A gay teen is courted by the school’s mean girls. Each thinks a Gay Best Friend (G.B.F.) will increase their popularity. Director Darren Stein (Jawbreaker) and screenwriter George Northy (Charmed, Faking It) satirize would-be allies who treat gay men like fashion accessories. The premise is smart but the jokes are weak. Characters substitute insults and slurs for wit. The film loses the thread entirely in the chaotic third act.

Let’s unpack it in this spoiler filled recap.

Act One: Recruitment

Scene One: Outing
BRENT VAN CAMP (a self-absorbed twink): The mean girls want a gay best friend. I’ll come out at prom and become popular.
TANNER DANIELS (a shy twink): I’m not ready to come out.
CAMP: I’ll put Guydar on your phone to see if there are other gays at school.
RUDE GSA GIRL: Tanner’s on Guydar! Join my GSA! I’m straight but clubs look great on college applications.
TANNER: Camp, you inadvertently outed me. Friendship over!

Scene Two: Mean Girls
BULLIES: Let’s beat up Tanner!
MEAN GIRLS: Try and you’ll never get laid again. Tanner, come sit with us!
RICH GIRL: I’m smart.
THEATER GIRL: I’m in musicals.
MORMON GIRL: And I’m a slutty Mormon.
TANNER: I don’t have a thing. I like comic books?
MEAN GIRLS: Boring! Let’s give this queen a makeover!

Act Two: Popularity

Scene Three: Camp’s House
CAMP: I’m jealous of Tanner’s newfound popularity.
MOM (Megan Mullally): Let’s watch Brokeback Mountain. Wow. They should really use lube.

Scene Four: Party
MEAN GIRLS: We made you hot. Now you have to endorse one of us for prom queen!
COLLEGE GUY: I’m out. Wanna dance?
MORMON GUY: I’m closeted. Wanna bang?
TANNER: (Drunk) No! I can’t handle pressure. Or alcohol. (Throws up.)
CAMP: (Also drunk) Can we be friends again?
(Tanner and Camp kiss. The next morning, they awake in bed in their underwear.)
TANNER: Let’s never speak of this. Get out.

Act Three: Activism

Scene Five: Protest
BIGOT GIRL: I won’t sell prom tickets to gays.  
TANNER and RICH GIRL: Then we’ll organize an alternative prom.
CAMP: You’re asking me to prom?
TANNER: No. Rich girl found me a college boy to go with.
CAMP: I’m hurt! I’ll organize a homophobic protest… for some reason.
   
Scene Six: Alternative Prom
TEACHER (Natasha Lyonne): Tanner wins Gay Prom King!
TANNER: Thank you. But I’m more than just Gay. I’m tired of acting like a pet.
THEATER GIRL: I’ll dump a bucket of glitter on Tanner. This will humiliate him… for unexplained reasons.
CAMP: No!
(Camp pushes Tanner out of the way and gets hit with the glitter.)
TANNER: I guess that meant something and that we’re friends again?
CAMP: Sure. We have to end this movie somehow.   
(Everybody dances.)  

THE END  

Not Fetch

It’s nice that there’s this GBF moment happening in schools, but to this day, gayness is not fully accepted. Tolerance continues to be a work-in-progress. High school is a microcosm of the world at large.

Darren Stein, Director

I think this film is so relevant. It’s about a generation of young people who are sick of being put in boxes and stereotypes.

Michael J. Willett, Actor

Tina Fey’s screenplay for Mean Girls is filled with memorable lines. The remake quoted most of them verbatim 20 years later. Northy’s screenplay for G.B.F. aims for the same quippy feel. But the gags fall flat. We’re told the Theater Girl produced an unauthorized Mean Girls musical. We then cutaway to her singing a boring song. That’s a reference, not a joke. Don’t remind us that we could be watching a better film.

To Northy’s credit, he gives his mean girls distinct personalities from Fey’s trio. Rich Girl (Sasha Pieterse) is hiding the fact that she’s secretly a science whiz. Theater Girl (Xosha Roquemore) struggles with the pressures of being one of the only black students in her school. Mormon Girl (Andrea Bowen) is exploring her sexuality and drifting away from her devout friends. Each wants to be seen as more than a stereotype, despite minimizing Tanner’s experience. They see him as safe and each other as competition.

Tanner’s (mostly) platonic friendship with Camp provides the films’ wobbly throughline. Michael J. Willett captures Tanner’s social awkwardness. Paul Iacono’s Camp understands the challenges of living in the closet when everyone around you already assumes you’re gay. Their fights are painful and raise the stakes. Camp’s later decisions grow incoherent. Why does he side with the homophobes? Why does it take a dopey glitter prank to reform him? Iacono fails to make sense of it. In the end G.B.F. is an ambitious misfire.

You can currently stream G.B.F. on TUBI. You can find more of my reviews on The Avocado, Letterboxd and Serializd. My podcast, Rainbow Colored Glasses, can be found here.