It’s Not Easy Being Green

Cheyenne Jackson and Jason Butler Harner.

The Green

Directed by Steven Williford

Written by Paul Marcarelli

Starring Jason Butler Harner, Cheyenne Jackson, Julia Ormond, and Illeana Douglas

By Mary Lyn Maiscott

The story of a gay couple living in a leafy Connecticut harbor town (having left New York City a few years before), The Green, though an original story, has the somewhat stilted, somewhat static feel that films based on plays (see Spinning into Butter) often do. The script was written by Paul Marcarelli, best known as the Verizon spokesman constantly asking, “Can you hear me now?” in TV ads. Despite the tone of the movie (it’s as though it needs more air, eponymous greenery notwithstanding) we can hear, loud and clear, the themes of Marcarelli’s script: prejudice, judgment, and small-mindedness.

At the beginning of the movie, the men’s only real problem seems to be the extensive renovations they’re making on their house. But when Michael (Jason Butler Harner), a teacher in a private school, is mistakenly accused of molesting a student from a troubled home, the town begins to turn on the couple—their contractor begs off finishing the work; Daniel (Cheyenne Jackson), who owns a café, loses a big catering job. Worse, their own relationship and their friendships (how nice to see Illeana Douglas again, here in the role of Michael’s cancer-stricken colleague) threaten to explode under the pressure.

The film has a rather melodramatic—though surprising—climax, and the eerie music that pops up every time things get particularly bad seems to belong to a different genre. But the movie has much to offer, especially in its cast, which includes the Broadway favorite Jackson as well as the lovely Julia Ormond, as a lesbian lawyer who knows that green can hide some very ugly colors.