This past Friday, I had the honor & privilege of attending the premiere of Patrik-Ian Polk’s new feature length film, The Skinny. Y’all know who Patrik-Ian Polk is…he created “Noah’s ARC” for goodness sake! I’m a huge fan! He’s also my birthday twin #729 #Leo! Little did Mr.Polk’s PR folks know that they were ending my 27-month movie theater hiatus when they invited me to come out and watch the movie. Yes, that’s more than TWO YEARS…but “The Skinny” was well worth the wait! I got myself together in grand fashion (I wore heels which y’all know I hate) and headed on down to the Landmark E Street Cinema to see the film. I got there late (of course) so I ended up sitting on the VERY FIRST ROW between two of my lovely friends from Twitter, Bassey Ikpi & Pam’s Kid.

But lemme tell y’all about the movie:

The Skinny is a story about five friends who graduated from Brown University having a great mini-reunion weekend together. There were 4 guys and a lady: Sebastian (Blake Young-Fountain) , Magnus (Jussie Smollett), Kyle (Anthony Burrell), Joey (Jeffery Bowyer-Chapman) and Langston (Shanika Warren-Markland)- all Black, beautiful and gay.

The gorgeous and talented cast of Patrik-Ian Polk's film, The Skinny.

You could tell that they all had a genuine affection for one another and were looking forward to enjoying an exciting and fun weekend together in the city. Everything started out cool with drinks, dancing and laughs until some real gutter-type activities, perpetrated by Magnus’ significant other were revealed. From that point on, all kinds of scandal and urbane adventures popped off and I LOVED IT. Good stuff happened to good people and bad stuff happened to good people. Good people made some bad decisions and I even got misty on a few scenes, and umm…“stimulated and aware” on others. Important subjects that effect ALL of us (not just the LGBT community) were addressed in the film, but not in a way that would make you feel uncomfortable: drugs, safe sex, date rape, HIV prevention and treatment as well as love and relationships. These characters were written in a way that made me really care about what happened to them. I cared so much that I, in classic Black Girl fashion, found myself talking to the screen and telling them what and what not to do when I felt them heading for trouble! LOL!

I was sitting next to Bassey, so when her cameo scene came on the screen, I started poking her in the arm and whispering “You look beautiful!” because she really did. I also enjoyed seeing actors from Mr.Polk’s other work pop up in the movie: Darryl Stephens (Noah from “Noah’s ARC” #Swoon), Seth Gilliam (“Punks”) and Wilson Cruz (Genito,also from “Noah’s ARC”). And I could never forget my instant glee when I saw B.Scott’s scene-stealing self up on the screen making a gorgeous film debut. The green eyeshadow was POPPIN’!! Yeah, I got kinda excited about that eyeshadow.

“The Skinny” was beautiful to look at, it was sexy and it was very smart. Patrik-Ian Polk deserves all the support and accolades hes has received and will receive for his newest work. The cast was amazing and the writing was great. This is a film that a.) I will definitely go see again and b.) add to my collection once it comes to DVD. And guess what else? All those great songs in the movie were by Patrik Ian-Polk! All that talent in one man…color me a beautiful brown shade of “Impressed”! I gotta get that soundtrack too because the music was as awesome as the movie was.

Thank you again to Patrik-Ian Polk’s PR team for the gracious invitation to see The Skinny. I hope that when the film makes its way to your city, you are able to get out to see it. If you happen to be in the DC-Metro Area, The Skinny will be showing at the Landmark E Street Cinema through April 12th, 2012.

Visit www.skinnythemovie.com to see when the film is coming to your town learn more about the film, its creator, Patrik-Ian Polk, the wonderful cast and see behind-the-scene photos.

~pbg