Friday, November 23, 2012

John Lavin captures the Lane twins' sweet road trip in HOLLYWOOD TO DOLLYWOOD

A pair of hot, cute, gay twins with a fixation on Dolly Parton; a road trip in a rented van they name Jolene; and a screenplay they've written for that blond, buxom star that they intend to deliver personally into her hands -- all this and lots more is wedged into a just-out-on-DVD docu-mentary titled HOLLYWOOD TO DOLLYWOOD, a sweet, sentimental, 79-minute home movie that just might charm your pants off.

As directed by John Lavin (the hottie, above) as though he hadn't (this is a compliment, by the way), the film-it-as-you-go movie takes off from frame one, when we meet the twins, Gary and Larry Lane, below, formerly of small-town North Carolina whose immediate family knows they are gay, though the townspeople do not. "They know we're out in Hollywood," one twin explains," but they don't know we're out in Hollywood."  The pair is delightful, though telling who is who proves difficult. Check out "the cheek gash," one notes, and then explains how said scar came into being.

Before we actually get going on that road trip, the twins take us to meet actors Beth Grant (below)

Leslie Jordan (below)

and a special hero, "Oscar"-winning screenwriter-turned-director Dustin Lance Black (center right, below).

Though they show their screenplay to everyone, no  one gives them any feedback (perhaps this is just as well) -- except to say that it is way too long. So the boys decide to cut it down to size as they make their way across country.

Accompanying them on the trip is one twin's boyfriend (and the movie's co-producer), Mike Bowen, shown above. Along the way, little surprises (to me, at least) are dropped: The boys were contestants on Fear Factor -- and won -- and then appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show. Who knew? They stop and pray with a nice couple they meet at a rest stop (below). And they visit an old friend of someone or other (maybe the boyfriend), a hairdresser who was married and has a son and has now come out in his own town. (The story of how he explained his situation to his little boy, and what the boy's reaction is, provides one of the movie's highlights.)

These twins also fight occasionally, getting angry at each other, understandably so. But we see very little of this. Instead, we notice how these guys, all of them, love Ms Parton something fierce, and they're not stingy with their reasons. At one point, they decide to start a Dolly for President 2012 campaign. (Sorry, boys -- that's not going to happen.)  A flood in Tennessee hampers their progress, and for awhile it appears they might not make it into the big city, below, to pick up their special tickets for entry into Dollywood.

Do they get there? Do they meet Dolly? (To whom does those boobs -- below -- belong?) And then what happens? No spoilers, please. Just know that the film continues short and sweet and so all-surface that it nearly -- but, fortunately, not quite -- outstays its welcome.

After travelling with this threesome on so long a journey, we feel badly for the twin who doesn't have a boyfriend. But then, at the finale we meet a new addition to the group -- and damned if he doesn't look enough like the other twin's blond bf to be the guy's brother. Well, why not? Twins this cute should have mates who looks "twinish," too, I suppose.

Hollywood to Dollywood -- from Breaking Glass Pictures -- after a very brief theatrical stint, is now available on DVD. Pounce and, if this is your cup of tea, enjoy.

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