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Straight - Jacket (2004)
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Reviews Counted:21
Fresh:10
Rotten:11
Average Rating:5.4/10
Theatrical Release:Nov 26, 2004 Limited
Synopsis: Like DOWN WITH LOVE, STRAIGHT-JACKET plays fast and loose with the conventions of the 1950s Technicolor romantic comedy. Appropriately, it is also inspired by the true-life story of closeted... Like DOWN WITH LOVE, STRAIGHT-JACKET plays fast and loose with the conventions of the 1950s Technicolor romantic comedy. Appropriately, it is also inspired by the true-life story of closeted homosexual actor Rock Hudson, who starred in many such comedies. Guy Stone (Matt Letscher) is a matinee heart-throb whose popularity is matched by his libido. But when a scandal sheet threatens to reveals his homosexuality, which in the climate of the time would destroy his career, his agent marries him off to an unsuspecting secretary. When Guy then falls for gay screenwriter Rick, however, he is tempted to end his marriage and openly embrace his sexuality. STRAIGHT-JACKET satirizes classic Hollywood romantic comedies by giving them a queer twist. [More]
Starring: Matt Letscher, Carrie Preston, Veronica Cartwright
Starring: Matt Letscher, Carrie Preston, Veronica Cartwright
Studio: Regent Releasing
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Reviews for Straight - Jacket
Until it tries to mean something, Straight-Jacket is an enjoyably manic little farce whose wit far exceeds its production budget.
At its best when it's sending up '50s-era Hollywood and it's at its worst when trying to make a serious point.
As satire, it is often deliciously barbed and catty, the jokes flying fast and furious ... but when it tries to make its points seriously, it immediately loses me.
It's a shame, then, that Straight-Jacket turns dour and melodramatic ... The light-hearted fun seeps out of the movie, replaced by trite interludes of coming-out angst, McCarthy-era persecution and even gay-bashing.
The perkiness with a capital P, gorgeous set and great color can't completely salvage an occasionally strong cast and middling story (and don't forget a lousy, if literal, title).
Movies can never again be so corny, campy and PC clumsy as some of the howlers of the 1950s and '60s. But Straight-Jacket has a spiffy and gay (both senses) time joining the party.
It has verve, color and energy, but there's something fundamentally bogus about it, and whenever it takes a turn into seriousness, entire moments fall apart.
Day's pyrotechnic dialogue and instinctive comic timing make Straight-Jacket a delight.
Wastes its promising premise with a wavering tone that veers uneasily between camp humor and, pardon the expression, straightness.
This featherweight spoof of closeted, Red-baiting Hollywood in the mid-1950's is played as such an exaggerated cartoon that its political outrage is dissipated by its stridency.
Though its heart is in the right place, everything gets tangled up in the film's lunacy.
Save your money and rent one of those old Hudson-Doris Day comedies instead.
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| 45% 45% | Shorts |
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