Gray Matters (2006 Film)
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''Gray Matters'' is a 2006 American
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 ...
film directed and written by
Sue Kramer Sue or SUE may refer to: Music * Sue Records, an American record label * ''Sue'' (album), an album by Frazier Chorus * "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", a song by David Bowie Places * Sue Islet (Queensland), one of the Torres Straits islan ...
, starring
Heather Graham Heather Joan Graham (born January 29, 1970) is an American actress. After appearing in television commercials, her first starring role in a feature film came with the teen comedy '' License to Drive'' (1988), followed by the critically acclaime ...
,
Tom Cavanagh Thomas Cavanagh (born October 26, 1963) is a Canadian actor. He is known for a variety of roles on American television, including starring roles in '' Ed'' (2000–2004), ''Love Monkey'' (2006) and '' Trust Me'' (2009), and recurring roles on ...
, and
Bridget Moynahan Kathryn Bridget Moynahan (born April 28, 1971) is an American actress and model. Moynahan is best known for her role as Erin Reagan in the police drama '' Blue Bloods''. She graduated from Longmeadow High School in Massachusetts in 1989 and be ...
. The film premiered at the
Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October a ...
on October 21, 2006. It opened in
limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
in the United States on February 23, 2007.


Plot

Gray, a family oriented and quiet
bachelorette ''Bachelorette'' (/ˌbætʃələˈrɛt/) is a term used in American English for a single, unmarried woman. The term is derived from the word '' bachelor'', and is often used by journalists, editors of popular magazines, and some individuals ...
, lives a close-knit life with her brother, Sam. Their lifestyle is generally co-dependent, involving them living together, going to dance classes together, etc. Gray and Sam's relationship has never been thought of as strange, but once a dinner party guest mistakes the siblings as a couple, Gray and Sam decide to venture outside of one another. While discussing what they can do about their single lifestyles and how they can "hook each other up" with a significant other, their conversation continues to the park, where Gray spots a possible girlfriend for Sam. Gray introduces herself to Charlie, then to Sam, and the two instantly like each other, agreeing to see each other again. To Gray's surprise, Sam and Charlie become engaged the morning after their meeting. Charlie and Sam are so madly in love with one another that they plan to go to Las Vegas the following morning and elope there. They invite Gray along. Gray is a little hesitant, but agrees when Charlie says they can have a "mini bachelorette party". Gray agrees and the three make their way to Vegas. While in Vegas, Gray takes Charlie out for a
hen night A bachelorette party (United States and Canada) or hen night ( UK, Ireland and Australia) is a party held for a woman (the bride or bride-to-be) who will soon be married. While Beth Montemurro concludes that the bachelorette party is modelled af ...
, and after many drinks, the two share a drunken but passionate kiss. The next morning, Charlie does not remember anything, but Gray has not slept the whole night, because of how she felt with Charlie. The situation makes Gray finally realize that not only is she attracted to women, but is falling in love with her sister-in-law. The events in Vegas force a journey of self-discovery, testing the relationship between two very close siblings, and to finding happiness in lonely Manhattan. When Gray eventually
comes out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
to Sam as a
lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
, he tells her that he has known all along, since they were young kids. Later, Sam accidentally discloses Gray's sexual orientation to her entire office, which, along with Sam's encouragement, gives her impetus to find her true self, pursue relationships with women, and find her own someone to love.


Cast


Production

''Gray Matters'' was shot on location 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 ...
in twenty-one days. The
screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
was partially inspired by the life of the director's sister, Carolyn.


Release

''Gray Matters'' premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival, in the Spotlight section, on October 21, 2006. It opened theatrically in limited release in New York and Los Angeles on February 23, 2007.


Home media

The
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 ...
was released in Region 1 by
Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...
on June 19, 2007. It was released in Region 2 by Momentum Pictures on August 13, 2007.


Reception

On
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 8% based on reviews from 66 critics. On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
it has a score of 31% based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


References


External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0375785
''Gray Matters''
at
Yari Film Group The Yari Film Group (YFG) is an independent film company headed by producer Bob Yari. The company deals in financing, production, acquisition, sales and distribution of theatrical feature films. The Yari Film Group was formed in 2005 through ...

''Gray Matters''
at
BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
2006 films 2006 directorial debut films 2006 LGBT-related films 2006 romantic comedy films American LGBT-related films American romantic comedy films Lesbian-related films Films set in New York City 2000s English-language films 2000s American films