Happy Pride Month friends!
One of my favorite LGBTQ+ films is the hilarious and touching romantic comedy “Jeffrey” (1995), written by Paul Rudnick (adapted from his off-Broadway play of the same name,) directed by Christopher Ashley, and starring Steven Weber, Michael T. Weiss, Sir Patrick Stewart and Bryan Batt (who was also in the Off-Broadway stage production).
The story centers around a thirty-something, New York gay man Jeffrey (Steven Weber) who has sworn off sex because he’s seen too many of his close friends pass away from AIDS and it's just too scary to get involved with anyone anymore. But as fate would have it he meets the man of his dreams, Steve (Michael T. Weiss), who he has an instant attraction to but turns out to be HIV+!
Conflicted by his feelings of fear, love and desire, he turns to his best friend Sterling (Patrick Stewart) and Sterling’s HIV+ boyfriend, Darius (Bryan Batt,) - a dancer in the Broadway musical Cats - for advice, who try their hardest to convince Jeffrey that Steve is a great guy and to give him a chance.
In short, the movie is a laugh-out-loud comedy with moments of seriousness, mixed with life lessons about love and acceptance.
If you haven’t seen it yet, it is currently streaming on Peacock! Hopefully, you’ll love it as much as I do! Happy Pride!!
To listen to Bryan Batt and I discuss his memories filming “Jeffrey” click the links below
Episode 17 - HERE
Episode 18 - HERE
