Posted by Bitter One
on 11/5/2009, 7:16 am, in reply to "You need a steam...check out "The Ritz""
75.36.197.14
I've seen The Ritz. A man hides from the mob in a gay bathhouse in NYC. Hijinks galore as he tries to avoid detection and also keep his heterosexuality in tact.
It just doesn't work. The gay men in the bathhouse are portrayed as sissies or freaks, including falsetto voices and a chubby chaser. The makers of the film seemed to think that the situation alone was funny enough (look at the fags!) to avoid bothering with any genuine humor. Unfortunate, because there are some good people in the cast.
At best, it is very dated humor that has not aged well. But it is so heavy handed, broadly drawn, and at the same time constrained by a fear of showing what actually happens in a bathhouse, that I can't imagine that it was funny even when it was first realeased.
It is a very poor man's La Cage Aux Folles.
Netflix has this on DVD if you must see it, but hey, you have been warned.
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