Gayby

This film is about a straight woman trying to have a baby, the only problem is that she is single. Her gay best friend saves the day by agreeing to help her procreate.

I find "Gayby" a hilarious film. It's light hearted and funny throughout the story. The scene where they first attempt to procreate is very well made, as the awkwardness and embarrassment in the air is shown with a hilarious touch. The story is quite positive as well, even though the lead characters are not super successful people, they are portrayed to be good people that are down to earth and easy to relate to. The film was shot with a comfortable budget, which is a welcomed change for gay films. The sets and settings are nice, and the film appears professionally made. I enjoyed watching "Gayby" a lot, and I found it entertaining.

I've gotten so used to terrible gay movies (especially American gay movies made in the last 15 years or so) that it's almost shocking when a good one comes along. Gayby is a good one.

It's about lifelong best friends Matt (gay) and Jenn (straight), who had said in college that they'd have a baby together some day. Years later the day comes, and they get to work. Meanwhile, each of them has an active work and social life, a miserable love life, and an entertaining and diverse set of friends of various types and stereotypes.

Unlike some in the gay audience, I don't hate stereotypes, because there are some wonderful people who fit most of the stereotypes... except one - the hairless gym boy with blinding white teeth and a perfect tan on every square inch of his totally shaved body. There are NO wonderful people who fit that stereotype, which is one reason American gay movies in general have become so stupid that 99% of them are unwatchable. The only gym bodies in this movie have hair all over them, teeth the color of teeth instead of chalk, and tans (if they have tans at all) only where people naturally get tanned from being out in the sun - all of which is delightful.

This movie has a likable and able cast, a very smart and entertaining screenplay, one of the sexiest men on earth in a tiny role (Tommy Heleringer, who plays Adrian, one of Matt's abortive dates; he also plays Scruffy in a web series called The Outs, and he's so delicious I'd eat him up if he ever came to my door) and (thank God!) New York City. The worst movie ever made in New York is better than the best from LA, and Gayby is far from the worst. It may be the best; it's certainly one of the best. Very much worth seeing.

Gayby (2012) was written and directed by Jonathan Lisecki. The movie stars Jenn Harris as Jenn, a thirties-something straight woman, and Matthew Wilkas as Matt, a gay man who has been Jenn's best friend since college.

Jenn has been hoping to meet the right man, get married, and conceive a child. Unfortunately, the plan isn't working. Matt has broken up with his long-time partner, and isn't over the pain yet.

Jenn suggests a biologically and psychologically reasonable plan. Rather than waiting for Mr. Right, she'll conceive a child with Matt as the father. However, Jenn is into natural healing and natural methods, so she tells Matt she wants to conceive the child the "old-fashioned" way. Not an appealing option for Matt--he's definitely gay, not bisexual. Still, he agrees to the plan.

The plot of the movie is developed from this premise. The ensuing complications are very funny, sometimes in a bittersweet way. While Jenn and Matt are working on the conception plan, new lovers come and go, friendships are formed and broken, promises are made and kept or not kept.

Director Lisecki has taken the bold step of using an actor--Jenn Harris--who isn't an incredibly gorgeous woman. (Jennifer Aniston could play the role perfectly, but then the movie wouldn't work.) Jenn Harris looks like a person who could be your friend, or, for that matter, your yoga instructor. (She may teach yoga in real life, but, even if she doesn't she's obviously had experience with it.) Harris is an excellent actor, and so is Matthew Wilkas. The supporting cast--including Lisecki himself-- is highly competent. The dialog is witty, the characters are endearing, and the movie is very enjoyable.

This is a film worth seeking out and seeing. We saw it at the Dryden Theatre as part of the extraordinary ImageOut--the Rochester LGBT Film & Video Festival.

While the theme of "gay guy and straight woman decide to make a baby" has been done MANY times (The "Wedding Banquet" is probably the Gold Standard) even back in 2012, this rendition absolutely comes off as believable, with well-formed characters, great acting and a solid script. The cliché of being set in NYC is a bit of a turn-off (does anyone outside of NYC care about how neurotic and dysfunctional people are there anymore?) but the acting absolutely makes up for it. Someone here is complaining about gratuitous nudity, and I think they may be referring to a different film, since this one doesn't have any at all...which is why I'm giving it such a high rating; the script carried it without having to resort to that gimmick.

In the clichéd world of comedies nothing seems unconventional these days. That the audiences can't compliant about the number of rom-coms coming out on the big screen is a fact. Still, it's excruciating to observe how most of them cut corners and follow a well known, often indescribably boring and tiring, path. Fortunately, for the sake of the genre, once in a while there is a comedy that really aspires to contradict trends. And Gayby is one of those films. It is as vivacious as it is entertaining. The film shows a strictly unromantic yet undeniably laughable story about two best friends – a gay guy named Matt and a straight woman named Jenn – planning on having a 'gayby' together (although, as Matt clearly explains, this is a proper word only when two gay people two strictly gay people want to be parents). Without any second thoughts they decide that the best, the most adequate way to get Jenn pregnant is through the traditional act of sex. Their daily routine consists of working – Matt sells comic books at a nearby store and Jenn teaches hot yoga – going on dates in the evenings, and making love (in this situation it sound kind of weird) during the nights. Unfortunately, after a couple of trials they realize that trying to conceive is harder than one might think. In the meantime, their sex- lives start to flourish, causing problems both for the couple's casual relationship and for their baby-making ordeal.

Gayby shows that low-budget, amateurish indie comedies can be really amusing sometimes. The dialogues are witty, kinky and perfectly humorous. While the story isn't really that innovative and rather predictable, the atmosphere is sentimental and heartfelt, just as the characters are genuinely likable. What's more, Gayby depicts – in an utterly exaggerated yet comical manner – a world, where gay guys swarm the streets and it's actually them who convince us of their enormous desire to raise those not-so-typical families.