Freeform, formerly known as ABC Family, is a network with a lot of great queer content, including shows like Pretty Little Liars and The Bold Type. However, the channel is about to get a whole lot gayer on Valentine's Day next year when it premieres the original romantic comedy The Thing About Harry.
Starring Grey's Anatomy's Jake Borelli and newcomer Niko Terho, the film follows two former high school enemies who are trapped sharing a car together on a long road tip to a mutual friend's engagement party. A classic rom-com setup, and I'm already hooked!
Things start heating up when Sam (Borelli), who has been out since high school, finds out that Harry (Terho) is also gay and that they have a lot more in common then they originally thought. Like the title, the plot is a nod to When Harry Met Sally, one of the most classic of all rom-coms. According to a press release, the pair "begin to develop a deep friendship -- with neither admitting a potential romance may be brewing -- leaving them wondering if one road trip could change the rest of their lives." I, for one, am fully onboard with all of this.
Sam is described as a "handsome, funny, neurotic, intelligent gay man" with "a scathing wit" and "an overly idealistic worldview" who was bullied in high school for being gay. Harry, meanwhile, is an "emotionally uncomplicated, promiscuous player" who "yearns for love, family and stability" deep underneath his player veneer. Opposites really do attract!
The cast also includes Queer Eye's Karamo Brown as Paul, a gay man who is "exceedingly well put-together" but "overbearing and pretentious"; GLOW's Britt Baron as Sam's best friend; and Queer As Folk's Peter Paige (who also directs), as Sam's roommate.
In a statement, executive producers Paige, Greg Gugliotta, and F.J. Denny it's been an honor giving gays the rom-com they deserve.
"True equality can only be achieved when you see yourself reflected in the movies, music and stories that paint our culture," they said. "As young gay men in the 90s, whenever a rom-com opened, we would watch the leading lady fall in love, and imagine what it would be like if the boy was saying all those things to another boy." Awwww same, but with lesbians.
"We've always wanted to make a movie -- an unabashedly romantic comedy -- that queer boys wouldn't have to translate," the team added. "It's rewarding to take the genre to a new, all-inclusive level."
The Thing About Harry will premiere in February 2020 just in time for a very gay Valentine's Day.
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