Butch Camp (1996)

Butch Camp

• I had no idea what I was going into, because I had only just discovered this while scrolling on Tubi like a week ago. It was pretty much an impulse watch, and it certainly is a film that you’d randomly come across on Tubi. I’m still trying to decipher my feelings on it. I think as a whole, it’s absolutely hilarious and actually has some really tender moments, despite the goofiness and campiness. Now there’s when it’s bad, it’s kind of bad, but when it’s good, it’s pretty good. It’s mostly good. It does feel very dated with its humor, and covers the wide spectrum of homo and hetero. A lot of it reeks of heterosexuality and straightness, but it fits into the humor and plot. In fact, the whole film hinders on the idea of typical male straightness. Then once it gets gay, it’s quite gay and awesome and beautiful. The story is about a gay guy who tries to stand up for himself by going to Butch Camp and learning how to assert himself in the straight crowd, and it kind of spirals from there. There’s some love triangle stuff but ultimately it works out the way I wanted it to, especially in the last several scenes. As I said, there’s some very tender moments in a goofy film. The writing is all over the place in terms of humor and dialogue, but the story does have a little bit of structure. It’s definitely a little offensive but in the classic comedy queer film style. I don’t know what that means, but in the sense of films like ‘The Gay Deceivers’, ‘The Birdcage’, and ‘But I’m a Cheerleader’. Very over the top and in your face, but exactly the way it needs to be. The performance from Paul Denniston (who looks like Michael J. Fox and Kyle McLachlan smushed together) totally deserved an Oscar for this. His comedic timing, line deliveries, and mannerisms were so on point, and it’s one of my favorite gay performances I’ve ever seen. Also, it’s certainly one of the best original soundtracks I’ve ever heard. I won’t elaborate. Overall, this is a super funny yet very corny film, and though it’s not remarkable, and has some very shiny moments. I would only recommend it if you like other campy queer films.