Alex Strangelove
Director: Craig Johnson
Year Released: 2018
Rating: 1.0
School President Alex Truelove (Daniel Doheny) is, if not "popular" in the traditional sense, at least respected by his peers, has a good group of chums and a steady girlfriend, Claire (Madeline Weinstein) ... but when he meets the openly gay Elliot (Antonio Marziale), he starts to question his sexual identity. As far as Coming Out stories are concerned this plays all the familiar notes (and oh dear, are those bedroom scenes with Alex and Claire cringe-worthy) - and it even borrows a Simpsons idea with the Psychedelic Toad Licking - but it does reinforce the idea that Generation Z (the post-Millennials) could not give less of a crap as to who you're attracted to and why. Between this and Beach Rats, Weinstein needs to be careful not to get typecast as the "beard" ... and is it just me or does Doheny strike anyone else as a dead ringer for Anthony Perkins? The hair, the body frame, the gestures ... it's eerie.
