MovieChat Forums > Living Out Loud (1998) Discussion > Queen Latifah's character and her gay bo...

Queen Latifah's character and her gay boyfriend

posted 19 years ago by dathaler
6 replies | jump to latest

OK, something about this doesn't quite ring true. Her character pines after an allegedly gay man. Yet, we're supposed to think that she's straight EVEN when she goes to an after-hours dance club patronized exclusively by women? I suppose it COULD have been Ladies Night at the club, but it wasn't explicitly stated. Check again...not a single male in the crowd.

It's a trivial point I admit, and certainly doesn't detract from my opinion of the entire film--it's one of my favorites. How can you not laugh at Holly Hunter's drunken heckling of that amateur singer--the lines were hysterical. Every time I hear someone sing badly, I want to use those very same lines. Or how 'bout her hissy fit in the elevator with her ex-husband, which leads to her deadpan delivery of "The situation CLEARLY called for me to attack him!" I fell out!!!!!

[–] celtic-10 19 years ago

the whole point of the club The Confessional, is that it's two straight women going to a lesbian bar, where they can feel free to be themselves with other women, without the distraction of men.

i have many female friends that are straight and go to gay clubs, and lesbian clubs for the music, friendly atmosphere, and the knowledge that no sleazy guys are gonna hassle them.
the hunter and latifa characerts aren't lesbians, but they're seeking a risque escape from the pain men have caused them, for a night.

"but ya ARE Blanche! Ya ARE in that chair!!"

[–] amy-dee 19 years ago

Living Out Loud is one of my all-time favorites (it's a great, great movie to watch when in need to remind oneself of one's empowering womanhood).

And I'll officially raise my hand here as a straight woman who has an assortment of lesbian friends...it's true that (most)women take care of each other and lesbians are no different (though there are predators amongst them I suppose...but you can fight them off a lot easier than a boy predator ).

So I agree with celtic-10. They most likely chose a lesbian nightclub because it was a safe haven and escape. Also, it's where Hunter's character meets her younger self--the teenage girl who wants to be accepted and loved--and she might not have been able to do that at a club with a gaggle of men standing around, trying to pick up women left and right, being all distracting.

Men, god bless 'em. They just make everything so much harder. No pun intended.

[–] dathaler 18 years ago

"...it's a great, great movie to watch when in need to remind oneself of one's empowering womanhood"

As a male of the species who also loves this film, I personally think it's for ANYONE who needs to remind themselves to "live out loud" a/k/a be true to yourself.

[–] C.S.Wood 19 years ago

I liked the movie a lot, but the funny thing about Latifah's character is that her best scene is when she talks about how she loves sensitive men and the way she describes them I'm thinking "maybe you'd be better off with a woman" and then BOOM! They're at the Confessional and I couldn't help but quote Jason Lee from Chasing Amy when he says "...sure are a lot of chicks at this club!"

I was leaning towards the impression that she was either bi or closeted lesbian. Maybe I'm wrong.

"Action is how men express romance on film." -- Kurt Wimmer

[–] Gary7-1 15 years ago

C'mon people, they were both experimenting with their sexuality and their sex scenes with women were just not included in the film. Plain and simple.

[–] larpine 10 years ago

Yea, I sure that's a wish you took to bed with you. The through line of the film was very honest and shown the sex if that what was taken place, but it wasn't.

She was on X when she went to the club and the scene was a hallucination. It was about cutting lose and synchronization in an environment where she felt comfortable doing so.