Critiquing the work of independent artists is tricky business. It’s unfair to compare these Indies to big budget, multiple resourced endeavers. On the other hand, too many people dishonestly praise horrible indie projects, which does the artist a disservice in effectively honing their craft. This brings me to my dilemma in critiquing Patrik-Ian Polk’s new film, “The Skinny”.
The Skinny follows five gay friends as they reunite one year after college graduation for a three-day weekend in New York City. Leading the pack is Magnus (Jussie Smollett), currently in a questionable four-month relationship with bad boy Ryan (Dustin Ross). His puppy-dog sidekick Sebastian (Blake Young-Fountain) happens to be in love with the only masculine guy in the bunch, Kyle (Anthony Burrell), who’s a nonchalant playboy. Rounding out the troop is gay wisdom filled Joey (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) and their token lesbian best friend Langston (Shanika Warren-Markland).
In a previous post, I’ve discussed my overall issues with the work of Polk (the self proclaimed Gay Tyler Perry) but even then I admitted that he’s not only good at what he does, he’s also the best openly gay filmmaker out there consistently telling stories about and for Gay men of color. To counter this point, people can conjure up the names Maurice Jamal, Quincy LeNear and Deondray Gossett, but those filmmakers have been very inconsistent in content and/or quality over the years. With each new project, Patrik-Ian Polk grows as an artist and it shows.
Polk shows gained confidence behind the camera in this film. His attention to technical quality continues, as his cinematography and audio are precise and crisp in every scene (rare for indie black gay films). Sections of the screenplay seemed to be taken right out of direct conversations I’ve even had with friends relating to ill conceived paw-print and star tattoos, gay online dating websites and sex-parties. This is evidence that Polk has definitely been taking very good notes from real-life conversations had by many gay men around the country.
The cast of all new (very attractive) faces hold their own given the material. For an independent film, Polk makes very good use of limited locations (although he requires a suspension of disbelief from the audience in believing that a group of gay friends visiting NYC would go to the SAME gay club 3 nights in a row).
Lastly, I was extremely impressed by Polk’s use of cameos. Instead of arbitrarily dropping in a familiar face here and there, the guest appearances in “The Skinny” are actually integrated into the plot of the film. Notable cameos include 2011 Discreet City Award Winner Derrick L. Briggs; Punks alum Seth Gilliam; Noah’s Arc alums Darryl Stephens, Wilson Cruz and Jennia Fredrique; controversial gay model Zeric Seymour-Armenteros; gay porn stars Phat Daddy and Hot Rod.
For example, a character discovers that his lover is cheating on him in the most disrespectful and extreme of ways…then rightfully breaks up with him in dramatic fashion. In another film, that would be the start of the character spreading his wings and experiencing freedom with his old friends, Hangover-style. In this film, we are forced to witness the character moping around only to be interrupted by three more revelations/confrontations/arguments with the boyfriend. It may have better served the audience if the dramatic definitive proof of the adultery had been revealed much later in the film leaving us to wonder if it were actually true in the process.
In another example, the angelic character Sebastian (for some never explained reason) desperately yearns to give his virginity to the love of his life Kyle (a disinterested friend in the group who’s a proven playboy and swinger) by the end of the weekend. Every other character repeatedly warns him that this will not end well. The audience continually knows this will not end well. So to our non-surprise 70 minutes later, it doesn’t end well.
Smaller character films like this generally work better when there are big twists and turns. The surprises that Polk lays out for us are spoiled by the writer himself in his own screenplay. It’s the equivalent of sending us an invitation to our own surprise birthday party…a month beforehand.
Lastly, there’s very little character development and growth. This is vital for any character-based film such as this. There was no sense that any of them had changed and/or arced over the 100-minutes except for Sebastian. Ultimately, I had no sense of who these characters were and why they wanted what they wanted or did what they did. The film features a group of young post-graduates finally reunited but there’s hardly any discussion of how they’ve grown or changed in their time away. There’s not even an explanation of how such a wildly different group of people could have become such close friends in the first place. Instead we’re given extended scenes explaining how to clean and prepare for anal sex.
