Gay or straight? For this 'Guy,' the fun is in the confusion

In Julie Davis' "All Over the Guy," the absurdly handsome Richard Ruccolo (he looks like a new-millennium, nondancing version of Gene Kelly) plays Tom, a special-ed teacher. This filled me with dread that his students would be used for comic relief at some point (a "joke" used far too often lately), and therefore it was immensely endearing that Davis and screenwriter Dan Bucatinsky didn't stoop to that. Almost endearing enough to get me past the film's slow points, but not quite.

"All Over the Guy" **½ With Dan Bucatinsky, Richard Ruccolo, Adam Goldberg, Sasha Alexander. Directed by Julie Davis, from a screenplay by Bucatinsky. 92 minutes. Rated R for strong sexual content and language. Broadway Market.

In this two-couple romantic comedy, set in contemporary L.A., Tom (Ruccolo) and Eli (Bucatinsky) are gay, and Brett (Adam Goldberg) and Jackie (Sasha Alexander) are straight. All are thirtyish, very attractive and quite witty, in a way that people never seem to be in real life.

The getting-to-know-you scenes are snappy, as the screenplay mildly twists gay-straight stereotypes. (Jackie's convinced Brett is gay, because he identifies a color as "buttercup"; Eli thinks Tom is straight, because Tom thinks "Gone with the Wind" is a black-and-white movie.)

Once all the confusion gets straightened out, so to speak, the fun is lessened. Eli and Tom, in particular, must sort their way through a thicket of issues that cause the film's final third to droop.

But the actors are likable, and Bucatinsky shows a Seinfeld-like gift for the one-liner. Call it a pleasant near-miss.

Moira Macdonald can be reached at 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com.