You can say this for Gray Matters, a romantic comedy/coming-out flick from debut director Sue Kramer: It sure wants to please everybody. Lovers of Woody Allen? Give ’em an opening montage of the New York skyline, scored to Irving Berlin. Fans of Fred and Ginger? Spin stars Tom Cavanagh and Heather Graham around the ballroom floor. Gay audiences? Throw in an earnest speech about self-acceptance. For aficionados of lesbian erotica, how about a scene with giggly femmes Graham and Bridget Moynahan in a bubble bath sipping champagne? Everybody goes home happy.
Or not. Gray Matters is trying so hard to be charming and screwball (not to mention politically correct) that it trips all over itself. Graham stars as Gray, a winsome New Yorker who lives with and devotes all her time to brother Sam (Cavanagh), yet can’t figure out why she doesn’t have a love life. Sam’s whirlwind romance and marriage to Charlie (Moynahan), a sexy zoologist, throws Gray off balance in more ways than one: Not only is she afraid of losing Sam, she realizes she’s in love with Charlie herself. Such sexual confusion ought to be the DNA for a good bedroom farce, but Kramer’s screenplay and direction are just flat-footed; only Molly Shannon, as Gray’s high-strung coworker, brings any pizzazz to this limp routine. (Opens Fri; Click here for venues.)—Tom Beer