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Punks
written and directed by Patrik-Ian Polk
starring Seth Gilliam, Dwight Ewell, Rockmond Dunbar, Renoly Santiago and Jazzmun.
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Yes, everyone agreed: Hollywood has finally overcome its racist past and has now moved into a new era. With both Halle Berry and Denzel Washington winning the top acting Oscars this year, the media is acting as through the motion picture industry has just gone through its own version of Brown v. Board of Education. No more separate-but-equal, no more back of the bus, no more white-only water fountains in tinsel town.

It's all, of course, nonsense as several African-American performers have pointed out. Heavily lauded events such as this­ and the mainstream media did eat it up­ are usually just the most superficial aspects of social change. As Berry herself noted­ until non-white people are represented in all of the unions, all of the levels of production, all of the aspects of the industry nothing will really change. On the other hand, change is slow, and it's not polite not to acknowledge the small changes that do occur.

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That is what is great and (relatively) disappointing about Punks written and directed by Patrik-Ian Polk and starring Seth Gilliam, Dwight Ewell, Rockmond Dunbar, Renoly Santiago and Jazzmun. On the surface Punks seems like an African-American version of The Broken Hearts Club, or Kiss Me Guido crossed with Trick or All Over the Guy­ its is a sort of amiable, sort of dumbbell, sweet and sort of inept look at a group of gay male friends who are struggling with life, happiness, and the pursuit of getting laid and getting married. Most of these films were audience pleasers­ at least they made decent money in their niche market­ even if they were, well, pandering to the lowest possible commercial interests. But, hey, not all movies can or should be art, and Punks isn't art, although it has been a sure-fire audience pleaser in the limited release it has had and will be a huge hit when it is released on video.

While originality is not its forte­ it tells the story of a group of black friends (and one Latino) who live in gay LA and love and support one another, even through misunderstandings and fights, as they try to figure out their work and love lives­ it has an undeniable charm and appeal. The characters here are fairly routine­ derivative from Friends as much as Boys in the Band.

Marcus (Seth Gilliam) is a fashion photographer who is looking for true love and disdains anything less; Hill (Dwight Ewell) is a semi-hysterical queen recovering from a tough relationship and dealing with being HIV-positive; Chris/Crystal (Jazzmun) a drag queen with a mysterious boyfriend and Dante (Renoly Santiago) the very active bar queen. Of course there is also Darby (Rockmond Dunbar), the gorgeous, and possibly havable, straight guy who moves next door.

Polk has a nice eye for detail and a jovial, if sit-com-ish, sense of humor, but the whole film feels a little second-hand, overly familiar. There isn't anything really wrong in trafficking in clichés­ god knows, some of the most enjoyable Hollywood movies in the past years are simply cliché-ridden retreads­ and Polk's general buoyancy keeps the film moving along. But after it's over we are left with a sense of loss because it is such a missed opportunity. With more imagination, money, and cultural support­ could Polk have actually gotten backing for a film that was not going to replicate the half-dozen silly white gay films with the same plots?­ this might have been a much different and much better film.

Some critics of dismissed Punks as just a black version of Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss or All Over the Guy­ but this is wrong-headed. For all of its failings, it is good to have a movie that deals­ however superficially­ with African-American men's lives. And somehow the reflected scorn that gets heaped on Punks is somehow worse then the distaste these critics had for the earlier white films. Nothing in Hollywood changes very quickly­ and racism is not going to disappear because the best actor and actress awards went to two people of color. (If Hollywood wants to take a bold stand why doesn't everyone in the industry sign a statement that condemns the blatant and intrinsic racism of Gone with the Wind­ a film that romanticizes slavery, condones the Klan, and shows the pre-war American South as a idyllic haven of gallantry.) Punks, if not all that good, is entertaining, enjoyable and hopefully a sign of better things to come.

Author Profile:  Michael Bronski
	Michael Bronski is the author of Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility and The Pleasure Principle: Sex, Backlash, and the Struggle for Gay Freedom. He writes frequently on sex, books, movies, and culture, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
	Email:	mabronski@aol.com