Who said that lgbt movies have to be sad
or even serious? Okay, Longhorns has
its serious side, but so much of it is tongue-in-cheek that the seriousness is
extremely easy to digest. I recently saw this movie on Netflix and wasn’t sure
what to expect. Let me tell you it had me laughing right away and for mostly
the right reasons.
Set in 1982, Longhorns explores the lives of Cesar (Derek Villenueva), an openly gay student at the
University of Texas, and Kevin (Jacob Newton), a frat boy who cannot entirely come to grips
with same sex attraction. Therein is the film’s appeal from an intellectual
standpoint. What makes someone gay? Can you engage in homosexual activity
without actually being gay?
My answer to the latter is yes.
Absolutely. Experiencing same sex attraction does not necessarily make someone
gay. Wanting to have sex with members of the same gender—even if you act on it—does
not necessarily change your sexual orientation. What makes someone gay or
legitimately bisexual is the emotional
attraction that one feels. At the risk of adding a spoiler, Kevin does
eventually acknowledge some emotional attraction to Cesar, though the rest of
the cast only ever admits to lust for other men.
What this film does is clarify the fact
that sexuality isn’t black and white. Human sexuality is far more complex and
diverse than “gay” and “straight” and that same sex attraction by straight
people is not only normal but is fairly common. My only criticism of the film
is one situation that I felt was too unbelievable. This situation involved
Kevin and one of his frat buddies in bed masturbating to porn. Straight guys do
masturbate together, but only in the same general vicinity. They wouldn’t be
naked. Side by side. In bed. And if one guy reached over to crank the other guy’s
dick, it would be much more of a shock because it would be of a completely
different sexual nature.
For you skin buffs, there is a ton of full
frontal nudity in this film. In fact, I don’t think there’s a guy in this movie
that doesn’t strip down and show his junk off to the viewer. So, if that turns
your crank, you’ll definitely want to
see this movie.
Overall this is a movie worth seeing so
long as you don’t try and take it too seriously. Sit down to view it with a
sense of humor