Netflix Summary:
When Tanner is outed as a school’s only openly gay student, three popular girls engage in an epic fight to acquire him as their “Gay Best Friend.”
FYA Summary:
Tanner and his best friend Brent are both closeted high school students. As three very different girls vie for prom queen, Brent concocts a scheme to increase his popularity by coming out and letting the prom hopefuls fight over winning him as their G.B.F. (Gay Best Friend). When Brent inadvertently outs Tanner instead, Tanner is left to deal with the fall out of being the first publicly openly gay kid at school and complications of his new identity and popularity. This movie also hits all the original teen comedy staples, including a shopping/makeover montage, the house party and the story culminating at the prom.
Familiar Faces:
Michael J. Willett as Tanner
Michael is no stranger to your TV set, having been in The United States of Tara and currently starring in MTV’s Faking It. And he is perfect as the unassuming and reluctant Tanner.
Sasha Pieterse as Fawcett
Well, if it isn’t Alison DiLaurentis! This role could have been the stereotypical superficial blonde cheerleader. However, both the script and Sasha Pieterse give Fawcett’s character heart.
Megan Mullally as Mrs. Van Camp
Megan Mullally is hilarious as the mom who tries too hard to be cool and connect with her gay son. She’s also one of the many familiar faces to show up in this movie, including Molly Tarlov (who, if you don’t know off the top of your head, is Sadie from Awkward, you’re welcome), Evanna Lynch (Luuuuuuna), JoJo (she of “Leave (Get Out)” fame), Rebecca Gayheart, Horatio Sanz and Natasha Lyonne.
Couch-Sharing Capability: The Highest
You must watch this one with friends! Okay, it’s not absolutely necessary, but this movie is deserving of a large audience. Plus, this movie is legit funny and you’re going to want to have others around to share in the LOLs.
Recommended Level of Inebriation: Medium
You can throw back a light refreshment or two, but just don’t get sloppy, because then you might bulime cuisine all over a Mormon.
Use of Your Streaming Subscription: Essential
So, recently I’ve sort of been bemoaning the death of the original teen comedy. While teen franchises are hotter (and more profitable) than ever, all these book-to-movie adaptations have kind of pushed aside the original teen comedies we enjoyed in the ’80s and again in the late ’90s/early ’00s. (The last OTC I can think of with a wide theatrical release being 2010’s Easy A.) I didn’t realize how much I had been missing those movies until I watched G.B.F. and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a movie I wished I could have seen in theaters, but since it was independent and the MPAA completely dicked it over, here’s hoping that it finds the audience it deserves on Netflix and other streaming sites.
But enough about my thoughts on the state of teen movies? What’s good about it, exactly? Well, in short, everything! On the one hand, it’s just a funny movie. Lots of clever lines and funny scenes and silly characters. On the other, the social commentary is spot on. It tackles religious hypocrisy a la Saved!. It examines the commodification of gay men and other social obstacles young gay men navigate. There is just so much to love about this movie. If I could pick one of my Stream It recommendations this year to promote above all others, it would be this.
