:: About Gay Movies :: Common ground ::

Overview

Title Common ground Year 2000

Director Donna Deitch Writer Paula Vogel,
Terrence McNally

Country USA Language English

Cast Brittany Murphy, Jason Priestley, Mimi Rogers, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Steven Weber, Edward Asner, James LeGros, Beau Bridges, Harvey Fierstein

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Synopsis

Common Ground is divided in three parts addressing the plight of homosexuals in America over the past half century.
The events take place in the small town of Homer, Connecticut, with the only link between the stories being Johnny Burroughs (Eric Stoltz), a local who grows up and resides in Homer all his life and witnesses the social climate change to where homosexuals are finally accepted, however reluctantly.
In the film’s first segment, set in 1954, Dorothy Nelson (Brittany Murphy) comes home to Homer, Connecticut to less than a hero’s welcome after being kicked out of the military for kissing another woman.
When word of this disgrace gets out around town, Dorothy is ostracized by the townsfolk, gets thrown out of the house by her mother (Margot Kidder), and soon finds herself with no capacity to support herself.
Her dishonorable discharge papers serve as a Scarlet Letter preventing her from being accepted in her hometown. Ultimately, the anonymity of "the city" offers the only hope of freedom for Dorothy by enabling her to hide her "deviant sexuality" among the faceless masses.
Segment two, set in 1974, involves the gay-bashing suffered by an adolescent, Tobias (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and how one of his schoolteachers, Gil (Steven Weber), a closeted homosexual, stands up for the boy.
Tobias is dynamic as the student who stands up for who he is despite the harsh treatment by his peers, while Gil is equally compelling as a mentor too frightened of losing his status to speak out about his true, hidden nature.
The third and final segment, set in the year 2000 and written by Harvey Fierstein, is easily the least compelling of the three. The story involves Amos (James LeGros) who debates his father, Ira (Ed Asner), about whether he should get married to his male lover on the day of his wedding.
During their discussion, many of the typical topics raised by homosexuals and those who refuse to accept their lifestyle (i.e social and religious arguments for and against the rights of homosexuals to become what they are) are presented as if Fierstein were preparing for a formal debate on the subject.
Meanwhile, Fierstein himself eats up the scenery, as usual, in the role of the gay wedding planner, Don, who jokingly perpetuates gay-straight stereotypes.