Naked Boys Singing DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Adaptation of Risque Off-Broadway Revue Arrives on DVD

If you appreciate truth in advertising, and also like looking at nude men, then you’re apt to enjoy the appropriately entitled Naked Boys Singing. Based on the long-running, Off-Broadway play of the same name, this off-beat comedy is essentially a slightly enhanced film version of the stage production of the risqué musical revue.
Directed by Robert Schrock and Troy Christian, it’s a full-frontal celebration of the male form featuring 16 show tunes with suggestive titles such as “Gratuitous Nudity,” “The Naked Maid,” “Nothin’ But the Radio On,” “The Bliss of Bris” and “Perky Little Porn Star.” Most of the pithy, gay-themed songs have raunchy lines which leave even less to the imagination than the actors cavorting around in their birthday suits.
The movie was shot mostly inside an L.A. theater where the live audience was warned of the dire consequences for anyone who fails to turn off a cell phone before the bawdy burlesque gets underway. And sure enough, a loud ring later leads to the culprit being dragged up on stage and stripped butt-naked.
This is a picture which repeatedly seizes on the flimsiest of excuses to enable the cast to go public with their privates. Nonetheless, it’s also easy to elicit from the lyrics that a loftier goal is afoot, namely, to take an honest look at life from a healthy homosexual perspective. For example, “Fight the Urge” describes what it’s like to walk through a men’s locker room when you’re gay, while “Look at What You’ve Missed” is an emotional ode to a late lover who has passed away from AIDS.
Alternately silly and shocking, yet ultimately moving, Naked Boys Singing cleverly reveals the vulnerability of ubiquitous nudity to be a window to the human soul.

Excellent (3.5 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 95 minutes
Studio: TLA Releasing

DVD Extras: A featurette entitled “Nuts and Bolts.”