Happy Endings, The Dark Web, and a Catholic Funeral: This is Netflix’s “Down Low”
By Anne Gregg
Dating is weird. We are expected to follow a typical timeline–start dating in high school, move onto more serious relationships as adults, and settle down with the love of our lives before thirty. However, some queer people may not have the ability to come out and live the lives we’ve always wanted until our late 20s, 30s or even into middle age. This can lead to a strange dynamic where a younger queer person may have more experiences with queer dating and queer culture than an older and newly out queer person. The dynamic is explored brilliantly in Down Low, a new absurd romcom released on Netflix on February 5th.
Down Low is directed by Rightor Doyle, and co-written by Lukas Gage, who also stars as Cameron, a gay masseuse/sex worker, and Zachary Quinto as Gary, an ex-catholic with an ex-wife and kids who finally decides it is his time to come out of the closet after finding out that he has an inoperable brain tumor. After being hired by Gary, Cameron is appalled to learn that he is Gary’s first sexual encounter with a man. Cameron decides to take Gary under his wing and mentor him into the world of gay dating.
Cameron convinces Gary to invite a stranger over for a hook-up. After a series of misunderstandings, Cameron and this stranger end up in a fight, which ends with the stranger accidentally diving out the window to his death. Believing that nobody would think that the death was an accident, Gary and Cameron have to figure out how to dispose of the body, which leads to a wild night involving Gary’s high neighbor and a foray into the dark web.
Down Low doesn’t begin like a typical romcom; Cameron and Gary aren’t looking to each other for a relationship. Gary hires Cameron for a sexual massage, nothing more. Cameron does not try to seduce Gary; he is not cunning or mature for his age. He’s impulsive, confrontational, and his sense of humor gets him into trouble. Nevertheless, Cameron’s knowledge of gay culture and dating enables him to be the perfect mentor for Gary.
This odd dynamic of the young mentor and the older mentee lends itself to the film’s craziness. Cameron is able to convince Gary to do some impulsive things after establishing himself as a knowledgeable and secure guide. Gary never had the opportunity to be young and out like Cameron. Cameron gives Gary the opportunity to have gay, juvenile, and irresponsible adventures.
Down Low also pulls the audience back into the heartache of Gary’s adult life. Gary entered a relationship with Patty (his ex-wife), not because he loved her romantically, but because he felt like he had to. When Gary finally came out to Patty, she unleashed her anger and pain by sending out a homophobic letter detailing the reason for their divorce to all of their relatives and friends. While Patty’s action is not portrayed favorably — Cameron and Gary don’t excuse her homophobia — the audience is given a moment to sympathize with her. She loved a man who could never love her in the way that she loved him. Obviously Gary deserves our sympathy too. He was pushed to conform to a lifestyle he didn’t want, and he was scared into following a traditional path.
Down Low doesn’t quite nail the balance between sympathy and resentment for Patty. Patty is given sympathy and we are told she reconnects with Gary, but his funeral is still a traditional catholic affair. Earlier in the film, Gary confesses to Cameron that he doesn’t want a catholic burial. If Patty and Gary mended their relationship why would the funeral still be held in a church? Cameron comes to the funeral and treats Patty like she and Gary never mended their relationship, like she hasn’t grown, even though the audience is told she has.
The audience is told Patty regrets her letter but by the end that regret is not fully realized, even after she and Gary supposedly reconciled. A moment between Gary and Patty on the phone could have added some depth to Patty’s character and served as a bridge to help explain Patty’s decisions at the end of the film. The ending could still make sense, Patty’s catholicism and homophobia do not have to go away. It might also be said that funerals are for the living. While it wasn’t the funeral that Gary wanted, perhaps this was the funeral that Patty needed. I like that we are supposed to have complicated feelings about her, but the execution needed to be more nuanced.
Down Low is a crazy romcom with insane twists and a lot of heart. While some of its themes are not fully realized, it is still a fantastic watch and has interesting things to say about living and dating as a gay person.
About the Author
Anne Gregg is a poet and writer from Northwest Indiana. She is an English Writing major at DePauw University and is the editor-in-chief of her campus’s literary magazine, A Midwestern Review. She is a Media Fellow at her university and loves dissecting how LGBTQ+ people are portrayed in film and tv.
