An intriguing cast helps but can not save this bisexual urban drama filmed in the tradition of the Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey collaborations. The story attempts to be a poignant yet hard-edged love fable which set among the hustlers, trannies and homeless of New York City. It tells the tale of the strained love triangle between a charismatic bisexual, a male prostitute and a tempestuous Latina.
The sultry but annoyingly whiny Salma Hayek (Desperado, 54, Wild Wild West) stars as Mary Carmen, a hot-tempered beauty desperately in love with Valentino (Vincent D'Onofrio of Full Metal Jacket and The Newton Boys), a small time porn actor with big time attitude. But things change when Gary (Thomas Jane), a sensitive rookie male prostitute also falls in love with the magnetic, longhaired Valentino. The two men's initial meeting on the streets of a seedy New York (actually filmed in L.A.) is a sexually charged affair culminating in a hungry, passionate kiss. Mary Carmen and Gary take a jealous dislike for each other as they battle for Valentino’s affections. But when Valentino become ill with AIDS, the two, in a fight to be his caretaker, are forced to look at themselves less as rivals and more as family.
Emotionally charged but the characters never feel real or at all sympathetic. Let them wallow in their fucked up sexual situations! The film features an especially memorable character in Kid Joey (Chad Lindberg) a deaf transgendered person who falls in love with Gary but is taken out of the plot way too early.
