Welcome to your weekend streaming recommendations, a.k.a. the Weekend Watch, a handy guide to the queerest film and TV content that’s just a click away!
A good mystery is filled with twists, turns, and excellent dicks—you know, detectives! These movies and series all have queer detectives solving murders, taking down crime syndicates, and dealing with cults.
Read on for queer detective yarns to stream this weekend.
The Don Strachey Mysteries
From 2005–2008, out heartthrob Chad Allen starred in four mystery movies as Don Strachey, an openly gay private investigator in Albany, NY. The movies, directed by Ron Oliver and based on the novels by Richard Stevenson, see Strachey solving queer-themed crimes that also often have to do with his troubled past.
In Third Man Out, Strachey investigates the attack and murder of an activist known for outing closeted politicians; in Shock To The System, Strachey investigates a mystery at a ministry known for conversion therapy; in On The Other Hand, Death Strachey unravels a complex secret about a lesbian couple; and in Ice Blues, Strachey’s partner, Timmy (Sebastian Spence), gets involved when a charity is embroiled in a murder. The Don Strachey movies largely play it “straight,” but Allen is incredibly charming and the mysteries have great payoffs.
Now streaming on Here TV.
Instinct
The words “Alan Cumming” should be all you need to watch this two-season mystery drama that aired on CBS in 2019, but it’s actually quite a suspenseful and fun series in its own right. Cumming stars as Dylan Reinhart, a professor and retired CIA operative who is lured back into his investigative ways when a serial killer begins recreating murders from Reinhart’s book. Reinhart is also gay and married to Andy (Daniel Ings), a lawyer-turned-bar owner. Instinct is based on James Patterson’s Murder Games. And look for a guest appearance by Whoopi Goldberg!
Now streaming on Paramount Plus.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Shane Black’s 2005 neo-noir film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Harry Lockhart, a down-on-his-luck burglar who finds himself embroiled in a murder involving mistaken identity, a beautiful woman from his past (Michelle Monaghan) and “Gay” Perry van Shrike, an openly gay PI played by Val Kilmer. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has a little too much fun at Perry’s expense, but the character is a tough guy with a big heart and Black’s darkly comedic script is filled to the brim with twists and turns.
Rentable on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu, Microsoft Store, RedBox and DirecTV.
The Long Call
This 2021 British crime drama, based on the novel by Anne Cleeves, stars out actor Ben Aldridge as Detective Inspector Matthew Venn, who returns to his hometown with his husband, Jonathan (Declan Roberts) when his father dies. Venn soon finds himself knee-deep in a mystery surrounding his past when a man is murdered on the beach and all roads lead to the religious cult he grew up in. In addition to the moody, seaside locales, The Long Call includes an excellent performance by British fave Anita Dobson.
Now streaming on BritBox.
The Kicker…
Did you like Mare Of Easttown starring Kate Winslet? Then you’ll love out comedienne Kate McKinnon in the Saturday Night Live parody Murder Durdur, where the fabulous queer star does her best worst Philly accent. Raise your hand if you’d like to see McKinnon in a mystery series of her own a la Natasha Lyonne’s Poker Face.
dbmcvey
All in all these were pretty good. I enjoyed them.
abfab
Robert Downey Jr should get the Oscar for Oppenhiemer. He was terrific. Unfortch, the movie was a total bomb.
The musical director should get the axe…..the sound track was annoying and it NEVER ENDED! Awful.
Jim
Love it abaft. Oppenheimer was a “bomb”
Stop him before he puns agains
abfab
From UPI review:
”Where the style is far less effective, it browbeats the audience into submission with little substance behind it. Ludwig Göransson wrote a good score, but the constant use of it is exhausting.
Editing between time periods with a constant score suggests the aesthetic of Terrence Malick. However, Malick, for better or worse, leaves his films ambiguous.
Oppenheimer is just barreling through historical events with an oppressive score. Nolan doesn’t need to play music while Oppenheimer is just engaging in dialogue in a classroom. Just let some scenes breathe.
Nolan may have taken criticisms about his films’ inaudible dialogue to heart and strove to keep dialogue at least as audible as the music. There are still a few unintelligible lines, such as when Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty (Emily Blunt), drowns out her own dialogue fumbling with her purse.
Wind drowns out the men in other scenes.”
SFMike
It’s too bad we didn’t get a continuing series of Don Strachey Mysteries. Chad Allen was terrific in this role and it unfortunately was ahead of its time. If it had been produced in the streaming era we might have seen more of these great Richard Stevenson mysteries. We get years of mundane Murder She Wrote but only four independently produced more engaging gay mysteries. And Chad Allen was amazingly hot once unconfined by the bland pablum that was Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman and he could be his proud gay self.
Rank Amateur
Totally agree. All four were excellent.
joeboyle49
YES I AGREE ALL 4 WERE GREAT/
Joshooeerr
I don’t know how I’ve never heard of the Strachey mysteries. I’ll check them out. On the other hand, The Long Call was decidedly average. And Ben Aldridge is exceedingly dull.