Punks, the romantic comedy by first-time director Patrik-Ian Polk, has been referred to as the gay male Waiting to Exhale. The comparison is understandable, as both films present a self-affirmative slice of black life in contemporary middleclass America, and focus on a group of friends who function as a surrogate family. Perhaps it is this emphasis on positive African American representation, rather than the film's gay content, which prompted R&B producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and his wife Tracy Edmonds to sponsor Punks as executive producers.

But Punks has also been perceived as a black version of The Boys In The Band and The Broken Hearts Club. Similar to these films, Punks (which is African American slang for gay men of color) presents the daily lives and sorrows of a group of male friends in gay ghetto West Hollywood, including their chatter about their favorite celebrities and their latest love interests.

The HIV-positive Hill (Dwight Ewell) indulges in his new-found sexual freedom as a single man, after, on his thirtieth birthday party, catching his French boyfriend Gilbert (Rudolf Martin) French kissing with another punk. The young Latino and spoiled rich kid Dante (Renoly Santiago) spends his time clubbing and doing drugs with his gay peers. Drag queen Chris (Jazzmun) is the diva-with-an-attitude and leader of the drag group The Sisters. Throughout the film, The Sisters give fabulous performances of 1970s Sister Sledge disco classics, dressed in outrageous outfits that have clearly been inspired by the flamboyant costumes worn by Diana Ross in Mahogany and Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard. However, the plot of the film focuses on the blossoming friendship between the overly romantic but utterly shy Marcus (Seth Gilliam) and his hunky but straight neighbor Darby (Rockmond Dunbar).

While the others lose interest in Darby once they find out he is straight, Marcus develops a major crush on him and becomes his intimate though platonic friend. In one hilarious scene, Marcus tries to woo Darby by inviting him to watch Mahogany together. Darby - fittingly - prefers Shaft. "Okay. I'll show you mine, you'll show me yours," Marcus replies. Instead, Marcus ends up watching Mahogany all by himself, while Darby "spends some quality time" with his girlfriend Jennifer (Vanessa Williams).

In spite of his dorky character, Marcus works as a hip fashion photographer and only through the gaze of his camera does he dare to observe the objects of his desire. Marcus is so obsessively shy and HIV-phobic that he secretly takes pictures of hunky and cute men rather than actually having sex with them. The first time we get to see Darby is through the point of view of Marcus, who photographs the bare-chested Darby unloading his truck, in slow motion and with Diana Ross's "Muscles" as soundtrack. This beefcake scene balances on the point of being either extremely erotic or just absolutely tacky. The same can be said of the film in its entirety. Punks borders on tackiness, only to be saved by its snappy dialogue, its sensuous montage, and its sympathetic characters. Marcus and his friends are so nice and comfortably gay that you cannot help but wish them the best happy ending West Hollywood has to offer. Will Hill and his French ex kiss, make up and make out happily ever after? Will Chris overcome her diva attitude and except her sisters as equals? And most important, will Darby ever get rid of the girl and realize that Marcus is his real true love?

With Punks, Patrik-Ian Polk clearly attempts to increase gay black visibility in American mainstream culture, a welcome diversity in the still predominantly lily-white worlds of Hollywood and out-and-proud gay culture. Also, with its omnipresence of pop divas like Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, and Janet Jackson, Punks shows that these black gay icons mean much more to black gay men than white gay icons like Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand, and Madonna do. But doesn’t that suggest that Punks is merely a gay black imitation of gay white Hollywood - The Black Boys In The Band - in which gay white characters have been replaced by black ones, and Barbra Streisand by Diana Ross? And doesn’t Punks share the problem of contemporary gay Hollywood films like The Broken Hearts Club, which present conventional romantic comedies that confer trendy “otherness” by transposing gay characters with straight ones, or white ones with black? The answer is no. Sure enough, Punks follows the cliche conventions of the Hollywood romance, but seeing that as a black imitation of white mainstream culture is missing the point Polk is making. Diana Ross is not a black Barbra Streisand, but a black diva in her own right - just as Marcus and his friends are no imitations of the white West Hollywood gay clone, but black gay men who define their culture on their own terms, no matter how frivolous it may turn out to be. The numerous references to Mahogany are no coincidence: Polk wanted Punks to have that "fun sense of whimsy" and be "really glamorous" like the Diana Ross movie. And in this, Punks succeeds.

True enough, eventually Punks does become a bit too syrupy in its self-affirmative message that black gay men are beautiful too (though the actors definitely prove that point) and that gay men actually prefer a romantic and monogamous relationship over meaningless casual sex. Duh! And Seth Gilliam overplays the shyness and insecurity of Marcus to such an extent that you want to stand up and scream at the screen: Forget about Darby! Get a life! Please, go get screwed! But in the end, Punks is most of all an utterly enjoyable film by a promising young black director which shows just how fabulous, frivolous, sexy, and romantic black gay men can be.

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The Boys In The Band

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Review by Jaap Kooijman