Looking: The Movie
- Director: Andrew Haigh
- Writer: Andrew Haigh; Michael Lannan
- Producer: Shana Fischer Huber
CGiii Comment
Looking gets closure...and, the peal of truthful bells ring throughout.
Quite lovely, intensely emotional, touchingly poignant...a mighty mature piece of work. Dialogue-driven, perfectly played...and, resonant. It's comfortable, familiar, uncomfortable and awkward...in equal measures. Haigh has pulled out all the stops...the soundtrack, the editing, the flow...all exemplary.
This is - quite literally - all about Patrick (Jonathan Groff)...Russell Tovey (Kevin) is only in one scene...and what a scene it is...charged, electrifying and heartbreaking...it ends with a killer line and a tear.
We've all been there...well, those of us with a history...the regrets, the broken hearts, the 'what-ifs' that rise up between two ex-lovers who meet up, down the line, after moving on...yes, love certainly leaves those indelible traces that can't be wiped away...no matter how hard you try. And, sometimes, those traces are just too strong to resist!
Why, oh, why, wasn't it this good from the beginning. We could deliver a sermon on the 'whys' and 'why nots'...but, to what end? It's over.
Who knows...perhaps, in a few years, we could catch up with Patrick & Co.? If the writing remains this good...it would be a very welcome, much anticipated, reunion.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
For fans of HBO’s breakthrough series Looking, news of the show’s impending end stung like a breakup. Wooed for two seasons by the intimate exploits of Patrick Murray (Jonathan Groff), Agustín Lanuez (Frankie J. Alvarez), and Dom Basaluzzo (Murray Bartlett), three handsome but imperfect gay friends living in San Francisco, viewers fell irresistibly in love and were reluctant to say goodbye. It’s fitting then that Looking, the movie, is about the sweet release of closure—and, like recovering from the end of a toe-curling romance, it will leave audiences, aficionados and newcomers alike, feeling renewed.
Looking begins with video game designer Patrick returning to San Francisco for the wedding of bestie Agustín to adorable bear Eddie (Daniel Franzese). Patrick left the Bay Area several months earlier—for a job, he says, but with a lovesick expression that suggests otherwise. Celebratory reunions with hunky restaurateur Dom and the ever-hilarious Doris (Lauren Weedman) ensue, as do multiple erotic minglings, old and new. Whether Patrick reconciles with bad-news-boss Kevin (Russell Tovey), renews his relationship with sexy charmer Richie (Raúl Castillo), or chooses the non-committed life, we will not say, letting you savor the potent particulars as they unfold.
Director Andrew Haigh (Weekend, 45 Years) and co-creator Michael Lannan evoke a genuine sense of people and place. From partying at The Stud, to bonding on Indian Rock, to getting down and dirty at home, Looking is rendered in the same radically real style that made the series a watershed in the presentation of ordinary gay lives. Our characters are still flawed, messy, and complex, but they’ve also matured, and like the transformed city in which they reside, their optimism and beauty of spirit are what ultimately prevail.
— Curran Nault
Cast & Characters
Jonathan Groff as Patrick Murray;
Russell Tovey as Kevin Matheson;
Daniel Franzese as Eddie;
Lauren Weedman as Doris;
Derek Phillips as Jake;
Murray Bartlett as Dom Basaluzzo;
Raul Castillo as Richie Donado;
Vanessa Ross as Stud Bar Lesbian;
Frankie J. Alvarez as Agustin Lanuez;
Teresa Navarro as Bridesmaid;
Christopher Michael Holley as Taxi Driver;
Steven Wiig as European Tourist;
AnnaCorey as Elizabeth;
Natalie Stephany Aguilar as Berkeley Pedestrian;
Chris Perfetti as Brady