Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

DV1

R4 DVD

Web: http://www.dv1.com.au

“Tiger-Lilied” films are those in which an older “classic” is re-dubbed with a new sound track using new dialogue, new voices and sometimes even new segments and characters. I have seen quite a few of these over the years and they can range from the dismal to the hilariously funny, one of the more amusing was a Hercules film re-dubbed with an outrageous gag track which seemed to have a laugh a minute.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell takes the classic 1954 Sci Fi film “Killers from Space” and reworks the invasion tale from aliens, to tell a story of the military campaign against an invasion of homosexuals !!

As part of a secret military operation (Project Manhole) to finally deal with the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” problem, 30,000 homosexuals are lured to ground zero in Sodom Flats with the promise of a free Barbra Streisand concert. The plan is that the bomber Enola Gaybasher will nuke the lot of them, but something goes wrong and it decimates a section of the town of Inbred, Texas instead.

But this is just the beginning, when Dr. Fartin travels to see how his plan has gone, he not only finds the homosexuals have survived and are singing and dancing but is kidnapped by aliens and genetically altered to become gay. The aliens from come from the planet Uranus and their sole task is to protect homosexuals throughout the universe.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a mixed bag; it has a lot of jokes, sight gags, fairly low brow humour and some attempts at social commentary on the rise of neo-conservatism in the United States. The extra footage inserted in the film doesn’t add at lot to the humour, except for the dance number “We'll Make You Gay” which is pretty successful. Granted a lot of the humour plays on stereotypes, but it primarily ridicules those with preconceived views of sexuality and hence will be a success with a gay audience.

This is not a great film, but it is fun. It has a lot of silly jokes and many fall flat, however the sheer number of them means that at least you will get a regular laugh when watching it. If you have watched the original Killers from Space first it becomes even more humorous, so perhaps a double billing on a night at home may be a good idea.

This is an unusual comedy and is a nice break from what passes for humour in mass release films, where the flood of Hollywood cliché films all seems the same and become more and more bland with each new release. Okay, it is low-brow, but on a wet night, with a group of friends and some good wine it will certainly entertain !

Extras includes some music features. A trailer and a poster gallery from the original Killers from Space film.