It has been 40 years since male homosexuality was legalised in the UK however for men now in their late fifties and older, the memory of less liberal times is still in mind. Some men are only just coming out after decades married and in the closet while others have been openly gay forever but are now looking to take advantage of the civil partnerships with their long-term partners. This film follows the different experiences of several couples and one individual.
Shown as part of Channel 4's "40 Years Out" season of films recently, this documentary has a slightly comic title that seems to infect the early parts of the film with a weirdly light-hearted approach. It doesn't help that the range of characters selected for the documentary are quite an extreme range. We have Clive, who is married with three children and has recently come out as gay but continues to live with his family while also having rampant sex with multiple partners. Alan and Jimmy have been together for more than 40 years but have never kissed on the lips. Meanwhile Roger is now openly gay and living with the much, much younger Ian a former student of his who now earns his living as a male stripper.
So at first, the comic delivery serves to make me feel like I was meant to be more amused by the characters than interested in them and the film offered me little early on to make me think otherwise. As it goes on though, there are things of interest. Clive's selfish sexual antics become clear where he ignores a doctor's advice over his STD's and fails to mention it to his many partners. Jimmy and Alan have strong opinions on those that stay in the closet for decades and their relationship is a strange one that seems more platonic than anything else. Meanwhile Roger and Ian are just a strange couple. It is only the final couple that offer little other than the novelty value of seeing a couple divided so much by age and looks. However, although the potential is there with the others, the film doesn't really have a point to make or somewhere it wants to end up, so it never really pushes anything or tries to uncover things. This is a shame because it could have done a better job to explore the meaning of being gay in the extremes on display here but, by simply watching them, Wells does miss a trick and ends up not really anywhere.
Overall, a distracting documentary but not as interesting as it really should have been. The subjects could have been used better if the film had had more structure and direction to it but, as it is, it is just amusing and not a huge amount more.
