Friday, August 03, 2018

My Weekend Crush

I am almost at “Ocean’s 8” level excited for “The Spy Who Dumped Me.” (Now if they somehow managed to sneak Cate Blanchett into the movie, then I’d be a full 8 on the Excited Gay Lady scale.) Why the excitement you ask? Well, Kate McKinnon, Mila Kunis and Gillian Anderson certainly don’t hurt. As do Kate McKinnon in a tank top and suspenders. Kate McKinnon in a suit and tie. And Gillian Anderson, period.

Plus it has a female director and co-writer in Susanna Fogel. Now gay ladies might remember Susanna as the straight half of the gay lady/straight lady best friends comedy web series “Joni & Susanna” from about 10 years ago. Or, gay ladies will recognize her as the writer and director of “Life Partners,” the about gay lady/straight lady best friends.

But wait, before you can say, “Hey, that seems familiar,” consider the premise of “The Spy Who Dumped Me.” In it a straight lady played by Mila Kunis is dating a dude spy who dumps her so she goes to Europe with her sexually ambiguous BFF played by out actress Kate McKinnon who likes to wear tanks tops and suspenders and/or suits and ties to save the world. Now, I cannot confirm Kate’s character’s sexuality in the film. But The Advocate calls her “Your Lesbian BFF” in the movie. Sooooo.

Now, alas, Fogel told The Advocate that Kate’s character isn’t explicitly queer, but “it’s sort of obvious to most people that she’s not straight-identifying.” Granted, it is disappointing that she didn’t go ahead and make Kate’s BFF character gay. The “everyone knows it anyway, nudge-wink” gets a little old in light of the miniscule representation of LGBTQ people in mainstream films. Just say it. Own it. Embrace it.

I mean, Kate’s all but screaming it in the trailers. But then, I think her fangirl gushing is probably how any woman would respond to being in the presence of Gillian Anderson – lesbian, straight, bi, trans, whathaveyou. I mean, it’s Gillian Anderson as “the Beyoncé of the government.” Respect. Happy getting dumped by a spy weekend, all.


2 comments:

Carmen SanDiego said...

I am even more excited for this now

Yeller Belly said...

I've seen this movie twice now and it is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I'm shocked by the poor critical reviews.

Kate's character does have sex with a guy, but she's still a pretty queer character...She doesn't have to be gay *all* the time, but I think it would be good if she played an explicitly gay character *sometime*.