'Down Low' Review: Zachary Quinto & Lukas Gage Do Very Bad Things in Raunchy Gay Comedy
Down Low
R: strong/crude sexual content, pervasive language, drug use and some violence
Runtime: 1 Hour and 30 Minutes
Production Companies: FilmNation Entertainment, Sui Generis Pictures
Distributor: Sony
Director: Rightor Doyle
Writers: Lukas Gage, Phoebe Fisher
Cast: Lukas Gage, Zachary Quinto, Simon Rex, Sebastian Arroyo, Christopher Reed Brown, Audra McDonald, Judith Light
Release Date: October 10, 2023
On VOD
As we further into the 21st century, the LGBTQ comedy pool continues to expand. 2000’s But I’m a Cheerleader finally has more raunchy guys and gals to hang with. Last year gave us Fire Island and Bros, two hilariously raunchy R-rated rom-coms with a ton of gay charm. At this year’s SXSW, Rightor Doyle’s (Netflix’s Bonding) debut feature, Down Low, bottles its heart in a hysterical comedy that takes the term “be gay, do crime” to the next level.
Gary (Zachary Quinto), a middle-aged, freshly-divorced, newly-out millionaire, hires Cameron (Lukas Gage), an unfiltered gay 20-something masseur/sex worker, to give him a happy ending. As Cameron pries into his client’s personal life, he learns that Gary is both dying of a brain tumor and a straight-up n00b to the gay male culture. The self-described “human popper” who can open anyone up gets him on a Grindr-adjacent hookup app so he can pop his male cherry. When a booty call comes over to have fun with them, things take a sharp and deadly turn.
Actor Lukas Gage has been booked and busy for the last few years, especially since the world saw him get his Marnie moment in The White Lotus’ first season. Through Down Low, Gage tackles double duty as a lead and co-screenwriter alongside Phoebe Fisher. Through Gage and Fisher’s unabashedly gay and dark comedic screenplay, the two aim straight (well) at their LGBTQ audience, providing a raunchier version of a familiar comedy storyline. If Very Bad Things was for the bros and Rough Night was for the girlies, then Down Low is for the gays (and would make the other two films blush).
Gage and Fisher’s screenplay unapologetically magnifies the gay male experience through Gary and Cameron’s budding relationship. Given Gary’s inexperience, Cameron gives him an authentic declassified gay culture guide that doesn’t pander to the straight community (and this is coming from someone who loved Bros). Through Cameron’s guidance, Gage and Fisher inventively riff on everything, including the euphoria of dancing in a club, male fetishes on hook-up apps, and the pop culture media they consume. It pushes boundaries, and even at its most endearing moments, you can see the knife it holds behind its back, ready to gut you with hilarious satire. You feel the inspiration and passion within the screenplay’s wittiness, encapsulating a late-2000s R-rated comedy energy.
Down Low is held together by Zachary Quinto and Lukas Gage’s onscreen comedic chemistry. The two deliver fun physical comedy and quick-witted humor that thoroughly invest you in their criminal plight. Quinto’s Gary has a solemn, introverted spirit on the receiving end of Cameron’s extroverted boldness. The generational navigation of their queerness is displayed in their respective behaviors, making for solid comedy. Cameron’s personality is the lovechild of Mac and Dennis from It’s Always Sunny, where he’s as quasi-psychotic and abrasive as sex workers come, and Gage’s line delivery and confidence keep the laughs coming.
Other standout performers include Judith Light as Gary’s nosy neighbor and Simon Rex as a crack-addicted necrophiliac. Not to give too much away, but Rex steals the spotlight with a reckless Red Rocket energy that had me lightheaded.
Down Low gets a ton of mileage out of its single-set location within Gary’s mansion, but given the Weekend at Bernie’s territory it crosses, the pacing hits a brick wall at times. Amid the absurdity, some of the sweetness between Gary and Cameron feels forced. When it pivots, the film takes a dip in pacing, going for prolonged beats of Hanna Barbera-style slapstick. Although Gage and Quinto elevate the scene with their energy, the weight of the runtime is noticeable. This is also felt in the climax (hehe) as Down Low goes full Return of the King (which is already kind of gay when you think about it), dropping multiple endings at once. Though those beats are well-earned, I couldn't help but say, “pick one ending, babe.”
Down Low is a hysterical single-location dark comedy that has raunchy fun with its Very Bad Things premise. It showcases the star-power of Lukas Gage, for he provides his and Phoebe Fisher’s calling cards as hilarious writers while also serving as a leading man with comedic chops and vibrant chemistry with Zachary Quinto.
