More Scenes From a Gay Marriage

More Scenes From a Gay Marriage (2014)

Caution! More Scenes from a Gay Marriage actually contains more scenes from a gay marriage than the last movie!

Synopsis from TLA: More Scenes from a Gay Marriage picks up two years after the original left off. Leigh (Devin Walls) has made a gay-themed film (starring Charlie David) about how Darren (Matt Riddlehoover) and Joe (Jared Allman) met and fell in love. As a result of the film’s success, Darren and Joe begin to question whether their domestic partnership is as exciting or romantic as what led up to it.

This sequel to Scenes From a Gay Marriage starts off quite unexpectedly given where the last movie left off. At the end of the last one we saw Darren and Joe starting off a relationship, but now we see them ending it. They announce this to their friends, and Luce goes practically ape when she hears the news. She knows there’s more to it than they’re letting on – that they’re just out of sync.

Apparently there are a few things that have led up to this point. One of them is a dream that Darren had about his ex. This makes him wonder if perhaps that old relationship still had something left to it. He is so into this train of thought that he is willing to drive a distance to go see his ex and find out. I was a little lost at this point as to why someone, after two years of being in a relationship with someone, would go back to thinking maybe things were better with an ex.

Well, more is revealed in a rather non-linear fashion as we see flashbacks to the past several months, and more is explained about their relationship. Still, it seems like Darren hasn’t grown much since the last movie as many of his wonderings about their relationship and reactions seem a little.. knee jerk or immature.

This film is made to be much like the last one – very fly on the wall and almost improv-like dialogue. But there are still some parts that just strike me as random. What was with the crazy situation at the hotel? Was that to contrast to Darren and Joe’s relationship to show how maybe at least their relationship was non-violent? And then where the heck did Sam come from? He just showed up and all of a sudden he’s staying there?

I think one of the takeaways comes from a scene with Darren and Luce in the motel where they are talking about their lives and relationships. They talk about how they “can’t act out on every impulse,” although seemingly this is what they have been doing for two whole films. They need to think things through more, especially when it comes to their relationships. They can’t be so afraid of getting hurt that they do all the hurting themselves. They’ve created their own misery in many ways, but as Luce says “nothings been done that can’t be undone.”

Overall, if you like the style of the first film you will probably like this one too. I felt like it was well thought-out and despite the randomness and non-linear storytelling, there was more to it than just a pretty gay-themed movie. I think Matt Riddlehoover has more to say than many other directors/storytellers, and that says a lot in this day of modern cinema.