20 years ago, ‘Eating Out’ gave curious viewers a smutty crash course on gay life

Twenty years ago this week, a raunchy gay comedy by the name of Eating Out made its debut at Phoenix’s Out Far! LGBTQ+ film fest—feel old yet?

But, for many gays of a certain age, their first time experiencing Eating Out wasn’t at a festival, or even a movie theater. It was at a rental shop, where its eyebrow-raising title and DVD cover flanked by its muscled stars stood out like a sore thumb with frosted tips.

It was a movie frequently rented and watched in private, and one of our first opportunities to see gay characters on the screen that weren’t mired in tragedy, or struggling to come out. And it was funny and sexy enough to open our eyes to a whole new world—is this what the straights felt like the first time they saw American Pie?

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So, two decades on, does Eating Out still hold up? Not completely, no. But, more than just leftovers, it remains a distinctly queer and enjoyable watch, one that opened doors for more LGBTQ+ movies to come (and, yes, that includes four Eating Out sequels).

For the unfamiliar, Eating Out takes a classic screwball structure of little white lies, missed connections, and comic misunderstandings—and adds in a heaping dose of horny homo hormones.

At its center are straight dude Caleb (Scott Lunsford) and his gay roommate Kyle (Jim Verraros). After a messy breakup, Caleb realizes how easy it is for Kyle and other gays to get close with women, and thus a a convoluted, sitcom-ready plan is hatched: Caleb will pretend to be gay in order to get set up with Marc (Ryan Carnes), which in turn should bring him closer to his real crush, Gwen (Emily Stiles). Meanwhile, Kyle actually has the hots for Marc, and is hopeful the wacky plot will finally put them in one another’s orbit.

Still following? Brokeback Mountain it was not. But what do you expect from a movie shot in 10 days with a budget of $43,000? They weren’t going for Oscar glory—they weren’t even aiming for a theatrical release.

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Actually, the origin story is quite a funny one. In a new retrospective interview with Indiewire, writer-director Q. Allan Brocka (who went on to direct Boy Culture, and has writing credits on Noah’s Arc: Jumping The Broom and Logo’s The Big Gay Sketch Show) says he had been sitting on a the Eating Out script for a while when he met the head of Ariztical Entertainment, a DVD sales company looking to get into production.

As Brocka remembers it, the company told him: If he could guarantee at least two scenes with full-frontal male nudity, they could guarantee at least $60,000 in pre-sales to rental shops. (If you have seen the movie, we’re going to go out on a limb and say you know exactly when and where those full-frontal scenes occur!)

It was a gambit that paid off. Eating Out wound up making over $2 million in DVD sales, and stayed on top of the LGBTQ+ video charts for quite some time.

And that’s especially impressive when you consider the movie didn’t have any major names attached. To this day, its most well-known star remains Jim Verraros, who many will remember from the very first season of American Idol.

Interestingly, Verraros was out to friends and family prior to his time on Idol, and even had a Livejournal where he wrote about his experiences with men—of course, the network asked him to shutter his site before he made it to air, and he never brought up his sexuality on the show.

But, while the season was airing, Brocka was watching along—and even writing Idol recaps for The Advocate—finding himself inexplicably drawn to Verraros’ energy. When the signer did come out publicly during the American Idol tour in 2003, Brocka was ecstatic and wrote him a “fan letter” asking him to be part of his movie. The rest is video store history.

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Jim Verraros dishes on his hot new track, his ‘American Idol’ hook-up, and ‘Eating Out’ memories

Recognized as the first out, gay contestant on ‘American Idol,’ Verraros says he was supported by his co-stars—some more than others.

Twenty years on, do they still stand by Eating Out? Verraros—who recently released the dance hit “Take My Bow”—tells Indiewire: “If you hear some of the quips and the one-liners now … ugh, it’s not so relevant now.”

However, the singer-songwriter is far from ashamed: “I just love that they are a moment in time, and they will be there forever,” he says. “I look back with such pride. I think whether people want to give it credit or not, I think because those films exist, we’re given so many incredible films today.”

As for Brocka, he knows not every facet of the movie holds up today, but recognizes the important role movies like Eating Out can play in connecting gays of all ages to a wider community:

“I want queer kids who are watching this to not just get titillated, but to realize that it’s acceptable, and it’s sexy, and we can talk about these things, and we have these experiences,’ Brocka shares. “And you know, you’re not the only one.”

Younger generations might not be able to stumble on that distinctive DVD at the video store anymore (we miss you, Blockbuster!), but maybe—just maybe—they’ll find themselves scrolling through endless streaming options one day and Eating Out will catch their eye. If so, they’re in for a blast form the past!

Eating Out is now streaming via Here TV, Kanopy, and Tubi, and is rentable via Amazon Prime Video and AppleTV.

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