GAYBY
Randy, as waiter/bartender: (Taking a large bill from Jenn) “Is that for the Manhattan & and the Martini?”
And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the extent of Randy’s scene in the finished movie. But ya know what? The rest of the movie is more than worth the price of admission.
Gayby was screened last night at BAM, the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I had my reservations about this movie when it first came on the scene, thinking that it was a “one joke” kind of thing. And although there is the somewhat stereotypical “older, straight woman/gay best friend wanna have a baby,” theme, it was also so much more.
The characters had real lives and a very believable frienship. They had jobs and other friends. They had family giving bad advice and bosses taking advantage. They had long term-exes and a string of casual relationships. We get to see comic book geek Matt discuss the deeper meaning of "Wonder Woman," AND we get to see Jenn riding her moped through the streets of NY. Simply a fun, funny, and lovely little movie with a satisfying happy ending for all.
Other QWAN alumni were part of the production besides Jenn Harris and Matt Wilkas, (and Randy) including an absolutely wonderful Jack Ferver and a scruffy Christian Coulson. Also present in a don’t-blink-if-you-wanna-see-them scene, OHP faves Bridget Everett and Kenny Mellman.
One of the reasons I think the movie works so well is the fact that Jenn and Matt actually have been best friends since they met in college. They didn’t have to “act” the friendship part. Also having so many other good friends involved in some way had a huge role in making this light-hearted and very enjoyable movie.
At the Q&A, which was stalled a bit while Matt made his way in from Manhattan where he plays “Flash,” among other roles, in Spiderman: Turn off the Dark and Jonathan Lisecki who was dealing with major thunderstorms on his journey from DC, we learned that in addition to more screenings at many more festivals the movie will have a theatrical release in major cities like NY and LA in the fall.
But for those hoping to see more Randy (And Bridget and Kenny) you'll have to wait for the DVD and those always fun “bonus scenes.” There was what they were calling a dream/fantasy sequence which involved a bit of dancing by Randy that, according to the executive producer was, “in the movie, then out of the movie, then put back in,” but in the final edit wound up on the cutting room floor. (At which point Bridget, sitting in the first row, threw her empty water bottle on stage! LOL!)
I was hoping to find out more about the QWAN FB posting that states they will be bringing NOTES! & SWAN! to BTG this August, but there really wasn’t a formal meet and greet… it was more of a mingling of friends and cast members on stage. So I’m afraid we will still have to wait for a confirmation from BTG.
Really bad quality picure of the Q&A, but everyone was so cute, I thought I'd add it anyway.
