The most obvious and inherent flaw of this adaptation of the aged Off-Broadway musical is that it is, indeed, an adaptation of a stage musical. Where is the audience for this film? If you're going to do a musical in this, the fast approaching third millennium, it better appeal to gay guys. They're the only modern audience left for such fare. (Hence, the extremely awesome "Billy Elliot"). Modern heterosexual females are far too caught up in trying to prove their masculinity than to accept such entertainment. Straight males, conversely, are attempting to prove their sensitivity, but only enough so to attain a sexual relationship with a female, certainly not to the extent of liking musicals. And "The Fantasticks" is so overtly heterosexual as to not really appeal to gays, as a generality. There's really nothing for us in it.

The piece, as a whole, is interesting because it deconstructs the musical, in a way. It does this by deconstructing the proverbial "happy ending" (and then providing a wiser one anyway) and by deconstructing the myth of heroism and heroins. The film's opening half concerns a pair of star crossed lovers who are also next door neighbors. As a post- modern Dorothy Gale, Jean Louis Kelly is sort of a prototypical gay man. She searches for a heroic man to sweep her off her feet, i.e. "a real man." She thinks she has found this is shy bumpkin neighbor boy Joe McIntyre (yep - from New Kids on the Block fame). Not able to leave well enough alone, the duo's bachelor fathers (not as gay as it sounds), Joel Grey and Brad Sullivan, conspire to give the young lovers the "climax" (theatrical climax, mind you) that everyone, including the audience, seems to want. What's so marvelous about this story is that after the stereotypical happy ending is achieved, mid film, the plot furthers to explore just how miserable life can be on the other side of the rainbow. Given the chance to finally be alone together, our young het couple find that neither is really ready for the romance they have achieved, each needing to explore the "world" more.

Much of this plot is furthered by the "villain" who helped the fathers provide the climax in the film's front section, a carnival "magician" named El Gallo, essayed by Brit Jonathan Morris. Appearing much like David Bowie's understudy in "Labyrinth" (or perhaps magician David Copperfield's less talented half-brother), Morris is not creepy enough nor sly enough to truly carry the part. His sterile and lackluster El Gallo never has the emotional or seductive clinch he should have. When Kelly offers herself up to him, we hardly see why.

The songs in "The Fantasticks" are tried and true winners. Each and every song is wonderful and played out quite nicely by the cast. Director Michael Ritchie is quite adept at bringing us these scenes as well. Of particular wonder is the duet between Kelly and McIntyre early in the film played out in front of a screening of the silent film classic "Romeo and Juliet." This is a really well-choreographed and beautifully cinematic scene.

But, alas, "The Fantasticks" has no audience in the modern world. It's a straight-to-cable flick that will have fans of the genre (our grandmothers) swooning but no one else. As a gay man, I found the songs and the cinematics quite nice; I just wished that McIntyre would have ended up with Morris at the film's finale. Then I might have something to cheer about.

Note: Also with Bernard Hughes, Teller (of Penn and Teller fame) and that African-American midget from "Me Myself and Irene").

Lensed in 1995, when McIntyre was still cute, the film sat on the studio shelf until Francis Ford Coppola edited it, removing a clumsy narrative device added to the film's script, and championed it's release in 2000. Ritchie was all in favor of the new edit but insisted the film be shown theatrically, for a brief period, before it could go to video, as was stipulated in his contract. A pretty foolish move.

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