Evan Meena reviews MODEST MALE EXPOSURE

What if Sex in the City was taken from a male point of view … a gay male point of view? You would have Modest Male Exposure. A new short film from Jed Ryan and Clover Welsh.
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Shamrock Moon Media and Lavender After Dark Films take us to nudist colonies and locker rooms to discuss the male form and how the 21st century might be altering our perception of it. Done in vignettes with over-the-top (or bottom, in some cases) humor, A reporter talks to athletes and nude bathers about what men think of their bodies. Lots of, um, “accidental nudity” pervades this lampoon of commercial investigative journalism and pure satire of male social mores.

Jed Ryan as the journalist let’s us in on every joke. His every-once-in-a-while leer or raised eyebrow was like a bad boy seeing something he shouldn’t and loving it. While he is the perfect, um, straight man to the cacophony of lunatics he notates, he then turned into an hilarious addition to the lunacy in the concluding locker room sequence.

One might think a flick of this kind would have buff bods flexing here and there but that is not the case. Real people telling very identifiable stories making us laugh and then think is the beef-that’s-for-dinner on this film. It allowed us to laugh and listen to the insightful dialogue, enjoy the clever performances and even get the message without having to be (too) distracted.

Clover Welsh pulls a “Divine” double role as a regular dude on the nude beach and as a crusading female reporter in a men’s locker room.

Particularly engaging were Sara Minisquero as the only broad at the nude beach – and a ballsy one for that matter – and Jonathan Salazar & Frankie Allday as two straight (?) school jocks playing the double-entendres perfectly.

In this world of #cancelculture and political correctness, to get a shot of Saturday-Night-Live-from-the-good-old-days satire like this was refreshing.
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Modest Male Exposure is currently exploring options in terms of festival and venues. It’s latest NYC showing will be January 27