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'Brokeback Mountain' Breaks Through As Mainstream Phenomenon

Heterosexual men may be a little nervous, making jokes about sitting close to their wives or girlfriends and holding hands when they see "Brokeback Mountain" so no one makes mistakes about THEIR orientation, but they are going to see it. Opening in just six theaters December 9, demand for the film has exploded, from 1,190 screens last week to an expected 2,000 screens next week, according to Time magazine.

At the Golden Globes in front of almost 19 million TV viewers. Brokeback won for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay. If, as expected, it is nominated for an Oscar, and then receives one, perhaps even "best picture," it could become a social phenomenon that pushes acceptance of gay lifestyles into the American heartland. "A red-state gay movie," producer Craig Zadan calls it. It is packing theaters in Little Rock, Birmingham, and Fort Worth, Texas.

President Bush still won't have anything to do with it -- yet. Asked during an appearance at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas on Monday whether he had seen the movie, he "looked taken aback by the question," according to 365Gay.com Newscenter. "Bush, who fancies himself as a Texas cowboy and who often wears a Stetson,...awkwardly hemmed and hawed." Finally he said: "I'd be glad to talk about ranching, but I haven't seen the movie." That provoked more laughter. Then the President said, "I've heard about it."

Reviews of the movie have been almost uniformly positive. The Google movie review aggregator gives it a 4.6 out of a possible 5, with only one neutral review so far, and no negative ones.

Time reports there has been little criticism of the movie. Well, a little. "On CNN's Larry King, conservative radio host Janet Parshall said, 'What we're witnessing, Larry, is the homosexualizing of America.' And there are plenty of liberal straight guys like Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who wrote a puckish Op-Ed in the New York Times, confessing, 'Cowboys would have to lasso me, drag me into the theater and tie me to the seat' for him to see it. But most of those who disapprove of Brokeback -- or think they would if they saw it -- have curbed their outrage. They believe it's a serious, sensitive movie."

Maybe Larry David can do an episode of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' about being dragged to see the movie.

Here's an interview with director Ang Lee by David Lamble.

'Les Enfant' Wins Cannes Award

'Dinner With Friends': Insight Into Marriages

Recently released on DVD is an acclaimed 2001 HBO production,
"Dinner With Friends," directed by Norman Jewison and adapted by Donald Margulies from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

Dennis Quaid and Andie McDowell play a married couple who are shocked by the news of the divorce of two of their best friends. The news of the divorce tests the friendship between the two couples and cause the married couples to think about what commitment is about.

"A thought-provoking and reflective film about relationships," writes Heila Rogers in an Amazon.com review. "A surprising, detailed portrayal of self-deception. The way we can live with lies and not realize it at all. And manipulate others so that they reinforce those ways we are deceiving ourselves."

Kevin Currie writes on Amazon that "You may laugh, you'll certainly cry, you'll probably scratch your head, you'll pick a character to hate and find out you were wrong, and you'll pick a character to love and find out you were right."