'Brokeback': telling it straight.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: Film about two gay cowboys

ONCE IN A WHILE, A MOVIE GOES BEYOND ENTERTAINMENT and impacts attitudes, the workplace, even business--for better or worse.

Movies in the '40s and '50s featured stars smoking nonstop, helping cigarette sales plow forward. Animated kids' movies cross-market their creations and spur sales of licensed action figures. "Office Space" stoked cubicle dwellers' resentment of The Man. Even "Jaws," starring a shark-shaped torpedo, had the effect of temporarily diminishing boogie-board rentals on coastal beaches.

So it was, after going to see "Brokeback Mountain," I wondered if this highly praised film about two gay cowboys would have any impact in the workplace, in business, or perhaps someday get credit after the fact for hastening legislation for same-sex benefits.

For these questions, I turned to the most qualified gay male friend I have--a former sports editor-turned-gay activist, later a columnist/editor at the gay-focused Washington Blade in the nation's capital, and a movie buff to boot.

"Buzz was building about this film among gay men for months before it was released," my friend Ken Sain said from Washington. "But the overriding gay agenda--if you will--is that the more comfortable straight people become with gays and their lives, the less damage they will do with their laws against us. No one expected this film alone to advance gay-friendly legislation or beat back the homophobic laws, but yes, its success can play a role in achieving those goals."

I suspect if "Brokeback Mountain" has any effect, it will be so glacially gradual as to be imperceptible.

But it helps having the mainstream media in your corner. "Brokeback" already has pocketed some prime awards and has been nominated for several Oscars. The L.A. Times called it "A deeply felt emotional love story," and Entertainment Weekly gushed similarly, "A big, sweeping and rapturous Hollywood love story."

I didn't get that out of it. But then I didn't evaluate it as a seasoned reviewer, just as an everyman out watching a movie with my girlfriend. My interest was that Larry McMurtry co-wrote the screenplay. He was perfect for the job: the son and grandson of ranchers, an esteemed Western historian, and un-surpassed in his ability to evoke emotion with few words.

Too few words in this case. I left the movie feeling I'd seen a good movie, not a great one. I suspect the challenge was to depict a romance while making it palatable to a mainstream audience, and that challenge proved...