Outing Riley

OUTING RILEY may feel a bit self serving, as though Bobby Riley, the main character of the film, is sitting in a Confessional Booth revealing his secret, and in fact that is certainly the case as the film was conceived, lived, written, directed and stars Pete Jones as Bobby. This may account for some of the awkward sense of some of the dialog: it is difficult to be up front about an issue with a history as embedded as the theme of this film. But despite these minor flaws, this little film has a heart of gold and a cast of actors who bring it to life in a good way.

Bobby Riley (Pete Jones) is an Irish Catholic closeted gay man living in Chicago with his partner Andy (Michael McDonald). Bobby is being pressured by Andy and by his informed sister Maggie (Julie Pearl) to come out to his family - a good Irish Catholic family of four brothers, a sister, and a dying father (Bob Riley). His facade with his brothers is a mime of voyeurism of 'chicks' and a beer drinking butch life. Each family member has a secret: Maggie can't hold a relationship and is unable to keep secrets; Connor (Stoney Westmoreland) is addicted to internet porn; Jack (Dev Kennedy) is a priest who has problems with the conflicts the church places on his own beliefs; Luke (the always outstanding Nathan Fillion) is a pothead. Once Maggie decides she must out Bobby, the brothers are conflicted: homophobia raises its ugly head despite the bonds of close family ties. How the family comes to grips with Bobby's being gay, individually and as a family, is the crux of the tale.

This is a fine cast (especially Fillion and Pearl) and the story rolls along at a fine pace. At times it feels 'dishonest' but that is in the script, not the acting. This is not a major film, but it just may be a helpful one to families and friends who are curious about the lifestyle of someone who has surprised them with a similar secret! Grady Harp, December 07

As common place as "coming out" plots are in Queer Cinema, the beauty of them is that no two tales of coming out are ever exactly alike. Just out on DVD this month comes a film that tackles the, often, trite theme in Outing Riley. Set in Chicago filled with beautiful shots of the windy city, Bobby Riley (Pete Jones) is an architect who appears to be your average Chicagoan guy who loves his beer, sports and his family --- a close nit bunch that includes 3 older brothers and his little sister.

The little sister, Maggie (Julie R. Pearl), is the principal piece that keeps the Riley family together now that both of their parents are deceased. Maggie stands alone in the family as the sole Riley family member who knows about Bobby's true sexual orientation and because of her unassuming yet pivotal role among the 5 siblings it was the most logical writing choice as the one who knows Bobby's "secret." Perhaps because of the choosing of a female character to harbor such surreptitious information, it was also a stereotypical writing choice. Far from originality, at one point Maggie even tells Bobby that she loved him like the sister she never had.

Stereotypes are abundant in Outing Riley, however and thankfully, Bobby's character was not...his brothers were! Talk about your typical misogynistic wanna be macho homophobic straight men. In addition to their womanizing ways Bobby's brothers were so juvenile you'd swear that these 3 very adult men (at least in age) were the modern day 3 Stooges. The brothers quickly grew tiresome but were crucial to understanding Bobby's predicament.

Such generalization of the brothers was clearly the impetus for Bobby's
extreme masquerade with his family, despite the fact that Bobby shares an apartment with his partner Andy (Michael McDonald) and as a result it is Maggie who eggs on and orchestrates Bobby's revelation. His façade included a beard and even participates in the silly "boys will be boys" antics of checking out chicks with his brothers. Predictably, Bobby's "straight" appearance and actions are not only deceiving; to his brothers it is down right deplorable when they learn that he is not straight.

Excluding the extreme, yet expected, response from the three brothers Outing Riley overall is neither heavy nor even close to a tear jerker. Instead Pete Jones, who stars as Bobby Riley, wrote and directed the movie, attempts to be comical and quirky while keeping the heart felt moments subtle and short. Even with a few fairly good laughs in Outing Riley, still missing was a genuine nuance of a gay sensibility. Such as when Bobby tells us that he knew he was gay when he "liked the sweet contrast of soft lips and bearded cheeks the first time I kissed my aunt rose!" Funny, indeed, but not something that a gay man would mark as a moment of sexual realization. Bobby's narrating went beyond the usual foretelling. Here, his unconventional complete character breakaway shots were partly peculiar, a little documentarish but mostly perplexing and interrupted the slightly interesting flow that the film had going for itself.

As a way to separate Riley as something of an anomaly amongst similar themed films Bobby tells us that his tale is a gay Chicago Irish Catholic story. In film, Bobby's story stands out, somewhat, only because of the context, a 30 something coming out as opposed to the usual late teen/early twenty something coming of age bracket that coming out plots is usually associated with. In reality, Outing Riley is anything but unique for most gays and lesbians are personally very familiar with the cultural war between the religious right vs gay and lesbian civil rights. However, with Bobby being gay and his eldest brother being a Catholic priest Outing Riley's clashing of two worlds within the same family gave the film a bit of an edge. Outing Riley may have fared a bit better if it had spent more time exploring this relationship between the polar opposites. Will blood trump the dichotomy within the Riley family? One of the few good writing choices in this film is that you will have to decide that question for yourself.

Riley is far from the worst or best gay movie you'll ever see but tepidly scores because it isn't a cookie cutter of a saturated narrative. Not to bad for a sophomore effort for Pete Jones (winner of the Project Greenlight competition sponsored by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck). Next time it might be wise to surround oneself with and /or consult with some actual GLBT folk before pen is put to paper.

Being the avid Nathan Fillion fan I found this on TV and Tivo'd it, not knowing what it was about or what to expect. It was a little racier than I expected in the language department and I was only going to watch it for Nathan, but I got hooked and enjoyed the movie quite a bit. It surely isn't a wholesome and educational film for the children to see, but probably a pretty realistic view of what coming out is like in some families. Well acted all around, and Amazon needs to put Nathans name in a more prominent position for this one, he is the one star going somewhere in this and the only actor I recognized. He is some kind of big darn hero.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 15 reviews  3.4 out of 5 stars