studio era in Hollywood and the morals of the 1950s. Guy Stone is intended to be a Rock Hudson type, but both the script and actor Matt Letscher end up channeling a smarmy, cruel, baritone-voiced version of George Hamilton instead, which makes for an unpleasant character.

Guy Stone is such a reprehensible human being that the audience has trouble liking this waste of human skin. Unlike Hudson, who was sweetly promiscuous, Stone is a hateful person who knowingly uses and then throws away the sweet, handsome young men who share his bed every few hours.

Veronica Cartwright is Jerry, Stone's celibate lesbian manager. Cartwright is very good, but the director doesn't quite know what to do with her. The fault lies in the dialogue, which is a bit clumsy, and the film suffers for it.

Carrie Preston's Sally owes more to Ellen Greene in "The Little Shop of Horrors". As written, Preston's Sally is good for a laugh but little else. Newcomer Adam Greer is lost in this movie. He cannot act, and seems to have been cast for his hot body and good looks.

Like many recent films, "Straight-Jacket" is a "dramedy" -- a comedy film which switches messily to a drama about two-thirds of the way through the film. And, like almost all dramedies, "Straight-Jacket" fails miserably.

Despite the expensive services of Skywalker Sound, the sound quality of the film leaves a lot of be desired. The over-use of the musical soundtrack creates a distracting amount of cues as well.

The film really doesn't managed to satirize anything about the 1950s. Unlike "Singin' in the Rain," which perfectly captures Hollywood's ambivalence about the advent of sound as well as the studio mentality about formula films, "Straight-Jacket" doesn't manage to depict Hollywood in the 1950s at all well. The dialogue, sets and behavior of the key characters are nondescript rather than dead-on stereotypes of the 1950s Hollywood. The same can be said for the lampooning of the general mores, social trends and fads of the 1950s as a whole. Compare the transformation of Guy's home to the dead-on satire of the 1950s home in "Little Shop of Horrors". There is no comparison; "Little Shop" hits the nail on the head, while "Straight-Jacket" doesn't even know there is a nail.

Motivations, too, seem haphazard. Rick Foster is supposed to be a principled liberal, yet he falls almost immediately for a materialistic schmuck like Guy Stone. Rick is fine with Guy's closeted status for many months. But when it comes time to go to Italy, he becomes conflicted for reasons that are completely unclear. And even though Sally appears to fall in love with Freddie during the party, this plot point simply disappears a few minutes later without comment. Rick comes off like a gay man from the 1990s, not a gay author of the 1950s. Indeed, modern morality suffuses this film -- which it shouldn't, if it were really a satirical look at homophobia in 1950s Hollywood.

Plot holes in this ragtag film also abound. Saul repeatedly says that he's going to turn Freddie Stevens over to the feds, but never does so -- allowing Freddie to out Guy. Jerry and Saul's plot to "in" Guy never makes any sense, nor does Sally's sudden decision to take the blame. And although Guy has admitted he is a homosexual, apparently it doesn't matter and he ends up a famous star and playwright anyway.

Unfortunately, none of the production values manage to save this film. The cinematography by Michael Pinkey is pedestrian. At times, the film almost looks like a filmed play rather than a motion picture (especially the scenes in Saul's office). Everything is restricted to medium shots, and the film has an incredibly static. The editing by Chris Conlee doesn't do the film any help, either. Long scenes which would benefit from the insertion of close-ups or shifts in point of view remain uncut. Whether this is due to lack of coverage or bad editing is not clear, but the overall effect is to create a sense of lethargy.

The film relies heavily on CGI effects of Guy's home, created by visual effect designer Thomas Dickens. But the CGI looks clumsy and hokey, and it is very noticeably amateurish.

My overall impression of this film is that the jokes are cheap and easy, the plot muddled, the characterizations wildly inconsistent and way off the mark, the satire nonexistent, the performances overbroad and off the mark, and the comic timing off. It's almost an amateurish film. It is as if someone took a high school production and threw $10 million at it.

Straight-Jacket is modern camp at its best. A well written script with witty dialogue reminiscent of the era it teases. The film would fall apart if it weren't for the deft handling of the homosexual aspect of the story; instead we are treated with a smart and strangely endearing film which ultimately turns into something of a love story. Loosely based on Rock Hudson's double life, our main character (a leading cinematic heartthrob) has to get married and make an attempt to tone down his lifestyle to cover the fact that he is gay. Set against the backdrop of 50's Americana and Hollywood blacklisting, the mix of comedy and emotion conspire to create a film which is most definitely memorable and absolutely enjoyable.

