,S M-A L L S I L V E R S C R E E N . U
Out on DVD
by Steve Warren . Contributing Writer
Babbit’s bungled boob job
How serious can a movie be with a title
like“ltty Bitty Titty Committee?” Too serious,
unfortunately; certainly more serious than
were expecting from Jamie Babbit, the lesbian
director of “But Tm a
Cheerleader”?
She’s still political
but, with a script by
Tina Mabry and
Abigail Shafran,
“Itty” is more like the
strident feminist
films of the ’70s and
’80s (e.g., Lizzie
Borden’s “Born in Flames”) than either a spoof
of them or a more measured discourse.
On the positive side it’s good to know there
are still young radicals out there trying to
accomplish something with methodology the
rest of us have outgrown. On the negative side
they deserve a better movie, although this one
isn’t awful.
Melonie Diaz stars as Anna, sort of a pretty
“Ugly Bett)^’ whose family accepts her being a
lesbian. She’s to be maid of honor at the wed
ding of her sister Ellen (Marisa Ramirez) but
she’s depressed about having recently been
dumped by her girlfriend.
Anna works as a receptionist for the Twin
Palms Plastic Surgery Clinic (“Enhance your
body, enhance your life”). Leaving work one
night she sees a woman spray painting the
front of the building. It’s Sadie (Nicole Vicius),
who says she represents a group called Clits In
Action — C(I)A for short, with the I in paren
theses in their logo to look like a vagina —
and invites Anna to come to a meeting.
Initially Anna is more interested in Sadie
than politics, but she goes to the meeting and
starts hanging with the group. Sadie flirts with
Anna but another member. Meat (Deak
Evgenikos), warns her Sadie goes through
about one girlfriend a month (“I was Miss
February”) but never leaves Courtney
(Melanie Mayron), the woman she lives with.
Courtney is older and works with a more con
servative feminist group. Women for Change.
The other C(I)A members are Shuli (Carly
Pope) and Aggie (Lauren Mollica), a F-to-M
transsexual known as “the man of the house,”
although he still has breasts. “My parents
kicked me out of the house,” Aggie says, “when I
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told them I wanted to be a dude.”
While Anna’s political consciousness is
being raised, so is her desire for Sadie,
despite Meat’s warning and Sadie’s reluc
tance to leave Courtney.
Most of C(I)A’s pranks are montaged
but they make a major road trip to
Sacramento to be a negative presence at a
rally for same-sex marriage. The Christian
right is already there protesting, but CIA’s
slant is that all marriage is bad, being
a tradition that oppresses women.
At least getting out of town gives
Anna and Sadie a chance to hook up, and
the presumed straight Shuli is attracted
to hitchhiking, dishonorably discharged
Iraq veteran Calvin (Daniela Sea of “The
L Word”),“a fuckin’ adrenaline junkie.. .1
like to blow shit up.” You know she’s
either going to go to work for Jerry
Bruckheimer or take C(I)A to the next level.
The climactic event involves Courtney
going on Marcy Malone/s (Guinevere Turner)
TV show to protest a celebration of the
anniversary of the erection (pun intended) of
the Washington Monument. C(I)A gets in on
the act too, and while their action is too absurd
to be taken seriously it’s not very funny either.
That pretty much sums up “Itty Bitty Titty
Committee,” a title in search of a movie and a
comedy in search of comedy, k
— “Itty Bitty” is set for release in early September.
Colmwi spoiisiyn’d by
White Rabbit
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AUGUST 23 .2008 • QNotes 17