As if religion-based intolerance wasn't enough, the gay community has another reason to dislike Catholicism. The past several years have seen a distressing number of Catholic priests exposed as perpetrators of sexual abuse against minors. That many of the victims were young men or boys allows room for the public to confuse abusive priests with gay men instead of recognizing them as predators who had same-sex victims. It's this confusion and the homophobic panic that can arise from it that Peter Paige has on his mind in his directorial debut Say Uncle.
Paul Johnson (Paige) is a completely self-absorbed cubicle slave. His world revolves around his godson Morgan with light romantic and artistic interests on the periphery. That world experiences a drastic change in gravity though when his friend and Morgan's mother Sarah (Lisa Edelstein) tells him that they are moving to Japan. Paul is so much a helpless child that Sarah worries what he will do without them. After finding the new tenants (Gabrielle Union & Marc Anthony Samuel) in Sarah's old house to be less accommodating about him letting himself in, Peter tries to find a new direction in his life. The answer becomes obvious to Peter, find other kids to play with.
That some folks find a lone weirdo male showing up at parks to play with kids a little disturbing isn't too surprising. One mother, Maggie (Kathy Najimy), is so frightened by Paul that she starts a public campaign to have him arrested before he victimizes one of the children in the community. She first tries the police but she is brushed off as a lunatic, appropriately. Saying that, "We need our 'Just Say No'", Kathy rouses some other parents to the cause. This all leads to rumors galore and very public accusations.
The problems with this film are largely unrelated to its technical aspects. It's well shot and a strong cast performs adequately. The film though, doesn't make any sense. Though seemingly meant to be a warning about the perils of homophobia Paul is kind of creepy. His total unawareness of his surroundings and other people make him seem to not have it all together upstairs. Maggie's quest is certainly an awful hysterical pursuit but shouldn't she be worried, at least initially, about some space cadet hanging around children at a park? After all the press over an unresponsive system of order not protecting children from abusive men it should come as no surprise that she, a mentally unbalanced person to begin with, begins an ill-conceived exercise in vigilantism. All this seems to be offered with a sense of satire but it generally misses the mark. One of the characters needs to be a sympathetic, and reasonably sane person to satirize the actions of the other. Without that, it's a screwball story.
In the film Paul's defining characteristic isn't that he's gay, or that he's a painter. Paul, more than anything else, seems to be a guy who only wants to hang out with kids (not that anybody finds Michael Jackson creepy...). That undermines significantly the reaction Maggie gets to the "linchpin" in her case, Paul's homosexuality. Maggie being a nut case herself doesn't help strengthen the commentary the film offers. What we end up with is a situation that, though unfortunate, isn't exactly unexpected. When two totally clueless and unstable people cross paths, it should be no surprise that something bad happens.
Paul Johnson (Paige) is a completely self-absorbed cubicle slave. His world revolves around his godson Morgan with light romantic and artistic interests on the periphery. That world experiences a drastic change in gravity though when his friend and Morgan's mother Sarah (Lisa Edelstein) tells him that they are moving to Japan. Paul is so much a helpless child that Sarah worries what he will do without them. After finding the new tenants (Gabrielle Union & Marc Anthony Samuel) in Sarah's old house to be less accommodating about him letting himself in, Peter tries to find a new direction in his life. The answer becomes obvious to Peter, find other kids to play with.
That some folks find a lone weirdo male showing up at parks to play with kids a little disturbing isn't too surprising. One mother, Maggie (Kathy Najimy), is so frightened by Paul that she starts a public campaign to have him arrested before he victimizes one of the children in the community. She first tries the police but she is brushed off as a lunatic, appropriately. Saying that, "We need our 'Just Say No'", Kathy rouses some other parents to the cause. This all leads to rumors galore and very public accusations.
The problems with this film are largely unrelated to its technical aspects. It's well shot and a strong cast performs adequately. The film though, doesn't make any sense. Though seemingly meant to be a warning about the perils of homophobia Paul is kind of creepy. His total unawareness of his surroundings and other people make him seem to not have it all together upstairs. Maggie's quest is certainly an awful hysterical pursuit but shouldn't she be worried, at least initially, about some space cadet hanging around children at a park? After all the press over an unresponsive system of order not protecting children from abusive men it should come as no surprise that she, a mentally unbalanced person to begin with, begins an ill-conceived exercise in vigilantism. All this seems to be offered with a sense of satire but it generally misses the mark. One of the characters needs to be a sympathetic, and reasonably sane person to satirize the actions of the other. Without that, it's a screwball story.
In the film Paul's defining characteristic isn't that he's gay, or that he's a painter. Paul, more than anything else, seems to be a guy who only wants to hang out with kids (not that anybody finds Michael Jackson creepy...). That undermines significantly the reaction Maggie gets to the "linchpin" in her case, Paul's homosexuality. Maggie being a nut case herself doesn't help strengthen the commentary the film offers. What we end up with is a situation that, though unfortunate, isn't exactly unexpected. When two totally clueless and unstable people cross paths, it should be no surprise that something bad happens.