Hocus Pocus (Kenny Ortega, 1993)

 

Hocus Pocus (Kenny Ortega, 1993)

Cast: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, Thora Birch, Vinessa Shaw, Amanda Shepherd, Larry Bagby, Tobias Jelinek, Stephanie Faracy, Charles Rocket, Doug Jones, Sean Murray. Screenplay: David Kirschner, Mick Garris, Neil Cuthbert. Cinematography: Hiro Narita. Production design: William Sandell. Film editing: Peter E. Berger. Music: John Debney.

I come late to the Hocus Pocus party, but then so did almost everyone else. It was a critical and commercial flop when it made its debut in theaters in 1993, and only over the years, as Disney marketing shrewdly took advantage of Halloween hype, did it become a small phenomenon. Parents wanting something for kids to watch other than gory horror films during the Halloween season snapped up the videos and Disney rolled it out on TV along with merchandise like dolls and bedspreads. And now, almost 30 years later, comes a sequel. Disney never butters its bread thinly. You can also thank (or blame, as your inclination may be) the gay community, since the film features two actresses, Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker, who have become iconic for many gays. I finally succumbed to the hype last night and sat through the movie that Gene Siskel called “dreadful” and Roger Ebert squished under his thumb. It’s not as awful as that. Midler, Parker, and Kathy Najimy, the trio of witches, seem to be having fun behaving like drag queens, there’s some wit in making the teenage hero (Omri Katz) the “virgin” who lights the candle with the black flame, and the precocious Thora Birch makes the ideal spunky kid sister. It’s too noisy and too frantic, but we do get to hear Midler’s version of the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins classic “I Put a Spell on You.” Still, I think I’ll wait another 30 years before watching Hocus Pocus 2 (Anne Fletcher, 2022).

Single All the Way (Michael Mayer, 2021)

Single All the Way (Michael Mayer, 2021)

Cast: Michael Urie, Philemon Chambers, Luke Macfarlane, Kathy Najimy, Jennifer Coolidge, Barry Bostwick, Jennifer Robertson, Madison Brydges, Alexandra Beaton, Dan Finnerty. Screenplay: Chad Hodge. Cinematography: Eric Cayla. Production design: Guy Lalande. Film editing: Adriaan van Zyl. Music: Anton Sanko. 

It’s hard to know who the sexless gay romantic comedy Single All the Way was made for: people who think Will and Grace is too raunchy? It certainly wasn’t made for a gay audience. It even seems to have inspired a backlash with such gay romcoms as Fire Island (Andrew Ahn, 2022) and Bros (Nicholas Stoller, 2022), in which gay men are having sex with one another and enjoying it. Single All the Way is mostly set in an idyllic New Hampshire town, to which Peter (Michael Urie) returns for Christmas accompanied by his roommate, Nick (Philemon Chambers), with whom he is not having sex. They are greeted by his large, boisterous family who seem to want Peter to have sex, especially with Nick. Except, that is, Peter’s mother (Kathy Najimy), who wants him to have sex with the only gay man in town, her hunky spinning instructor, James (Luke Macfarlane). At this point, you’re probably asking yourself what gay man wouldn’t want to have sex with Luke Macfarlane, but Peter is reluctant to be pushed into any such thing. Of course, the word “sex” is never mentioned. The idea is for Peter to find himself in what these straight people consider ideal: what they would call a “committed relationship.” Chad Hodge’s screenplay leaves no romcom cliché unused as the movie proceeds toward its obvious conclusion: Peter and Nick declaring their love for each other. (Maybe they even have sex, but the film is too squeamish to suggest that.) Gay icon Jennifer Coolidge is there for what fun the movie provides, as Peter’s addle-brained aunt who is directing the town’s Christmas pageant. The absence of chemistry between Urie and Chambers is only one of the film’s problems, and given the apparent squeamishness about gay sex, perhaps its least.