Love Is Love!
NOTE: This review of “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!” was written for and published on my former Blogger.com site, using my old rating scale. I have kept this review as originally published with a few tweaks.
“Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!” definitely fits into the gay coming-out rom-com genre where jokes are made, people end up in farcical situations, and more – and rightly so! To get a quick overview, take “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and give it a gay twist, add in some perfectly casted roles, and you’ll be chuckling along. The plot is simple, yet that’s all that is needed to make the comedy and laughs flow. And while IMDB gives the film a 5.0/10, I personally would give it an 8.0 – though I am a fan of comedy and romance.
Nelson (John Lloyd Young) decides it’s time to come out to his Jewish family after living with his current boyfriend Angelo (Jai Rodriguez) – except he does it subtly by telling his mother that he is “seeing someone.” Naturally, she assumes a lovely girl and won’t listen to anything Nelson tries to tell her. Being your typical Jewish mother, Shirley (Lainie Kazan) goes over to his place – and finds Angelo (the “decorator” friend) and a very voluptuous shiksa named Sybil (Carmen Electra) getting ready to hop in the bath. Of course, Shirley misunderstands the situation from the start which is later made worse when the “beans” are spilled that Sybil is a PlayPen Centerfold! The truth comes out quickly afterwards when Nelson brings Angelo to a family wedding, to confusion of everyone there with the big admittance happening during the ceremony. From there, we quickly progress through the faces of parental denial before the final acceptance – just with lots of comedic relief. One of the best moment is when Shirley decides to meet Angelo’s parents – Jews meeting Italians, but in a Russian restaurant because neither family wants to be seen with the other! However, it’s not until Nelson and Angelo decide to pursue adopting a child, that both parents finally get over their issues and accept their sons for who they are – as both fathers break into a fight together. We wrap up like all rom-com’s, we get a happy ending as Nelson and Angelo welcome their child, surrounded by their family.
I could rattle of some funny scenes or quote a few lines from “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!”, but the best way to realize the humor in this film is to simply watch it because so much depends on the situation. If the storyline hasn’t gotten you perked, then just take a look at the cast list – perfectly cast in their roles. Lainie Kazan and Saul Rubinek makes the best Jewish parents, while Vincent Pastore and Shelly Burch make an ideal Italian couple. Of course I must give nods to John Loyd Young as Nelson and Jai Rodriguez as Angelo – whom many of you fellow queers might recognize from the TV show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”
The only issues I have with “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!”, and why it gets a slightly lower score, is that it progresses very quickly. After it seems both sets of parents won’t accept the other, Nelson and Angelo talk about taking the next step… most would assume marriage, but instead they adopt a child. We then take a political stance and lose some of the humor. I think this is partly since the film was made in 2009, before gay marriage was made legal. But if you overlook this issue, “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay! is a great way to spend the evening – laughing!
