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| 2 By 4 1998 - USA - 90 min. - Feature, Color Director -Jimmy Smallhorne |
| Genre/Type - Drama, Urban Drama, Gay & Lesbian Films Flags - Nudity, Adult Situations, Sexual Situations, Substance Abuse (Alcohol, Drugs), Profanity Keywords -abuse, drugs, bisexual, construction, foreman, girlfriend, hustler, masochist, sadist, machismo Themes -Immigrant Life, Double Life, Gender-Bending Tones -Earnest, Visceral, Sexual, Confrontational Set In -USA, Bronx, New York City, NY Sound by -Dolby Produced by -Electric Head Release -Nov 26, 1999 (USA) Released by -Strand Releasing DVD Street Date -Aug 10, 2004 Languages -English Screen Formats -Letterbox for TV Aspect Ratio -1.78:1 (DVD) Studio -Culture Q Connection DVD Sides -1 Features -[None specified] Cast Jimmy Smallhorne -- Johnnie Chris O'Neill -- Trump Bradley Fitts -- Christian Joe Holyoake -- Joe Terrence McGoff -- Billy Michael Liebman -- Eddie Ronan Carr -- Brains Leo Hamill -- Paddy Seamus McDonagh -- Conor Kimberly Topper -- Maria Conor Foran -- Paul James Hanrahan -- Taigh Marian Quinn - Bibi |
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| Plot Synopsis Director and co-scripter Jimmy Smallhorne, founder of the Irish Bronx Theatre, set this blue-collar drama in the Bronx. Construction crew foreman Johnnie (Smallhorne) sees girlfriend Maria (Kimberly Topper), but when this macho man dons a feather boa to go out for the evening, the film does a double-take, exploring bisexual lifestyles, the world of S&M, male hustlers, drugs, nightmares, and abuse suffered by Johnnie during his childhood. The cinematography by Declan Quinn (Leaving Las Vegas) won an award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. - Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide Reviews Don Willmott Filmcritic.Com |
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| There's a lot going on in 2by4. Writer/director/star Jimmy Smallhorne blends a sexual identity crisis with a scathing look at the experience of illegal Irish immigrants in New York City to deliver a compelling though somewhat muddled journey through dark streets, dark bedrooms, and dark bars. Johnnie (Smallhorne), a wiry and intense construction foreman, works for his Uncle Trump (Chris O'Neill) alongside a boisterous bunch of Irish illegals who spend their spare time drinking beer, doing coke, playing poker, and slapping a field hockey ball around in the Bronx park near where they live. A man's man for sure (well, maybe), Johnnie is appalled by the leather pants his girlfriend Maria (Kimberly Topper) buys for him, but once he tries them on and rubs his crotch a bit he's hooked and isn't afraid to wear them in front of his rowdy friends. Well aware of his charisma, he's the king of karaoke night down at the bar. His outward confidence carries him anywhere, but his emaciated state and dependence on drink and drugs suggests inner turmoil. He makes gay jokes to Maria, but when she asks him if he's ever been with a man, he honestly mumbles "once or twice." Hmm. Johnnie has a few secrets, and in typical cinematic fashion, they're slowly revealed through a series of fuzzy nightmares, fast flashbacks, and sleepwalking episodes. As tension rises at the construction site - Uncle Trump has been squandering his cash rather than paying his crew - Johnnie seeks relief from the stress by taking a walk through some very mean streets, where he encounters an Australian (!) hustler named Christian (Bradley Fitts), who takes him to a nearby crack house for a night of sex. Christian is a real mess, a rent boy who hasn't even made it to Manhattan yet, and he latches onto Johnnie, even showing up at Johnnie's house just in time for Maria to catch them in a kiss. Any hope that 2by4 will be a moving story of a gay man coming to terms with himself goes out the window when Johnnie, in a fit of self-loathing, picks a fight in a local bodega so he can become the victim of a good old-fashioned Bronx smackdown, iron pipe included. He follows that up with a trip to a particularly freaky bar (identified in the credits as New York's legendary and now shuttered Vault), where the gay clientele look like creatures from the deepest circle of Hell. For a small film, 2by4 benefits by having a big-time cinematographer, Declan Quinn (who's worked on everything from Leaving Las Vegas to Monsoon Wedding), to capture the grit of the tough lives of these immigrants. Some of the scenes showing the construction crew riding around in the back of a truck and gawking at the size of Manhattan's skyscrapers are reminiscent of similar scenes that Quinn shot for In America. In both cases, they Anita Gates, The New York Times Published: November 26, 1999, Friday |
| The first scene of ''2 by 4'' is about black leather pants. The second is about sexual orientation. Johnny Maher's girlfriend asks him, ''Do you like men?'' He shrugs and answers, ''Try anything once, you know.'' Or twice. Or more. Johnny (Jimmy Smallhorne, who is also the film's director and one of three writers) is a young Irishman, one of a large group who have come to New York to make their fortunes, settled in the Bronx and taken jobs in construction -- even if the newcomers don't know one side of the wallboard from the other. In the evenings they gather at their favorite pubs to sing and down a few pints, as tradition would have it, or they go to someone's apartment to play poker and snort cocaine, a less traditional combination. Johnny is becoming interested in a different kind of night life, and he soon meets Christian (Bradley Fitts), a young hustler with the face of an angel and a need to be taken care of. For most of its 80 minutes, ''2 by 4'' seems to be the story of one man's search for his true sexuality. Near the end, it becomes something much narrower, and although this is an interesting and adeptly made drama, its message is unclear. One of the final scenes -- a lovely but scathing camera tour of a gay bar -- looks like an exercise in self-loathing, the kind ''The Boys in the Band'' was accused of 30 years ago. The filmmakers found themselves an A-list cinematographer, Declan Quinn, whose work has included ''Leaving Las Vegas'' and ''Vanya on 42nd Street.'' Thanks to Mr. Quinn (who won the 1998 cinematography award for this film at the Sundance Film Festival), the scenes of groups of construction workers riding through Manhattan, gazing up at the skyline, make even those white brick Eisenhower-era high-rise apartment buildings look good. The movie also has the benefit of the fine actor Chris O'Neill, who died in 1997 after filming was completed. His character, who has the unlikely name Trump, is Johnny's uncle, an eccentric older man who is sort of the den father for all the boys from home. He's the boss at the construction jobs, the coach of their weekend sports teams, and he must own the bar because when he tells the bartender, ''You're fired,'' the guy takes it as gospel and goes home. Trump's business dealings may not all be of the highest standard. In fact, the question of his moral character becomes an important part of the plot, and he looks almost satanic at the end. The construction workers are a cursing bunch, and the four-letter word that peppers their conversations most frequently sounds almost charming, with a bit of a lilt, to American ears. The love scenes, heterosexual and homosexual, contain partial nudity, but more important, they're tender and realistic, unlike a number of gay scenes that moviegoers may remember (in recent mainstream movies with major stars). The oddest thing about ''2 by 4'' is that although it's in English, it is subtitled. At first this seems ludicrous -- what, American moveigoers can't cope with accents different from their own? -- but after a while it's a relief not to have to listen so intently. This way every word is clear, even if the plot's conclusions aren't. |
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