trick Doesn't Trick One Into Complacency
By Gregg Shapiro
For the past few years, it seems that along with the usual assortment of over-the-top summer movie blockbusters, gay and lesbian moviegoers have been rewarded for their patience and persistence with a few movies that appeal especially to them. Last summer, movies such as High Art (which starred Ally Sheedy as a reculsive Jewish lesbian photographer), Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, and The Opposite of Sex, filled the bill. This summer's release of trick isn't much different.
Riding in on a wave of publicity and hype, trick -- which is gaining some publicity simply because Jewish actress Tori Spelling (TV's Beverly Hills 90210) is in in it -- almost lives up to the air of anticipation it has inspired.
But, a word of caution. If you go expecting Spelling (also, the star of the Sundance hit, The House of Yes) to be trick's star and focal point, you'll be disappointed. Spelling's character, Katherine Lamberg, is the best friend and former college girlfriend of Gabriel, one of the film's two stars.
Rather than revolve around Spelling's character, trick tells the story of musical-theater- composer hopeful Gabriel (Neve Campbell's brother Christian Campbell) and Mark (John Paul Pitoc), a go-go boy, who meet on a subway train and end up spending the length of the movie trying to find a place to consummate their passion for and attraction to each other.
As for Spelling's Katherine, she's overplayed to the hilt and is often cloying, if not annoying. But her bit in which she tells her mother that Gabriel is gay is classic. It affords a humorous, campy moment.
Back to the plot. Every movie needs conflict, and that's one of the elements which trick has plenty of to spare. Gabriel and Mark can't get together alone in Gabriel's shared apartment: His "tolerant" straight roommate Rich (Brad Beyer) is having a reunion with his girlfriend (Lorri Bagley), who has just returned from Europe. A nightclub full of Mark's scorned (Clinton Leupp as Miss Coco Peru) and intoxicated ex-tricks also is no place for them to get better acquainted.
The apartment of Perry (Steve Hayes), an older contemporary of Gabriel's, looks promising until a reunion on the street with Perry's ex (Kevin Chamberlin) changes all that. In fact, it is in this scene, that Pitoc (as Mark) finally shows off his acting skills. As for Campbell, he takes the smoldering longing that Sean Hayes perfected in Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss to the next level.
What's interesting is that ultimately trick ends on a heartwarming note. So the moral is: don't expect too much and you might enjoy this film.
** 1/2
Stars Tori Spelling, Christian Campbell and J.P. Pitoc
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