Review: April’s Shower

The nerd wearing glasses is the painfully-shy, never-been-kissed wallflower. The stoner with weed-wacker hair, strumming a guitar is the moody loner. The flamboyant gay guy is a shameless flirt. The straitlaced Brit is a shrink. The Italian pizza delivery boy is a stud for hire. The infertile housewife can only hear her biological clock ticking. The solicitous porn star is a ditz spilling out of her dress. Need I continue?

Against her better judgment, gourmet chef Alex (Trish Doolan) agreed to plan, cater and host an elaborate bridal shower for her best friend, April (Maria Cina). But now that the eclectic collection of guests from near and far are actually starting to arrive at her sprawling suburban home, the quietly anguished hostess finds herself suddenly saddled with second thoughts about trying to play the part of the smiling Maid of Honor who only wants the best for the happy couple.

For she and her ex-roommate have some unfinished emotional business which should have been resolved way before the date of the big party. In fact, it really needed to be addressed prior to April’s even accepting a marriage proposal from her fiance, Paulie (Randall Batinkoff).

Although no one else knows, the women are far more than friends,  And this relationship of lipstick lesbians about to bust out of the closet is the cause celebre’ of April’s Shower, a gay empowerment comedy written by, directed by and co-starring Trish Doolan. Unfortunately, rather than solely focus on the tension created by the unexpected love triangle, the short attention-spanned Doolan proceeds to introduce far more characters than she could possibly develop over the course of a 100 minute movie. Any avid TV sitcom fan could easily identify each of the  simple stereotypes served-up here.

The nerd wearing glasses is the painfully-shy, never-been-kissed wallflower. The stoner with weed-wacker hair, strumming a guitar is the moody loner. The flamboyant gay guy is a shameless flirt. The straitlaced Brit is a shrink. The Italian pizza delivery boy is a stud for hire. The infertile housewife can only hear her biological clock ticking. The solicitous porn star is a ditz spilling out of her dress. Need I continue? With the preordained outcome of telegraphed in its opening scene, all that’s left to enjoy of this mean-spirited melodrama, are politically-incorrect laughs at the expense of a bizarre cross-section of California kooks. This April’s Shower brings many posers.

(1 star)
Unrated
Running time: 100 minutes
Studio: Regent Releasing

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