Alex Strangelove

By: Dustin Bradley

The Netflix movie Alex Strangelove was released on June 8, 2018. The movie, written and directed by Craig Johnson,  stars virtual newcomers Daniel Doheny, Madeline Weinstein and Antonio Marziale. Reviews for the film have seemed mixed as many critics likened it to fellow recent release Love, Simon; however, it seems the only things in common were the high school setting and the white gay male leads who are both pretty awkward. (In both films of which are played by Cis-Het [cisgendered heterosexual] actors.) This film was nothing like Love, Simon as that movie was filled with a lot of heart and emotional queer experiences while Alex Strangelove is filled with humor, sex and biphobia. Overall, the movie has some very funny moments and the characters are pretty relatable and likable, but it’s flaws outweigh its glory.

Alex Truelove (Daniel Doheny), a high school Senior, plans on losing his virginity to his long time girlfriend Claire (Madeline Weinstein). But things get complicated when he meets a handsome and charming gay kid, Elliot (Antonio Marziale), from the other side of town who unwittingly sends him on a roller-coaster journey of sexual identity. Unfortunately, the love story between Alex and Elliot is very poorly developed on screen. Alex meets Elliot at a party and gets high with him, texts him the next day, goes out to a concert, hangs out with him another time and makes out with him. Then, he gets angry, refuses to talk to him for weeks, sees him at prom and refuses to engage. Alex finally gets the courage to kiss him, but then the movie ends! The problem with all that is that in a ninety-nine minute film, the screen time these two share is maybe MAYBE like twenty to thirty minutes, if not less. I was expecting to see more scenes of the two of them getting to know each other and forming a bond. But instead we are treated to one date that wasn’t even a date, an awkward first kiss, them not talking or communicating and then it all suddenly goes perfectly? I don’t get the sense that they even know each other. We spent so much time with Alex and Claire that this storyline basically gets the B-plot even though it’s the purpose of the movie. Everyone knows they will end up together, but for me it seemed that it wasn’t even warranted when it happened because it was barely developed.

Now that’s not to say that Alex Strangelove isn’t a good film. It was very funny and had some moments that were truly spectacular. But a lot of it is overshadowed by an underdeveloped love story and an overdeveloped sexual storyline that in a way “bi-baits” the audience. Much of the screen time that took away from the Elliot storyline was Alex’s attempt to bed Claire. The Alex and Claire relationship was played very realistically and natural, but my issue with it was that so much of the focus was on their attempts at sexual activity that we got lost in the true emotional journey of Alex. True, we got moments where he reflects on his past and sees part of his future in order to perform. But some of the scenes involving these two could have been shorter or not been such a prominent part. The focus was so heavily on Alex and Claire or Alex and Elliot that we hardly got to get inside Alex’s head really.

As for the biphobia, there were many jokes and things said by the people around Alex that were in the vain of telling him that bisexuality doesn’t exist and he has to pick just one gender. At one point a friend tells him that because he hasn’t been attracted to any of the friend group before or to that friend’s own genitalia then he couldn’t be bisexual. Sure, this was a joke but it was a cheap one. In this same scene we get a comment about a fellow student who is genderqueer and it was played as a joke. The thing is that the phobias in this movie are so tethered in reality. This is the way people think about bisexuals and other members of the LGBT+ that we have to be put in a certain box or label and that sometimes those labels aren’t real or mean nothing; however, the thing is that we don’t get a point where we tell the audience that this behavior isn’t okay. We don’t get a canon bisexual character that shows us that these things aren’t true. We don’t even get anybody saying something that shows the audience that when these things happen to speak up and not to believe in the stereotypes.

Now the baiting. They tease so much of Alex and Claire that at the end of the day you have to wonder why Alex couldn’t have been written as bisexual. Now, I know that his experience is common in the gay community where many people come out as bi first and then eventually “commit” to being gay. Even though this is a common and true thing, I can’t help but wonder how much better the story could have been if Alex or another character was canon bi? This would have given a subset of the community a character to look up to instead of showing us themes that are all too common in our society.

Overall Alex Strangelove was a very funny and an enjoyable film to watch overall but overshadowed by a lackluster script by Johnson. (Johnson directed one of my favorite films called The Skeleton Twins a few years ago and is a gay man himself.) The film was beautifully shot and very visually pleasing, but personally the writing of it to me was very flat just in story structure and certain storylines. Despite all my issues with it, would I watch it again? Would I recommend others to check it out? SURE! ABSOLUTELY! It has a happy ending for a queer couple. It has some gay representation that was good. It has very relatable characters and themes. Support it, but at the same time watch it with a careful eye and recognize that some of the things said and ideas brought up need to be discussed on a larger scale and that the bi community needs to not just be a scapegoat for queer people to hide out in because it is real and valid.

Alex Strangelove is streaming now on Netflix!