Why do gay men love this film? It is because they are so starved to see decent representation of themselves on-screen that they'll settle for anything--even this mediocrity? Writer-director Richard Day, adapting his own stage material, was clearly inspired by Rock Hudson's real-life dilemma from the 1950s: what to do with a movie idol who is secretly homosexual? The answer: marry him off to an unsuspecting woman in order to quell the gossips (and to keep him working). Day's wispy-thin idea has been given a bit of energy by the good cast and retro production design (which amusingly resembles a greeting card by Shag); however, his dialogue isn't very clever, and there's some slapstick goofing around near the beginning which fails to work (spitting out food, etc.). That said, when a serious tone is called for (as it is in the third cat), Day handles it with great taste--and this is far more welcomed by the viewer than all the comic silliness. Matt Letscher is well-cast as the movie hero Guy Stone, but are his experiences here enough to strengthen his character? (I imagined him right back at the bar the next evening). The movie seems not to know how to answer this--or to care. Day wants to get off a few one-liners and a carefully written pro-gay speech--a plea for tolerance--but he has no other agenda. For audiences hoping for something substantial, this sentimental thing looks like nothing more than a stunt. *1/2 from ****

I really enjoyed this film. It was a fun, witty, and fresh look at 50s Hollywood. The fact that it deals with gay characters aside, it has a fun, but strong message about the extent of how far McCarthy era probes went to play on public fears. This time it's dished right back to the fear-mongers.

The movie is shot on high-color film stock that makes it feel more like a 50s Technicolor feature. The characters are over-the-top and the sets are "fabulous." On the technical side, this movie has several long single-shot scenes that make it feel more like a 50s-era movie. I hear that they were equally difficult for the actors and crew to get get a good take. Most movie takes today are only seconds long with different camera takes strung together to make a scene. In Straight-Jacket, they pan the camera to make a very long, stage-like scene.

The humor of the film is very smart & witty. I always like a comedy where secondary & minor characters are used to carry the comedy while the main characters carry more of a straight plot. In this film, you can't wait for the next witty entanglement with either the butler (Michael Emerson) or the agent (Veronica Cartwright.) Of course, there are several on-going gags that lighten the serious message of the film.

In 1950s Hollywood actor Guy Stone (Matt Letscher) is very popular--and secretly gay. He's in a gay bar which is raided. To save his image his publicist (Veronica Cartwright) arranges a quick marriage to sweet, adorable Sally (Carrie Preston) without telling her that Stone is gay. Then Stone meets hunky, drop dead handsome Rick Foster (Adam Greer) and falls in love...but what about his marriage and career?

Good gay comedy but far from perfect. Halfway through I thought the movie was going to end...but it kept on going. Basically this was a good hour long movie stretched out to 96 minutes. Also Letscher and Greer are obviously straight--I've never seen such uncomfortable kissing! But those are my only real complaints.

That aside this movie looked great and had a funny script. Most of the actors were recruited from the stage play for the movie so they had their roles down pat. Letscher is good as Stone--arrogant and obnoxious. He obviously buffed up for the role but he just wasn't handsome enough (to me) to be a big Hollywood star. Preston is very good as his wife Sally--sweet and lovable but doesn't overdo it. Greer is impossibly handsome as Rick. He's also buffed up and Stone's attraction to him makes perfect sense. That aside Greer is a very good actor too. And Cartwright is hysterical as Stone's agent --she barrels through this film tossing off one liners left and right.

So--I DID like it but this is no milestone in gay cinema. It's an entertaining well-done fluffy movie--but that's about it. Worth catching if you want an undemanding movie. I give it an 8.

and beyond!...i thought at first it was some cheesy B movie about a gay actor-like Rock Hudson...but the filming and the storyline just thru me into a movie watching frenzy!!! I couldn't stop!!! It was remarkable that a film of so little recognition has remained with SO LITTLE RECOGNITION!!! It is a gay must see for the true gay cult seekers...Watch it and see! All the cast was fabulous and they portrayed their characters very well. I can only hope that this writer continues with this quality writing and cast selections.The music score was fabulous, the CGI[?] scenes were a wonderful addition to the movie... Keep up the good work. A true 10 in my book.

It was fun, but more of a DVD rental type movie then a going out to the movies event. Lighting was phenomenal and as a director who just finished his own independent film I salute the effort. And yes I agree, sound could have been better, sometimes (I saw it at the music Box in Chicago) it was hard to understand what some characters were saying. I loved Guy Stone, he plays a sleazy character with aplomb. I thought the computer generated images were very fitting, (this is not a big budget film, i assume. All and all it would have been more fun to see a more truthful depiction of the era, Guy stone driving through the lot (i know...$) while people are giving way to this famous actor. I had a good time, went with two friends and they enjoyed it as well.