Looking for sympathy amid craziness

Houston rewards Charlie Sheen for a #winning performance

Charlie Sheen, Charlie Sheen . . . what to say about @CharlieSheen?

Approaching this particular assignment (covering Sheen's Violent Torpedo of Truth tour spot in Houston), I thought my powers of observation would be more directed toward the crowd than toward Sheen himself. What kind of people actually purchase tickets to witness the ravings of an addict? Who in Houston is making a date night out of this sort of thing?

Most importantly, after reading terrible reviews from other cities, I wondered what made for a #winning performance.

Whatever went wrong in Detroit (where Sheen's tour opened and against whom he led a rousing chorus of "Fuck Detroit") there was no sign of it in Houston. The venue was, and stayed, full — and the heckling was, for better or worse, encouraging.

For his part, Sheen successfully buttered up the crowd — a mixture of those, like myself, who attended for sheer spectacle and those who seemed to worship him as some kind of alt-hero — a crowd that, as a whole, already seemed, ahem, well-greased.

Sheen took the stage at Verizon Wireless Theater in an Astros jersey, which he later threw into the crowd to reveal a University of Houston T-shirt — perhaps a souvenir from his visit to baseball practice the night before? He brought a player who had recently beaten leukemia onstage for a rousing round of applause, which only got louder when he asked the crowd if they had (and were willing to share) any of our own homegrown drug of choice — sizzurp.

Alarmingly, the crowd also responded enthusiastically to Sheen's suggestion that running for President would be the "next logical step" in his meltdown (or, as he termed it, his comeback). And watching him interact with fans in an end-of-show question and answer session, fans that included a handsy 59-year-old who wanted to know how to keep her sex life goin', was arguably the night's highlight.

But it's Comedy Central regular Jeff Ross, who shared the stage with Sheen for much of the evening, who gets the credit for making the night as painless, nay, enjoyable, as it was. Although his Katrina/Selena jokes were too soon (as we get the feeling they sort of always will be), Ross gave Sheen the roast he needed.

Cracks included "if you're winning, this must not be a custody hearing," "Your liver must be smaller and blacker than Barry Bonds' nut sack," and "Charlie's looking for a blow job. Not oral sex, but a job that pays him in coke."

Although the jabs were well-received and well-deserved, things took a turn for the serious at the close of the show when Sheen seemed to beg the crowd for sympathy in talking about losing his job and losing his kids. That particular bit fell flat with me because, as willing as Sheen is to laugh at himself, the state he's in isn't so funny when one considers his five kids and ongoing battle with sobriety.

Sheen told the crowd that their favorite sitcom — Two and a Half Men, of course — was meant to be his swan song. He interpreted the widespread laughter as support, but it's tough to wonder, that late in the show, whether we have a hand in feeding into these delusions or whether, with or without us, he'd make himself a one-man shit-show.

Click here to read about Charlie Sheen's evening with the UH baseball team.

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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