How could such a wise, meticulous person like Magnus have fallen for and gotten into a committed relationship with a dishonest, roughneck sex-addict like Ryan in the first place, especially if they’d never had sex themselves? Why would an angelic “good guy” virgin like Sebastian be messy enough to want his first time to be with the known playboy in his own crew, is Kyle the only Top left in NYC? Why is Kyle so totally oblivious to Sebastian’s advances if he’s such the experienced playboy? Why are Joey and Langston such one-dimensional prop characters with little to no purpose and/or development in the entire film except to provide one-liners and eye-candy?
Questions like these can be viewed as nit-picking, but having all bases covered with your characters and story make us feel for their causes more. The more we KNOW them, the more we want them to succeed in getting what they want. Storytelling 101. Example: A simple comedy like Bridesmaids works on another level because as we watch it we feel like we KNOW all of those characters. We got a true sense of who they were through character development and story.
As it stands now, this film reinforces the notion that ALL BLACK GAY FILMS must be about getting in an intimate relationship, out of an intimate relationship and/or getting laid. I vaguely even remembered any character actually discussing what jobs they had or if they were working in the career path of their brand new degrees. No…relevant character discoveries like that are secondary to cheating boyfriends, anal sex preparation and anonymous gay club restroom make-out sessions.
Read an exclusive interview with Patrik-Ian Polk on “The Skinny” here at Cypher Avenue.
– Nick D

Nick Delmacy
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I can’t endorse the author’s femophobia but there are numerous valid points in the review.
Okay…so 99% of all black homosexual men in the media (movies / TV) are fem…pointing that out and wishing there was a balance and more depictions of masculine black homosexual men equals “femophobia”…REALLY?
It sucks feeling like a minority in a minority in a minority…black, homosexual, and masculine.
I find this article smacks of gender policing not a call for balance. I don’t know what you consider masculine but I think there were examples of masculine men in The Skinny. There are many modalities of masculinity and we should not get caught up in some heteropatriarchal idea of it.
I never even discussed the issues of femininity in the entire review, where is all this fem talk coming from?! How does masculinity/femininity relate to the “STORY/PLOT” elements I discussed?! I think you people are just projecting their own insecurities here.
“Having said that, my mixed feelings about Polk’s work (Punks, Noah’s Arc) have always stemmed from not ever being able to relate to any of his stories/characters as a masculine Gay black man myself.” LOL you begin your article stating your bias and incorporating it through a weblink to a previous article but claim you are trying to remain neutral.
Taking that sentence out of context doesn’t support your insertion of words like “femophobia” and “heteropatriarchal” in this review. I was speaking on his work in its past totality there. If my problems with The Skinny were related to feminine gay characters, I would have said so. If you read the articles posted on this site then you know that I don’t ever mince my words or hold my tongue.
Specifically point to a point in the review I made that you disagree with and we can discuss those. Creating an issue where there isn’t one is disingenuous.
LOL disingenuous … bananas; Was I not suppose to integrate the articles you weblinked into your overall comments about the movie and Patrick Polk. Oh I guess I was just suppose to ignore that 🙂 Nick, overall, I agreed with much of what you wrote about the movie. But when wholly considering the corpus of what you wrote and linked to the review, it smacks of gender policing.
Again, directly point to something I wrote that you disagree with and state the reasons why I’m wrong. If you want to include every article linked into the discussion, then go ahead. I want to see you try and counter my statement: My mixed feelings about Polk’s work (Punks, Noah’s Arc) have always stemmed from not ever being able to relate to any of his stories/characters as a masculine Gay black man myself. Try to prove to me that my inability to relate to his stories/characters in the past is actually false…
But you can’t do that. Making that “OPINIONATED” statement is no different than me writing an article stating that I can’t relate to “hood movies” or “ghetto comedies” since that is not the life I live. Not everyone is going to relate to everyone, no matter if their color, gender or sexual orientation is similar.
How you relate to things is a highly individualized matter; you are absolutely right that I don’t know how you relate to things; but you wrote you could not relate to his stories/characters as a masculine gay black man as if to intimate that there were no masculine gay black men in his works and/or his stories don’t involve masculine gay black men and that is absolutely not true.
How I relate to things is a highly individualized matter…And how you interpret things you read is a highly individualized matter as well. I was speaking for myself and no matter how many peripheral masculine gay characters there have been in Polk’s work, I personally can’t deny that the stories are told from a feminine gay point of view.
I always found his writing to be very subpar. I think he did a great job to bring attention to the community but he only reinforced so many negative stereotypes.
