Gay Today: Entertainment

Trick

Video Review By George Ferencz

Christian Campbell is Gabriel

Getting laid in New York City can be a bitch sometimes, even when you've got a hot go-go boy on your arm for the evening. That's the premise of Jim Fall's Trick, a very funny story of two guys just trying to get it on in the Big Apple.

But Trick is much more than just a quick romp in the sack. It's also a tender tale that will tug at the heart of gay men, whether they're still in the closet or partying for yet another night on the Circuit.

Young red-head Gabriel Bloom (Christian Campbell) is an aspiring song writer who's dealing with his sexual anxiety as well as a loud-mouth friend, Katherine R. Lamberg played by Tori Spelling. Spelling is surprisingly convincing as an aspiring performer who doesn't have the talent to get very far. Gabriel's encouragement of Katherine makes us warm up to him quickly and from there Director Fall makes us agonize with Gabriel for the rest of the evening.

Gabriel's night gets going when he takes a chance and walks into one of New York's gay nightclubs. With the music blaring and hawks swooping down on the chicken, Gabriel finally finds a moment's rest staring at the hunk on stage. Mark Miranda (J.P. Pitoc) is a body you won't soon forget on screen, and that serves to quickly escalate the sexual tension between he and Gabriel.

Mooning at Mark, Gabriel realizes what nearly everyone of us in that position knows: The only thing I'm taking home is my imagination. But a chance encounter with Mark on the subway ups the pace of the story, and when Mark pushes for sex things really speed up.

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Related Sites:
Trick: Official Site

Miss Coco Peru's Universe
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Now if that were the end of the chase, I'd probably be pointing you to Badpuppy's Adult Movie Review area to get the rest of the story. While all that might have been fun, the tense trip Gabriel and Mark takes us on for the rest of the story is quite funny. The humor is driven by the quirky characters the two meet. Some, like Katherine and Perry (Steve Hayes) are friends of Gabriel's. Perry's a big drama queen whose piano bar number Como Te Gusta Mi Pinga? makes you want to rush out and learn Spanish.

But of all of the characters we meet, none is more engaging then Miss Coco Peru. If the name sounds familiar, it should. Miss Coco has appeared in several other gay films, including Too Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, under the same stage name. Miss Coco makes a drag queen's entrance and steals every scene she's in. When Greek playwrights invited the soothsayer to warn of the future, I don't think they ever imaged the role being played like this. But besides warning Gabriel, Miss Coco ups the sexual tension by revealing a tidbit about Mark: “It's big. It's beautiful, and you're going to love it.”

J.P. Pitoc as Mark

The rest of Trick becomes a struggle between the groin and the heart. While we can't help but hope – and wish – to see Gabriel and Mark finally get it on, we also end up hoping the two make this more than a one night stand.

In contrast to the film's signature line, Trick is a small film with a lot of heart. It puts gay men into a frame of mind they can all relate to whether they see themselves more as Gabriel or Mark.

Trick's a great film to add to your video collection just for those moments when you need to laugh at dating struggles and just feel good. Don't miss the soundtrack either. Any CD with a disco version of Dreamweaver and two versions of I am Woman is worth the price.