The Agony of “Gay” “Cinema”: Edge of Seventeen

This movie has nothing at all to do with Stevie Nicks. What is that about???

So, in the week or so between rewatching this film for the first time since I was in high school (I think) and actually sitting down to write this recap, I may have completely forgotten almost everything that happened in it. Hahaha!

The wild thing is how fondly I remembered Edge of Seventeen, but how…kinda underwhelmed I was upon revisiting…

Basically, Edge of Seventeen is a coming of age/coming out movie that takes place in the 80s, and what happens is: A cute skinny boy who is really into Annie Lennox gets a gross summer job serving gross food at a gross Ohio amusement park. But then two of his coworkers are queer: his manager Lea DeLaria, who is super fun and also a lovely nurturing presence; and this other cute college boy who is blonde and gay and is named…[checks notes] ROD. Wait, I can’t remember the main character’s name either… gaaaaahhhh!

Eric! His name is Eric. So, Eric, who is still in high school and loves Annie Lennox intensely and has this best girlfriend who is definitely 100% in love with him, develops a little crush on Rod—who is honestly a total Rod, except very gay. And they hook up, but then summer is over and Rod goes back to college and Eric spends his senior year constantly changing his hair and getting into new wave and experimenting with makeup.

Also, Edge of Seventeen is one of at least two films with this title, and NEITHER OF THEM have anything at all to do with Stevie Nicks! Like…What is that about?

Now, here’s something I seem to remember about watching this movie when I was, I dunno, 15 or 16, I guess: I was disappointed that it wasn’t sexier. Question: Why did I need it to be sexy? Well, I mean, I was 15 or 16, so…you know… Question 2: What did I find not sexy about this movie? I mean, the ugly brown restaurant uniforms and the gross brown food establish kind of a distinctly unsexy vibe early on. But also, I think my gay teenage brain thought that sexy meant something pretty specific which was: lots of muscles and/or a very precise ratio of body hair to body mass. Or something?

Anyway, none of the actors in this movie were quite that. And actually, now that I’m thinking about it, if I’m honest, I think I was also probably turned off by—there’s really no other way to put this—how gay Rod seems. From what I’ve read, Andersen Gabrych, the actor who plays Rod, is also gay, and it shows in his performance. The character is undeniably…swishy. Watching Edge of Seventeen now, it’s heartening to see this cis white gay character portrayed so authentically. I recognize this person. But when I was a teenager, I wanted the gay love interests in movies to be these strapping butch heartthrobs, just like the kind of leading men we see in mainstream films. Which I guess is maybe partly why Hollywood is so reluctant to cast out actors in these roles. I mean, I’m not proud of it, but there it is.

I think maybe I was also a little put off by Rod’s furry butt, which in reality is very cute. But like, Rod is…surprisingly hairy! Like, he’s got this whole blonde country club preppy vibe that’s like, twink adjacent, I guess? And then he takes off his clothes and he’s Robin Williams! HAHAH! I don’t know why this is a thing that I am/was so fixated upon! It’s, like, bad high school body image nonsense that is back to haunt me!

Also, just before they hook up for the first time, Eric puts on some of Rod’s COLOGNE. And like, Rod is totally the kind of Rod who would wear some heavy 80s Rod COLOGNE! Like something in a green bottle with a brass lid? Like, not a fragrance; an actual COLOGNE. The kind of thing maybe your grandpa still wears? I will forever think of that kind of cologne as Ew de Rod.

Oh, and Rod is also constantly like, “Hey, little boy!” at Eric. EW! I mean, Rod actually kind of is the worst.

In addition to expressing character development via his hair, Eric also starts going to this local gay bar that Lea DeLaria also somehow owns? So, he’s meeting other gays and becoming part of a community, but also he starts hooking up with random guys and gets a little sad that none of them want to date a boy in high school.

This is a picture of Eric getting rimmed for the first time in the front seat (???) of a car in the parking lot of Lea DeLaria’s gay bar:

Meanwhile, he sometimes tries to call Rod, who, like, barely remembers who he is. (Fucking Rod.)

Then one night Eric invites that girl he hangs out with to the gay club. But she gets all freaked out because someone calls her a fag hag—which I remember being kinda confused about when I first saw this movie. Like, it took me a real long time to realize that that term was offensive because I always associated it with Mona Ramsey from Tales of the City, who fully embraced it.

Anyway, that girl, Eric’s best friend—Maggie is her name—she’s all mad at Eric, which makes him sad. So…he just goes to Rod’s college dorm? And Rod is drunk, and is like, “Heeeeeyyyyy, little boooooyyyyy,” and they hook up again. But Rod is a gross tool, and kinda pressures Eric into letting Rod fuck him, which Eric does not seem to enjoy one bit. Like, to the point where the next day, he decides that he and Maggie are going to be boyfriends now? Ah, youth!

So, then Eric and Maggie have opposite-sex sex and Eric does not enjoy that even more! And Maggie runs off crying and, I can’t remember, maybe that’s the end of her?

Now, this whole time, Eric’s mom has been suspecting something fishy was going on with her fruity son who has a new hairstyle and color every week and has been dressing like a member of Boy George, which was a gay band in the 80s, a.k.a. present day in the movie. I forget exactly how, but suddenly she finds out that Eric is gay and is DISTRAUGHT about it!

Which brings me to another question: Am I a complete monster for hating the sad mommy stuff in gay coming out movies? I’m always like I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR MOM! I mean…insofar as it really sucks to be rejected by your family at a tender age and all, I get why this is always part of these narratives. Foundational trauma, etc., obv. But…GOD, I just don’t really care about simple cis straight white women’s STRUGGLE with LEARNING A THING about their kid. I have ZERO patience for that shit. I don’t care that their narrow little worlds are rocked! Your kid is gay. You are going to be FINE! Get over yourself!

I dunno. Maybe I am a monster!

Anyway, the movie doesn’t end with some fantasy moment of acceptance either. Sad Mommy is like, “I can’t handle you being a gay,” and when Eric is like, “I love you,” she fully won’t even say it back! But that’s fine, because I think Eric has a plan to move to New York and go to New Wave School. And in the end, he does what gays have been doing for centuries: he gets dressed up and goes out to the gay bar looking fantastic and hangs out with other gays who are literally the only kind of people you can trust. I mean, mostly. Some of them.