Oct 07, 2005  |  By: KATHERINE VOLIN  | COMMENTS     

A LOT OF THINGS happened in the ’80s that people would like to forget.

In the film “Adam & Steve,” written and directed by gay actor Craig Chester, who also stars, one habit popular in the ’80s comes back to haunt its title characters.

“Adam & Steve” will serve as opening night fare at the Reel Affirmations film festival, an annual gay and lesbian international film festival in D.C. The festival, which is now in its 15th year, runs Oct. 13-22. Chester, his gay co-star Malcolm Gets and producer Kirkland Tibbels are all scheduled to appear at the showing on Thursday, Oct. 13 at Lincoln Theatre.

The movie opens with Adam, played by gay actor Malcolm Gets, dressed in Goth gear at a vibrant New York ’80s dance club. While entering with his obese friend Rhonda, he notices a dancing stud, decked out in the requisite gold lame short shorts. The dancer thoughtfully treats Adam to a mooning.

Although Adam and the dancing queen, Steve, end up naked, the cocaine which Steve has just introduced to Adam has been cut with baby laxatives, and the evening doesn’t turn out quite as glamorous as it began.

SKIP TO PRESENT day, and Adam is a recovering cocaine addict. His life revolves around baking a cake for his dog’s birthday and discussing Rhonda’s career as a stand-up comedian. Rhonda, played by the hilarious Parker Posey, has slimmed down significantly, but has maintained her repertoire of bad fat jokes.

“I’m so fat I eat with a forklift,” Rhonda tells her audience while wearing a horrifyingly oversized floral print dress that doesn’t even come close to disguising her svelte frame. Not surprisingly, her jokes inevitably fall flat, for which she blames the audience.

While sitting in a bed one day carving dry sausage, Adam accidentally stabs his dog with a knife and rushes him to the hospital. Although most of the hospital employees are unsympathetic to the dog’s state, Steve, now a psychiatrist with a convenient little bit of veterinary training, takes pity on Adam’s situation and stitches up the dog.

Apparently all that long hair and Goth makeup served as adequate disguises, as neither man recognizes the other. Nonetheless, they start dating and fall in love. There’s even a Lady and the Tramp-inspired spaghetti scene.

Adam and Steve eventually meet each others’ families, which is especially significant in their cases because Steve’s parents are born-again Christians and Adam is Jewish and his family is absurdly accident-prone, endangering anybody in their immediate area.

CHRIS KATTAN CO-STARS as Steve’s straight roommate who becomes attracted to Rhonda. Kattan and Posey are a dream comedic team and their scenes are easily the film’s funniest. Nonetheless, when these two figure out how Steve and Adam first met, it holds serious consequences for the two men.

The film doesn’t ignore contemporary gay issues. Adam is initially terrified to show affection for Steve in public, explaining that every time he does, he faces some sort of gay bashing. The first time the two kiss in public someone hurls a beer bottle at Adam, as he predicted. It happens every time, however, and the incident turns into a running joke, with the two men rising above the attacks rather than hiding from them.

This film is overall a refreshing change of pace. Adam & Steve is genuinely funny — it doesn’t rely on stereotypes for laughs and it tells the story of a genuine relationship.

The movie is not perfect. The acting and dialogue are occasionally stiff and there’s a “falling in love” montage that lasts far too long. But overall the film is entertaining and a great way to kick off Reel Affirmations.