Plainclothes (2025) review

Undercover police officer Lucas (Tom Blyth) is assigned the job of patrolling the local mall and trying to lure homosexual males into the bathroom in order to arrest them, except he becomes enamored with Andrew (Russell Tovey), one of his targets, and then grows increasingly paranoid about his secret being discovered by his co-workers and his family.  Although this is doing a bit of pandering to the modern crowd (who should be outraged this kind of entrapment took place at any point in time) and Emmi's stylistic affectations - blurry images, clips of home movies, spinning lights, "gay panic" represented by the sound of TV static, etc. - are quite excessive, the core of the movie involving two men struggling to hide their "true selves" is very effective, and it's strengthened by empathetic performances from its leads.  Having Lucas' ex-girlfriend Emily (Amy Forsyth) in there as his only form of support is a nice touch, and the last scene is truly cathartic: bigoted uncles need to be launched out of first-floor windows.