Raunchy Gay Movie Finds Cult Following

Still, the finished movie won raves on the film festival circuit, including the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, where the three lead actors shared the “Best Actress” award.

The film also made its way to Sundance where it was acquired by IFC. The Japanese rights also sold, in a bidding war that more than paid for the film’s $400,000 budget.

Not everyone got the joke. Reviews were almost surrealistically split. Most liked the camp, its take-no-prisoners humor, and especially the performances. But some were outright hostile. “Cheap, ugly, mean-spirited, [and] poorly lit,” said the Onion’s A.V. Club.

“There are two kinds people who don’t get Girls Will Be Girls,” says Jack Plotnick, who executive produced the film along with being one of its stars. “People like my mom, who doesn’t like anything I do except things she feels comfortable showing her neighbors. Those are the people who just don’t enjoy raunchy humor. The other kind [of people who don’t get the joke] are those who have a knee-jerk reaction to drag. [If they’re gay], they’re embarrassed to see a gay guy dressed as a woman.”

Even Day admits he wasn’t always a fan of drag. “But it’s not the three of them getting up there in a dress and lip-synching Cher,” he says.

When the film was released on DVD, its status as a cult film began to grow. “People come up to me all the time and say, ‘I just watched Girls Will Be Girls for the first time, and I love it!’,” Plotnick says.

Meanwhile, Day, the actors, and producer Michael Warwick eventually turned to the Internet to keep the project alive. “I knew there was a reason Al Gore invented that thing,” Plotnick says. “Oh yeah, I think people also use it for porn.”

Like the movie, the online episodes are produced on a shoestring — an even cheaper shoestring than the movie. The entire budget for the five webisodes they’ve filmed so far is $500. “All in food,” Day says. “Just what we’ve eaten.”

How are they able to do it so cheaply? “People [in Hollywood] go on strike because they’re not getting paid enough,” Day says. “But then they’ll work for free if they love the project.”

In one recent webisode, guest star (and former Kid in the Hall) Scott Thompson receives a compliment on his wig. “Oh please!” the actor ad-libbed. “I look like a cheap drag queen in some tawdry homemade video made by a bunch of out-of-work actors and striking writers.”

Clinton Leupp (left) and Scott Thompson

“Just like in the film, the webisodes are done under the radar of the Hollywood dumbing-down machine,” Plotnick says. “It’s just a group of friends getting together and putting on film what really makes us laugh.”

Day and Plotnick still hope, perhaps against all hope, that someone in a position of power will see the beauty of their idea and give them a shot at television at last.

“Americans love Dame Edna,” Plotnick says. “If he could get a TV show here, it would be a big hit. But good luck with that. And same with our show.”