Ride the SHORTBUS

It's sexy.  It's explicit.  It's provocative.  It's funny. It's romantic.  It's touching.  It's Shortbus.

Because of a current, Tony-winning hit Broadway revival, I'm posting my short 2011 podcast review of this adult -- but not pornographic -- movie.  Shortbus was written and directed by the gifted John Cameron Mitchell.

Mr. Mitchell also wrote and starred in an Off-Broadway rock musical that became a hot ticket in New York City.  He originated the lead role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a show that was revived and earned Neil Patrick Harris a Tony Award for his drag glam rock performance.

John Cameron Mitchell starred in the 2001 film version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, one of the hippest, edgiest, cleverest and most satisfying movie versions of a stage musical released since 2000.  You take Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables.  I'll take Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

After those two big screen features, John Cameron Mitchell directed Nicole Kidman to one of her Oscar nominations for Best Actress.  She played the grieving mother in 2010's Rabbit Hole.

Shortbus features actors who were just as committed to their roles as Kidman was to hers in Rabbit Hole.  They did exceptional work.  They were very revealing -- and not just in a physical sense.  The two actors playing a couple in therapy are P. J. DeBoy (left, in leather jacket) and Paul Dawson (right, in green jacket.)

Canadian actress Sook-Yin Lee plays a member of the band in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  In Shortbus, she's comedy gold as the couples therapist who needs some therapy herself.

Sook-Yin Lee should be getting roles in Judd Apatow comedies.  Or getting TV sitcom work.

All these characters connect at a liberal-minded salon in New York City.  This is the New York City after the attacks of September 11th.  So it's a different city.  People want something more than just sex.

John Cameron Mitchell's wise Shortbus.  Watch it with an open mind.  And an open heart.  Here's my short review:
bobbyrivers.podomatic.com/entry/2011-02-15T20_43_56-08_00.