Do you perhaps delight in the audacious display of lots of perky, dangling phalluses? How about while young, hunky, naked gay guys dance and lip synch to campy, brainless show tunes you'll just forget afterwards? Sure, some of you may say, if the guys look buff and well-endowed. That's what I, a straight female, also believed and the reviews on this site of 2007's Naked Boys Singing on DVD encouraged me to finally rent it. While the ten guys are definitely pumped-up models of the male physique, they came across to me as mere eye candy and not real men I'd care to meet at a bookstore (if they ever frequented such a place). I also wasn't that comfortable with most songs directed to the gay experience, since I'm not gay.

This 95-minute film is basically a revamped, live stage show dressed up (or down) for the movies, more like a backdoor guest who arrives in time to provide a decadent dessert of empty calories. It first was performed in 1998 with its best showing, it would appear, in New York, but this cinematized version was filmed in the Hayworth Theater in Los Angeles before a mixed, nicely responsive crowd. One cast member, Vincent Zamorra, returned from the original cast, but he was my least favorite because he was nearly always smiling in a spacey, creepy way. Another member (and the rest of his body) belonged to Kevin Stea who has had years of dance and experience in movies like Rent and Across the Universe. He had some exciting moves, but none of the others did. Nor film experience. The pre-recorded singing wasn't too bad if you like bland, well-trained voices, but the most natural singer was Anthony Manough, the only African-American.

Strung one right after the other the seventeen numbers featured one or many guys who were either always or sometimes naked with one number where all stayed dressed. This latter one was about the late actor Robert Mitchum that these twenty-somethings paid loving tribute to, but it seemed less a tribute than a hopeful attempt at giving the show some class and seemed rather mocking. Stea's flirty number about being a naked maid came after the showy "Gratuitous Nudity" intro. After a fun song would come a more serious or quasi-serious one and I only cared for the former, well, except for "Bliss Of A Bris," which was about worshiping a super-arrogant guy's penis as if he was a baby getting circumcised. Ick!

The first time watching Naked Boys Singing offered me my most enjoyable experience because subsequent viewings revealed its unfortunate shortcomings. I'm not referring to the swinging private parts on display. At first I was entranced by its novelty, but as that wore off there wasn't anything to really keep my attention. Gay viewers will relate to the gay humor and pathos, as well as the visual treat, but it quickly became old for me. On subsequent viewings I've skipped over many of them like "Members Only," "Window to Window" and "Kris, You've Been Missed," the melancholy latter one being missed by me even before I finished listening the first time. I still retain a soft spot for "Perky Little Porn Star" and "Nothin' But The Radio On," but most of them are irritating. There's one number with a silly guy wearing high heels and singing like a frog in heat.

I really can't say that Naked Boys Singing is a very good film experience. The filmmakers hope that adding flirtatious scenes of the cast members shedding their clothes as they boldly enter the theater will suffice for cinematic glamour, but it was only window dressing. It has no polish, no glue holding it together. The "making of" featurette in the DVD's Special Features showed that the filmmakers and cast enjoyed making it, but it's not such a big deal.

This is another entry in the Sleeper-free Lean-n-Mean write-off. For more entries please see http://www.epinions.com/user-jenniferkateab

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD