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Trick — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Overview

Trick is a 1999 American gay-themed romantic comedy film directed by Jim Fall and starring Christian Campbell, John Paul Pitoc, Miss Coco Peru, and Tori Spelling. Independently produced by Eric d'Arbeloff, Ross Katz, and Fall, the film was written by Jason Schafer. Trick premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1999 and was later released theatrically by Fine Line Features that July. The film grossed $2million at the United States box office, which was seen by Fine Line Features as "credible business". Plot Gabriel, an office temp by day and aspiring Broadway composer by night, makes eye contact with Mark, a go-go dancer at a gay bar. The two meet again in the subway the same night, and go back to Gabriel's place to have sex. They are thwarted in the attempt first by Gabriel's aspiring actress friend Katherine, who is obsessed with her role in an adaptation of Salomé set in a women's prison, and then by Gabriel's roommate Rich, who returns home with his girlfriend Judy and has similar (and conflicting) plans for the apartment. Gabriel and Rich argue over which of them should get to use the apartment that night, and decide to settle the matter with a coin toss. When Gabriel loses the coin toss and he and Mark have to leave, Gabriel seeks out his friend Perry to request the use of Perry's place. Unfortunately, as Perry escorts Gabriel and Mark there, they run into Perry's ex-boyfriend. Perry and his ex tearfully reconcile and they go back to Perry's, frustrating Gabriel and Mark yet again. The two then decide to hit a gay club for some dancing. There, a malicious drag queen, Miss Coco, corners Gabriel in the restroom. She badmouths Mark to Gabriel, telling him of the time they trickedwhich sounds very much like how Gabriel and Mark metand how Mark left abruptly after climaxing, leaving her with a fake phone number to boot. Crushed by this news, Gabriel decides to take off. Mark follows Gabriel back to his and Rich's apartment to talkand also because he has left his house keys there. They go in to look for the keys and try to talk things out while Judy mediates, topless. Mark asserts that while he did indeed trick once with Miss Coco, it was actually the latter who tried to take advantage of him by secretly videotaping their encounter without Mark's consent. Gabriel accepts this story, but still does not trust Mark, so Mark leaves angrily. Judy then finds Mark's keys, and Gabriel chases after Mark with them down into the subway.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“RASCAL, n. A fool considered under another aspect.”
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary (1911).
“Parting your soup is not a miracle, Bruce, it's a magic trick. A single mom who's working two jobs, and still finds time to take her kid to soccer practice, that's a miracle. A teenager who says no to drugs and yes to an education, that's a miracle. People want Me to do everything for them, but what they don't realize is, they have the power. You want to see a miracle, son? Be the miracle.”
— Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe, and Steve Oedekerk, in lines written for God as a trickster, in Bruce Almighty (2003)
“Leary was different things to different people. He was reviled. He was revered. He was a prophet. He was a phony. He was a brilliant, innovative thinker. He was a fool. He captured the irreverent, rebellious spirit of the sixties. He was a fame-seeking, manipulative con artist. Who was he? Perhaps The Trickster said it best when he quipped, “You get the Timothy Leary you deserve.””
— Don Lattin, The Harvard Psychedelic Club (2010), p. 204
“The Trickster represents the quality of randomness and chance in the universe, without which there could be no freedom. In the Craft the Goddess is not omnipotent. The cosmos is interesting rather than perfect, and everything is not part of some greater plan, nor is all necessarily under control. Understanding this keeps us humble, able to admit that we cannot know or control or define everything.”
— Starhawk, in The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess (1979), p. 231
“As technology became more important, the Trickster underwent a shift in character and became the god of crafts — of technology, if you will — while retaining the underlying roguish qualities. So we have the Sumerian Enki, the Greek Prometheus and Hermes, Norse Loki, and so on.”
— Neal Stephenson, in The Diamond Age (1995), Part the First
“My faith in human dignity consists in the belief that man is the greatest scamp on earth. Human dignity must be associated with the idea of a scamp and not with that of an obedient, disciplined and regimented soldier.”
— Lin Yutang, in The Importance of Living (1937), Ch. I : The Awakening

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.