When the smoke clears at the end of 2004, a movie like Touch of Pink won't likely be making any best-of lists -- unless the list happens to be comprised exclusively of romantic comedies. Within that pained category, the movie may just eke out a recommendation or two, because for the most part it's better than many others that have been released in the past 12 months, but ultimately it doesn't quite become enough of a consolation prize. A handful of snappy one-liners can't win the battle against of bevy of conventions and a criminal lack of surprises or twists and turns in the plot.
The premise is that the spirit of Cary Grant (Kyle MacLachlan) has become an imaginary friend for a photographer (Jimi Mistry) who, naturally, has never had a father figure growing up. This concept, though perhaps slightly familiar, was clearly the creative launching point for the project. Everything else in the movie, though, is the result of throwing as many types and lifestyles into a celluloid blender as possible and letting the dots connect in generic, predictable fashion. You've got the stern mother (Suleka Mathew) who ends up visiting and who wants nothing but for her son to get married and have children. Since he's kept his homosexuality a secret from her, you've got the coming-out-of-the-closet misunderstandings and double entendres that could be cleared up in one minute if everyone just said what they're supposed to, and then you've got the quirky romantic comedy only recently added to the mix (and increasing in popularity): the foreign culture that allows North Americans some token insight into peoples from another land. Add a touch of slapstick and some forced references to classic Hollywood pictures and you've got an auto-pilot end result that originally could have been so much more.
With the flamboyant introduction of the fictitious Cary Grant at the start of the picture and an armada of pompous zingers at MacLachlan's disposal, everything else seems haphazardly strung together in comparison, and his appearances are anticipated as relief from having to sit through the rest of the Three's Company motions. Jimi Mistry and Kristin Holden-Reid as the UNICEF economist boyfriend Giles bring a natural comfort to their roles and Suleka Mathew summons the attitude of Ma Barker or Anne "Throw Momma" Ramsey as she plows through insult after insult, but smart performances don't end up meaning a whole lot if the characters don't behave intelligently, and it is here that the screenplay lets almost everyone down.
Touch of Pink was written and directed by Ian Iqbal Rashid, and in spite of his concerted efforts to endorse (or preach?) tolerance in a project that clearly (and admirably) looks to a more optimistic future, I still found some of the homoerotic passages awkward to sit through. Now granted, that's my own problem and certainly doesn't have any bearing on the quality of the work, but it's likely these scenes may deter all but the most open-minded of viewers. Not to put too much of a point on the subject, but the "arts community" in attendance at the viewing I saw last night applauded on cue when the boyfriends at long last found themselves kissing in front of family and friends.
Okay. So, now it's time for a little pop quiz. In this movie, will there may be a scene where the gay son try to pass off his female friend as his straight fiancée? Will the stern, traditional mother ever come to accept her son for who he is? Will the son's promiscuous boyfriend forego his cheatin' ways to follow his heart? Will the son say goodbye to his imaginary friend once and for all because he "no longer needs" that friend any more? Give me a break. Everyone lives happily ever after. It's another romantic comedy. Whoop dee doo.
