THE Chinese are wrong. It’s not the year of the dragon.
It’s the year of the lesbian – at least on TV.
The latest girls-kissing-girls movie is “The Truth About Jane,” Lifetime’s soppy saga about teenage lesbians.
The question is, however, whether the movie exploits the very teens it’s supposed to sensitively portray, by having them kiss passionately on-screen.
Answer: probably.
But I’m so weird when it comes to children, that any sexy stuff with supposedly underage kids makes my skin crawl, regardless of whether it’s heterosexual or homosexual smooching.
Not that a movie about a troubled teen coming to grips with her growing knowledge that she’s a lesbian couldn’t have been done well. The real problem with “The Truth About Jane” is that it doesn’t feel very truthful.
For one thing, the writer chose to have the movie narrated by “Jane” (Ellen Muth). It begins with her birth, and has Jane saying all these goofy-lovey-smart-ass things.
This might work if the movie continued in this vein, but the kid eventually gets suicidal tendencies. It turns into an over-the-top attempt to show how even the best families can produce (oh no!) a gay child.
As Jane is growing up, her wonderful nuclear family does everything together. Mom Janice, (Stockard Channing), like Mrs. Father Knows Best, is constantly cooking dinner.
Then Jane gets her first sexual stirrings by falling in crush with Taylor (Alicia Lagano) with whom she then has her first sexual encounter. Taylor comes from a broken home. This, in TV land, means the kid is mistreated.
Their wonderful world falls apart when Jane, the quintessential loving, sweet, suburban teen/all-around-great kid admits she’s gay. You know just how really upset the mother is with this news because, well, hell, they start ordering out Chinese.
For reasons I can’t explain, Jane starts getting violent. At one point, Jane suddenly lurches across the dinner table, grabs her little brother, knocks him to the floor, and beats the living daylights out of him.
Out of nowhere her parents announce they’re sending her off to boarding school. This is a little odd coming from parents who can’t bear to be separated from her long enough to let her out of the car when they drop her off at school.
Jane’s mother however seems less alarmed that Jane is beating people up, than she is with the fact that Jane is gay.
Thrown into the mix, is of course, the understanding, gorgeous teacher (Kelly Rowan) who gets in trouble for not condemning Jane’s new lifestyle. Then there’s mom’s gay friend played by RuPaul. For once, he’s not in drag. It all has a big happy ending.
While the script leaves something to be desired, the acting doesn’t.
Channing is good, as always. The kids – little brother (Kacy Clark), Lagano and especially Murth – really shine. Murth, in fact, is shockingly good.
I really like Rowan as well. She has a very nice way about her – like someone really comfortable in her own skin.
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“The Truth About Jane” ( )
Tonight at 9 on Lifetime