Dicks: The Musical

This is a reboot of The Parent Trap as a musical. Identical twins separated at birth, each brought up by a single parent, both become top salesman at the same company. When they are brought together, they realize their relationship. Hankering for a "normal" 2-parent family, they hatch a plot to get their parents together and re-marry.

Switching identities, they each visit the other parent's apartments, and work on getting their reclusive parents to go out to dinner, where they would then meet. However, rather than detail the parents' eccentricities to each other in advance, they both jump in uninformed, and are shocked at what they find.

Originating as a 2-person play, most scenes are 2-person scenes, except for the extravagant musical numbers. Bowen Yang does an amusing turn as God, leading the ensemble in the song "Love is Love". Megan Thee Stallion plays the business founder, and her song is about a power woman dominating men. Nathan Lane is the father who has come out as gay, and is reasonably (but not overly) flamboyant. Having worked together for years, the main characters are very comfortable with each other.

I saw this at the world premiere weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the directors were present, even though as the main actors they would be on strike. This was presented as part of the Midnight Madness program, and they were awed at seeing their "little" project on really big screens (my presentation was on an IMAX screen, and that was not the biggest screen the film played on). In response to a question, they said that they had no trouble getting their "dream team" to work on the film, as the various big-name actors had a positive reaction to the script.

I did find some parts overwhelming - the mother's apartment decor, and the father's pets. Also, the twins did not make any attempt to look alike, despite everyone around them keeping confusing them for each other. This suspension of disbelief is common in live theater, but seems iffy on film.

This film won the TIFF People's Choice Award in the Midnight Madness category.

Very funny and raunchy film held together by the committed performances of the two leads, Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, as well as terrific turns by Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally as their eccentric parents.

The film also has some well sung catchy songs, two hysterical creatures that have to be seen to be believed, and an amusing performance by Bowen Yang as God.

The Premise: Two identical twins meet each other for the first time. Both men having been raised by a single biological parent, they set off on a mission to meet the parent they never knew and reunite them so they can be a family again. It's like The Parent Trap on crack.

There are a couple of things that didn't work for me. Megan thee Stallion is poorly cast and unfunny as the men's boss. The crude lyrics can sometimes undermine a well written song with the final number especially questionable.

But if you get camp and/or are gay you will probably love this film as I did. If you are neither of those and are easily offended, you may want to pass this by.

'Dicks: The Musical' is a film based on an off Broadway play by Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson. Here, the story tells of Craig (Sharp) and Trevor (Jackson) who meet at work and realize they are identical twins. After they make sense of the situation, they realize that their parents separated right after they were born and each took a child to raise on their own (If you hadn't guessed, the film borrows a lot of its earlier storyline from 'The Parent Trap' film). This then prompts the twins to come up with a plan to get their parents back together so they can be one big happy family. The problem is that their father is now gay, their mother is agoraphobic, oh and more importantly, their father has two sewer monsters captive, and their mother has no vagina (Yes, you heard that right!). To top it off, the film is also a musical.

This film is hilarious and so random. I laughed out loud several times and clutched my metaphorical pearls even more. Its a very unexpected, offensive and controversial film, but i really enjoyed it.

Sharp and Jackson are great as Craig and Trevor, and you can tell that they've worked together as a comedy duo for some time now. They are able to bounce off each other quite well. Megan Thee Stallion plays their boss Gloria, however whilst she may be a current power player in the music industry, she isn't going to be winning any acting awards any time soon.

Whilst the leads are very funny, Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally are absolute scene stealers as their parents Harris and Evelyn. The chemistry between them is great, and every scene they share looked extremely fun for them to be a part of. Lane is brilliant and flamboyant as usual, but it was Mullally who really surprised me. I had no idea she was so talented. She's always been a great character actor, but her voice is also incredible, and to be able to sing with a strong lisp too shows how much of a talent she really is.

The songs are funny too and make sense storyline wise. A lot of the songs are the type I would listen to again and again (and since watching, have). The best song is 'Lonely' by Mullally and Lane, followed closely by 'Out Alpha the Alpha' by Megan Thee Stallion. 'All Love is Love' gets an honorable mention, and whilst its catchy, it's probably one of the most offensive songs I've ever heard.

The costuming is another highlight, capturing the essence of each character and showing how eccentric they are. Set design is another strength too, especially the scenes in the sewer, and in Harris and Evelyn's homes.

The ending takes a wild turn, and it's certainly one that I did not expect, but given how random the film was overall, I adapted quickly.

During the credits, the audience gets to see behind the scenes footage of the cast during filming, and this made me like the film even more. Seeing Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally struggle to deliver such offensive and inappropriate lines given their age and reputation as actors/performers showed how professional they were and I liked that they were such good sports about it all. I also liked seeing original footage of Sharp and Jackson from the off Broadway play, because it showed how far the idea has come since then.

For a musical film that centers around incest, sewer boys and a detached yet flying vagina, I absolutely loved it!

I love both you, Nathan and Megan but WTF were you thinking. I'm only a half hour into the movie and I'm like, did Nathan do a ton of mushrooms during Covid lockdown. How did this happen? Campy? Check. Bizarre? Check. But this is like John waters decided he wanted a gay coming out movie premiere. In still going to finish it. And I'm not disliking the movie just not what I was expecting and not really sure what to think, how to feel, or if I should really watch this. And I'm a 53 yr old gay man with a theater background from NY city Broadway. Seriously? This long without an original and this is what you come up with? Other than what I've just said I'm speechless and will never speak of this again.

I don't normally like musicals, but this was so fun to watch. If you come into this looking too deep, it'll ruin it. Expect absurdity. It's so over the top, but it has become an instant favorite for me. I feel like this movie requires a bit of appreciation for the eccentric. I don't feel like there was ever a moment where I could anticipate what they were going to say or do next, but each scene was cleverly executed. Like I said, don't approach this with any seriousness, and if you can appreciate queer culture and raunchiness then you're in for a lot of fun. I can't believe this story was ever created, but I'm not mad haha.