''Broadway Damage'' is a 1997

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

-themed

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

directed by Victor Mignatti and starring

Mara Hobel Mara Hobel (born June 18, 1971) is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of young Christina Crawford in the film ''Mommie Dearest'', starring Faye Dunaway. She garnered 2 Razzie nominations for her performance. She also portr ...

, Michael Lucas,

Hugh Panaro Hugh Panaro (born February 19, 1964) is an American actor and singer known for his work on Broadway. Early life Panaro was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and resided in the East Oak Lane section of the city with his family. As a schoolchild, ...

and Aaron Williams. The sound editor was Rick Dior, who won an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

for Best Sound for the film ''

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...

''. It was filmed in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

Plot

Cynthia (Hobel), Marc (Lucas) and Robert (Williams) are young friends in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and recent

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

graduates. Marc is a struggling actor, Robert is an actor/songwriter and Cynthia is desperately trying to attract the attention of

Tina Brown Christina Hambley Brown, Lady Evans (born 21 November 1953), is an English journalist, magazine editor, columnist, talk-show host, and author of '' The Diana Chronicles'' (2007) a biography of Diana, Princess of Wales, '' The Vanity Fair Diari ...

to break into magazine publishing. Cynthia and Marc find an apartment together in Greenwich Village. Robert is secretly in love with Marc, who's oblivious. Marc falls into a relationship with David (Panaro), an aspiring musician who lives with his boyfriend across the alley from Marc's apartment. David's boyfriend throws him out and David moves in with Marc. Robert, trying to get over Marc, becomes interested in a man who works in a local card and gift shop (Marc and Robert refer to him as "Zola"). Taking Marc's advice to "make the grand gesture," he sends Cynthia in with a gift from him as a secret admirer. "Zola" turns down the gesture, and Robert is humiliated. Marc and Robert discover that David supports himself as a

hustler Hustler or hustlers may also refer to: Professions * Hustler, an American slang word, e.g., for a: ** Con man, a practitioner of confidence tricks ** Drug dealer, seller of illegal drugs ** Male prostitute ** Pimp ** Business man, more gener ...

and Marc breaks up with him and throws him out. Robert makes "the grand gesture" for Marc by singing a song he's written for him. Before Marc can respond, Cynthia, whose attempts to get through to Tina Brown have become increasingly bizarre, has a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

. She returns to her parents' home on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. In the end, Marc and Robert visit Cynthia on Long Island. Free from the drama of his relationship with David, Marc realizes that he has feelings for Robert. Cynthia gets a call from Tina Brown's assistant, setting up a meeting for the following day.

Cast

as Cynthia * Michael Lucas (credited as Michael Shawn Lucas) as Marc *

as David * Aaron Williams as Robert * Alan Filderman as Casting Director *

Gary Janetti Gary V. Janetti (born March 22, 1966) is an American television writer, producer, and actor. He has written for ''Family Guy'', and was an executive producer on ''Will and Grace''. He co-created and wrote the British sitcom '' Vicious'', which ...

as Zola *

Celeste Lecesne Celeste Lecesne (formerly James Celeste Lecesne; born November 24, 1954), is an American actor, author, screenwriter, and LGBT rights activist, best known for the Academy-award-winning short film ''Trevor (film), Trevor.'' Lecesne has written sev ...

Credited as James Lecesne. as Cruise Ship Actor * Benim Foster as The Super * Jean Loup as Punk * Gerry McIntyre as Jerry * Tyagi Schwartz as Carl * Barbara Winters Pinto (credited as Barbara Winters-Pinto) as Temp Agent * Sammy as Himself (Mouse) * Jonathan Walker as Chuck * Richard M. Davidson (credited as Richard Davidson) as The John

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 29% based on reviews from 7 critics. David Noh from the

Film Journal International ''Film Journal International'' was a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It was a sister publication of ''Adweek'', '' Billboard'', ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and other periodicals. H ...

said on 4 January 2007, "Has got to represent yet another low for the gay indie, New York Style". Michael Dequina from TheMovieReport.com said on 1 January 2000, "The terrible trio whine their way to a happy ending that is wholly undeserved". Dennis Harvey of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called the film "an anachronistic throwback" and "Lacking any hip edge or writing wit, pleasant but bland".

Lawrence Van Gelder Lawrence Ralph Van Gelder (February 17, 1933 – March 11, 2016) was an American journalist and instructor in journalism who worked at several different New York City-based newspapers in his long career. Until 2010, he was senior editor of the Ar ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said it was a "labored and insufferably cute film". Jan Stuart of The Advocate magazine wrote a large negative review, stating it "trivializes their struggle in a cuddly wash of sitcom music and laugh track-less chatter, smelling suspiciously of Hollywood damage".

Accolades

* Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival Mission Award - Victor Mignatti (winner) * L.A.

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Feature (winner) * Verzaubert International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Rosebud Award for Best Film (nominated)

Home media

''Broadway Damage'' was released on Region 1

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on 30 November 1999.

Notes

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0118780, Broadway Damage 1997 films American LGBT-related films Gay-related films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films