PARTING GLANCES

John Bolger and Richard Ganoung 

PARTING GLANCES (1986). Written and directed by Bill Sherwood.

Michael: "At fifty or sixty impending death doesn't freak you out so much."

Joan: "I bet it does. I bet it's a fuckin' drag even if you're eighty."

Michael (Richard Ganoung) and Robert (John Bolger) have been a couple for some time, but now the latter decides he finds the relationship "predictable"  and has taken an assignment in Africa for two years. Michael is upset over this, and gets mixed signals from Robert, but he also has time to visit and help care for Nick (Steve Buscemi), who has AIDS. During Robert's last night in town, they have dinner with his closeted boss and his wife, and attend a party for Robert given by friend Joan (Kathy Kinney), while a cute store clerk named Peter (Adam Nathan) sets his sights on Michael. But there's an unexpected development, and Michael finds he may have to make a choice.

Steve Buscemi and Adam Nathan

Parting Glances is not the typical boy meets boy romance, but one almost wishes that it had been. The characters and their motivations are not as well-developed as they need to be, the film is slow-paced and simply meanders instead of ever becoming really dramatic, and the attempts at humor are fairly pitiful. On the plus side there are some good dialogue and performances, especially by the two leads and the ever-weird Buscemi. Kathy Kinney, who is also good, later played the obnoxious and wildly attired secretary on The Drew Carey Show. A party scene shows what purports to be a cross-section of downtown types but New Yorkers are more interesting than that! You want to like the two leads and root for their romance to work, but after awhile you just want the darn thing to be over. Buscemi and Bolger -- two straight cast members, of course -- both went on to have many credits afterward.

Verdict:  There's some good potential here but it just isn't realized. **.