Still "Looking" For A Proper Ending

Fans of the two-season run of HBO's acclaimed gay dramedy "Looking" were understandably crushed when it was cancelled in March 2015. The series was an all-too-rare, slice-of-life project that was never as melodramatic as "Queer As Folk" but also never snarky and self-aware enough to be labeled a male variation of network companion "Girls." Instead, the show blazed its own refreshingly honest trail through the frustrations of normalcy -- now that it's "okay" to be gay, what does that look like in everyday life? This unprecedented malaise may have hit too close to home for viewers who came of age (and/or came out) with groundbreaking yet campy fantasias like "Will & Grace."

Naturally, when it was announced that a follow-up movie would address some of the lingering questions that were left unresolved in the show's last episode, no one was sure what direction this next chapter would take. Until history was made just a few months later, when the Supreme Court declared gay marriage legal in all 50 states. A series like "Looking" that had resigned itself and its characters to embattled contentment with the status quo would surely have something to say. On that front, the new installment delivers. Aesthetically speaking, the movie follows in the thematic footsteps of Richard Linklater's superlative "Before" trilogy as well as "Looking" director/co-writer Andrew Haigh's own captivating film "Weekend." Over the course of a few days -- a scant but engrossing 84 minutes of screen time -- we are given intimate access to a series of hilarious, heartfelt, and sometimes harrowing conversations about what love, sex, commitment, and the future really mean in modern culture, in a way that men (gay or straight) are rarely shown discussing with such plausible candor and eloquence.

It's hard to weigh this "Looking" finale as a stand-alone film; admittedly, uninitiated viewers can easily pick up on the dynamics and relationships of all the characters. However, so much happened both offscreen and in the original episodes that the movie -- an extension of those events and their aftermath one year later -- may as well be considered a condensed third season. The movie offers a simple plot with minimal obstacles: main character Patrick (Jonathan Groff) returns to San Francisco for the wedding of his friend Agustin (Frankie Alvarez). Along the way, Patrick is also reunited with friends Dom (Murray Bartlett, finally replacing his oddly attractive mustache with a handsome full beard) and Doris (the endearingly acerbic and criminally overlooked Lauren Weedman).

All of the actors carry over the same level of natural charm and appeal, but with the exception of Groff, they're given surprisingly little to do. Instead, the film functions as a character study revolving around Patrick's search for closure about why he really left and what it would take to bring him back. This disproportionate focus neglects the strengths of the ensemble as well as the individual performers, barely advancing their stories from where we left them at the end of the series. Even the people who represent the loose ends of Patrick's past -- his former boss Kevin (Russell Tovey) and his ex Richie (Raul Castillo) -- simply exist to serve his arc of self-discovery. To call this a more fitting finale than what was previously aired is difficult at best, since the movie concludes just as ambiguously as the show did... and with each character at more or less the same crossroads. As enjoyable as it was to return to these personalities, did I miss something? Besides a few provocative talking points about current events, was it really necessary to revisit the series? Or was this just a well-meaning attempt for HBO to reconcile their guilt over the untimely cancellation?

Intriguingly, the opening and closing shots of the film are of San Francisco itself, reinforcing a notion of setting as character. By bookending "Looking" with these complementary images, perhaps Haigh is acknowledging in his own way that the more things change, the more they stay the same. This final episode/closing chapter/last hurrah may not have contributed as much as expected to its own characters or story, but its broader stance on gay life and love -- in the media and in society at large -- is something worth remembering.