Pop Culture Review by Patrick Roland

My Big Fat Gay Hollywood Premiere
Kiss the Bride premiere one hot ticket!

When Tori Spelling said I should so totally come to the big Hollywood premiere of her new gay film Kiss the Bride, I really thought she was kidding. Yes, we hit it off during the phone interview, but I never imagined that I, who no less than two years ago was cleaning popcorn and candy off a movie theatre floor would be a VIP at a huge Hollywood event with a flashy red carpet and amazing star-studded after party.

The evening started off with a huge snag as I saw the celebrities standing on the red carpet, and in a moment of harried pop culture frenzy, I jumped out of the cab without my BlackBerry. It was never to be seen again either!

The stars on the red carpet got bigger as the event progressed. One by one, I watched movie stars being quizzed about what they were wearing and why they liked making the movie — just like on TV! There were also some people not in the movie like Project Runway’s Rami Kashou, Jessie and Peeler, two of the trainers from Bravo’s Work Out, Alec Mapa (Ugly Betty), porn legend Ron Jeremy, “out there” actress Sally Kirkland and comic Judy Tenuta.

As each one passed by, I got more and more excited about meeting Tori, who has been one of my idols for almost 18 years. Then, suddenly her hunky husband, Dean McDermott, was there … but no Tori. Turns out, Tori had the stomach flu (and is seven and a half moths pregnant to boot), so she sent Dean to be her emissary.

I walked right up to Dean, told him who I was, and he said something like “oh my gosh, I can’t believe you came. Tori is going to be so upset she missed you! She talked about you a lot!, then he asked me to take a picture with him to show Tori when he got home! My picture is on a phone that was in Tori Spelling’s house, are you kidding me!?!

So the movie gets going. It’s a totally cute romantic comedy directed by C. Jay Cox (Latter Days) about a woman (Spelling) who thinks her fiancée might be gay so she asks him to sleep with his high school best friend (and only former male sexual partner ever) before the big day to make sure. Spelling as usual steals the show with her quirky comic timing and the movie addresses the whole gay marriage issue without being preachy. The end result is actually a pretty clever way to work a big moral issue into a light film. Though it’s not now scheduled to open in Phoenix, Bride will debut on here! in June.

After the movie, there was a huge after party at one of the restaurants nearby. The building was chock full of the cast, directors and producers, and many of the people who worked on the film in some way. I, of course, got right in the middle of the action (I am an unabashedly proud fame whore, no kidding!), and mingled with people like Alexis Arquette and Cox, who I spent a good portion of the night talking to about his movies (he also wrote the Reese Witherspoon charmer Sweet Home Alabama, which is one of my favorite “comfort” films — you know, the type of movie you can watch over and over again, but it always makes you feel good). He couldn’t be a nicer or more genuine guy, so his success in bringing gay movies or movies that explore gay issues to the mainstream couldn’t be more deserved.

After hanging out until the wee hours of the morning with the majority of Gay Hollywood, one of the biggest nights of my life was over. It didn’t have a perfect Hollywood ending — I lost my BlackBerry, I didn’t meet Tori — but the night was one that I will not soon forget and maybe my own handsome prince will return my Blackberry to me someday.

Don’t Forget Jason Segel
Writer and star of hilarious Forgetting Sarah Marshall poised for huge Hollywood success

Jason Segel has no issue with the fact that he goes full frontal in his new movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall at least half a dozen times. He actually wrote the scene, in which a girl (Kristen Bell) dumps him from experience.

“The whole time (she was breaking up with me) I was trying to pay attention to what she is saying, but at the same time, I was thinking ‘this is (expletive) hilarious. I can’t wait to write this down,’” Segel said of the naked break up. “My relationships with women usually end with some woman driving off in a car and being so relieved to be away from me it sounds like Cinco de Mayo in there.”

Segel, who is currently on the CBS hit How I Met Your Mother, has struggled to get parts in movies since breaking out almost a decade ago in Judd Apatow’s cult hit Freaks and Geeks. The show was cancelled fast, yet is still beloved by fans. Apatow went on to direct hits like The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, which Segel had a small role in. Segel said Apatow has tried to cast him as the lead in most of his movies, but the studios have always said no. He said Apatow told him if he wrote his own movie, he would use his clout as Hollywood’s “it” comedy guy of the moment to get the movie made.

“He’s the most fiercely loyal person I have ever met,” Segel said. He didn’t have to do this for me.”

Marshall, with one of the most ingenious marketing campaigns ever, has been hailed by critics as an instant classic and is making audiences howl with laughter at the sad sack situations Segel’s character gets into while trying to forget his ex, who shows up at the same Hawaiian beach resort he has retreated to — with obnoxious new boyfriend in tow.

The popularity of the movie has Segel suddenly in demand. He is currently shooting I Love You, Man with Apatow cast staple (and Marshall star) Paul Rudd and has been commissioned to pen a new, updated Muppet movie.

Yet even though he’s about to become a household name, Segel knows its his full frontal moments in Marshall that will be remembered forever.

“I’m a little concerned it will be a still frame on the Internet for the rest of my life,” he said. “I was born without any sense of shame. I have never felt that connected to my body. It’s like this set of training wheels we are born with, so I have never been shy.”

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