The bitter fight for supremacy between a school’s most popular girls takes an unexpected turn when Tanner (Michael J. Willett) becomes its first openly gay student. As they race to bag the big trend in fashion accessories, the Gay Best Friend, Tanner must choose between skyrocketing popularity and the friends he is leaving behind. Darren Stein (Jawbreaker) returns with another comic send‐up of high school clique culture, including memorable cameos by Megan Mullally and Natasha Lyonne.

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Straitlaced optometrist Weichung is finding the typical married life difficult, as his wife, Feng, unfulfilled by her white‐walled office job and spurred on by her mother, pushes him for a second child. Then he bumps into an old friend from his gay past, setting off an unexpected array of dormant emotions. Meanwhile, his sister Mandy flees her sad sack fiancé San‐San, coping via comfort food and the fantastical appearance of a soap opera star on her couch. Arvin Chen’s sophomore feature is a fresh and playful comedy about the brave fronts put forward in the search for a satisfying family life and job. Whimsy is never far from this story, both through the appropriately sappy soundtrack and several dream‐like touches: not just a soap opera star, but one character whose retirement is symbolized by his magical floating away on an umbrella and a breakout karaoke sequence reinforced by the title Shirelles song. Outstanding performances by Richie Ren and singer Mavis Fan as the central married couple help Chen find a true emotional core, especially in the heartrending moment when Feng realizes the truth about her husband’s dalliances, inspiring a charming look at what happens in a traditional society when you seek a big change.

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The parallel stories of two gay men in a small Texas town. There’s Gabe: a contractor who’s getting over an ill‐fated affair with a married man and finds solace in the relationship he still harbors with his ex‐wife, Shannon, and their daughter, Cindy; and there’s Ernesto: a Hispanic lumber yard worker in the midst of splitting up with his live‐in boyfriend, Luis, as he receives news from the hospital that his former love, Martin, is in a coma. At the end, when Gabe and Ernesto meet each other for a one‐nighter–having endured all the struggles and heartbreaks and wondering if they’ll ever find love again–they face the possibility that they might just be meant for each other. NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

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