MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Dogs’: A Bittersweet Awakening

In his wry, jaunty “Lie Down With Dogs,” Wally White immediately dispenses with the twin expectations of gay filmmakers: to be politically correct and/or pornographic. White, in his feature debut, then proceeds with his bittersweet romantic comedy/coming-of-age tale, set in quaint Provincetown, Mass., long a favored gay resort. The boys may be here, but White’s surprisingly tart film is not a gay “Where the Boys Are.” White himself spent the summer of ’91 in P-town.

White casts himself as Tommy, a whimsical, boyish-looking young man fed up with the Manhattan rat race and ready to take his chances on a summer in Provincetown, where he might just find some romance.

Arriving with $50 and not quite maxed-out credit cards, he’s immediately propelled into the hectic task of trying to find work and a place to stay when virtually all of the jobs and affordable lodgings are already taken. Resilient and plucky, Tommy makes friends easily and learns to cope with transitory work and places to stay. Almost immediately he commences an affair with a free-spirited, handsome man (Randy Becker).

White is highly ingenious in the ways in which he makes a shoestring budget work to his advantage. He makes asides to the audience, moves back and forth in time and creates amusing montages, all of which serve both his narrative and also to create the sense that Tommy, his friends and lovers aren’t going anywhere--even when they’re moving at a frenetic disco beat.

For all its period charm, Provincetown emerges frankly as a pretty dreary place to spend a vacation--even if you are young and attractive. White suggests that young men without funds find themselves considering jobs where the line between houseboy and hustler blurs to nonexistence. Tommy discovers that hot but safe sex is out there but that romance tends to be shallow. There’s also a surfeit of hard drinking and aimless partying.

By the end of the summer, Tommy may have learned something about himself and about life, yet he remains an optimist--he is, after all, young. Consequently, Tommy’s summer may leave you with more of a sour aftertaste than it does Tommy himself.

“Lie Down With Dogs”--a cautionary title if ever there was one--is nevertheless pretty funny with lots of campy, bitchy humor, and White never lets up even when his energy occasionally exceeds his inspiration. He’s an engaging actor himself, and Becker plus Bash Halow and James Sexton as Tommy’s pals are sharp. Without an ounce of pretension or self-consciousness White has come up with a pithy sketch of certain aspects of gay society.

* MPAA rating: R, for strong sexuality and language, and for some drug use. Times guidelines: The film has no graphic sex or nudity but is definitely not for children or the easily offended .

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

‘Lie Down With Dogs’ Wally White: Tommie Randy Becker: Tom Bash Halow: Guy James Sexton: Eddie A Miramax presentation. Writer-director Wally White. Producers Anthony Bennett, White. Executive producer John Pierson. Cinematographer George Mitas. Editor Hart F. Faber. Executive music producer Jellybean Benitez. Art director Reno Dakota. Running time: 1 hour, 24 minutes.

* Exclusively at the Beverly Center Cineplex, corner of Beverly Boulevard and La Cienega Boulevard, Beverly Hills. (310) 652-7760.