Nick, I basically agree with your points about film. It was good for what it was but I wish the characters were more developed…on the other hand, it was only a weekend in the lives of friends who’ve known each other for many moons so backstory probably wouldn’t be as forthcoming. But it’s a movie so Patrik could’ve found a way to make it happen…an omniscient narrator perhaps?
Also, I didnt see any femophobia in your article. If anything, I’d say you were just disappointed that you couldnt relate to anyone in the film. Even when you mentioned Noah’s Arc, my initial thought was, “but there are masculine characters on the show.” Your comment about the fact that the show was basically shown through the point of view of feminine characters cleared up your perspective for me though. I TOTALLY see where you’re coming from now, and I dare to say that one particular comment informs in me a fuller perception of your general perspective of the lack of primary masculine gay representation in the media for us to relate to. You want to see someone who isn’t just a prop for the development of another character’s identity, but a foundational character for the show/movie itself.
Have you and Ocky considered that by having this site, you may eventually come to be the very thing you wish to see? Meaning, it’s very possible that opportunities come your way that will showcase you as the primary representations of your voices, your perspectives, and your personal realities.
“You want to see someone who isn’t just a prop for the development of another character’s identity, but a foundational character for the show/movie itself.” Absolutely…Great observation.
And Yes I am open to the opportunites that may come my way….so yes anything is possible.
Thanks for your comments Prince
Then write the projects with masculine Gay men as the focal points/lead characters, as opposed to lamenting us all about why you ‘can’t relate’ to the works of Patrik-Ian, and others.
Having just seen “The Skinny” (06/09/12 in it’s limited NYC run) I have to say I agrre with you Nick the movie did have it’s good bad & ugly points. For me the good was Jussie Smollett & Anthony Burrell gave decent performances. The bad, the plotless script, the “Save By the Bell” acting, the fact it went on too long, the sterotypical characters, the music, and how are you going to make a film in NYC and not use NYC as silent character in the film, I mean I’m not big fan of Sex and The City but the city of New York was like the fifth character. The Ugly hands down was Blake Young-Fountain as Sabastian, not ony can’t he act but his charater was the most annoying part of the film and his story line was so unbelievable.
The sad thing is that film came off as “Noah’s ARC: Jumping the Broom 2” Magnus = Naoh, Joey = Alex, Kyle = Ricky, Sabastian = Chance. I had hopes I would like it alot more than what did, all in all it was just ok. At the end of the our showing Patrick held a Q&A ans stated he’s working on The Skinny 2&3 this fall…..I wish him the best
I saw the film twice and I didn’t realize how bad it was til I watched it a second time. And Sebastian was such an annoying character.
I still haven’t seen “The Skinny” and this review solidifies my decision not to, despite the recommendation. To commit to giving up 100 minutes of my time to the film described in this review would be like…well, Sebastian wanting to get with Kyle knowing that he’s, what? No good.
I understand the difficulty in critiquing independent film harshly, but sometimes it’s those who need to hear opinions more than the major filmmakers. And I certainly do see the parallels between he and Perry; they are both on their hustle.
At this point I feel like Perry knows he’s the current “golden child” and is just churning out whatever he can to get paid. After seeing Polk’s first film, “Punks” — not a perfect film, but Polk’s best to date — I was excited about what he might do in the future. Since then, he’s been going further and further downhill. From the sound of it, I’d rather watch a “Noah’s Arc” marathon than sit through “The Skinny.” Even the trailer showed this movie was crass and not well-written. There was no sign of a plot, and the line about how much dick was had during the Harlem Renaissance was not only in poor taste, but inferred that was what the era was all about. Wrong.
The fact of the matter is neither one of these filmmakers are the golden children they think they are, but I do believe they are redeemable. The problem is that they both work solely within the universes in their heads, and that speaks to two things: Ego and greed. Clearly…
Clearly neither of them have the writing skills to create believable, satisfying stories. If they would just assemble a team of experienced, educated, professional writers who can take their ideas and flesh them out so that they play better on screen, all would be fine. The obstacle, I fear, is they want their name to be the only one holding the writer/director credit and on the paycheck.
Our failure to appropriately and constructively critique these filmmakers, while continuing to support them with our dollars, sends one message and that’s, “We love what you’re doing! Keep up the good work!” Meanwhile, we suffer in silence.