MQFF NOTES: Fourth Man Out (2015, Dir. Andrew Nackman)

"It's just a bit of fluff," was the general consensus on MQFF's closer, 4th Man Out. Well, that's what I got back whenever I gave my disgruntled reaction to the film. "It was enjoyable," I was repeatedly told.

The audience's enthusiastic reaction throughout the film pointed to the fact that most would be willing to go further in their praise.

I'm not sure there was an actual queer within 50km of this production. Director Andrew Nackman is straight. Writer Aaron Dancik is straight. There may have been a self-hating homo or two involved on the production team but, on the evidence, those are the only LGBT hands on this homophobic, misogynist bro-comedy.

All in good fun, you say? Look, a lot of it was fun. And, while I admit I was already on guard stepping into this tale of three manly straight men who freak the fuck out when their best friend (the fourth manly straight man inhabiting their man-cave) comes out of the closet, there were times I laughed.

But there were also (many more) times I sat with my arms folded tightly, agape at the marks Nackman and writer Dancik had chosen to score their laughs off. Anything outside the clearly delineated heteronormative boundaries of the men's relationships were open slather. And the jokes were rarely kind.

Many will excuse 4th Man Out on account of its purported positive spin by film's close. That is, in my view, an act of extreme generosity for a film that has done little to interrogate its stance on sexuality. This is a film made by straight men, flattening their view of women and gay men to their limited understanding of the world.

It has no place in a queer film festival.

★★

Trailer:

Fourth Man Out screened as part of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival 2016.

You can check out other films from the festival here.