Revisiting the Move "Trick" 22 Years Later
James Williams 
One of my favorite gay romance movies from the 90s. A simple story that really works, mainly because of the great writing and likeable characters. Christian Campbell and J.P. Pitoc (God, he was so hot in that thong) had real chemistry and were so cute together, and Tori Spelling gave her best performance.
The one weak spot, for me, was the Coco Peru scene. Although her monologue was hilarious, her character just didn't seem to fit. Other than that, it was a movie that successfully captured the excitement of young gay love.
Thoughts?
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 82 | July 12, 2021 11:54 PM |
J.P. Pitoc was so hot in this one. Whatever happened to him?
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 2 | July 10, 2021 3:58 PM |
I love how Tori Spelling looks like she's just drying her armpit hairs in that movie poster without the text.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | July 10, 2021 3:59 PM |
Really liked it because I was about that age living in the West Village when it came out. Really haven't seen it since so not sure how it would hold up now. Sometimes movies (like people or places) of a certain time and place are best left there.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | July 10, 2021 4:00 PM |
Like "Broadway Damage"? I watched it the other day and it seemed incredibly dated.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | July 10, 2021 4:01 PM |
I agree the Coco peru scene doesn't fit well with the rest of the movie.
The trouble with the movie is that it's so shallow. It's romanticizing the Campbell-Pitoc hookup, but all it can ever be is a hookup. The Campbell character is sensitive and artistic, but all he wants from the Pitoc character is muscle and dick. it's unclear what the Pitoc character would ever get from the Campbell character.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | July 10, 2021 4:01 PM |
I just watched it again, and it still holds up. What was funny, though, was the final scene, where J.P. writes his phone number on Christian Campbell's hand, then Christian runs to a pay phone and calls the number.
I had forgotten how different the world was before cell phones.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | July 10, 2021 4:02 PM |
1. NOTHING about Coco Peru is weak. Nothing.
2. PLEASE you fucking animals, stop using this ^ instead of the reply number you are referring to. It isn't fucking hard. Type R then, without a space the number of the poster you are replying to. Like this: r1 You are a slob.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | July 10, 2021 4:04 PM |
R6 What I liked about the movie was how J.P. Pitoc's character evolved. He started out as a guy just looking to get off, but as the movie progresses, he starts to see Christian Campbell as more than just a hookup and seems starts to see the genuine person. I think that's when J.P.'s character comes to the realization that he's found a guy who wants more than just his body. I thought it was very well done.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | July 10, 2021 4:06 PM |
R8 Hey, ya dumb fuck. The original post doesn't have an "R" number, so the ^ will just have to do. I'm sure you'll get over it.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | July 10, 2021 4:08 PM |
J.P. Pitoc's IMDB bio doesn't list any girlfriends or wives. He's 47 now. So is he "family?" Anybody here had him?
He played a gay go-go boy pretty convincingly in the movie.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | July 10, 2021 4:12 PM |
Goddamn. J.P. in that thong. That ass! That ass!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 13 | July 10, 2021 4:15 PM |
Steve Hayes does "Tired Old Queen at the Movies" on Youtube. Boy, does he ever know old movies. The videos are very fun to watch and extremely informative.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | July 10, 2021 4:21 PM |
R8 Hi, Coco. Yeah, you were the weak link in the movie.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | July 10, 2021 4:22 PM |
R14 Steve Hayes was really good in the movie, but he doesn't have much of a film resume. I'm assuming he's more of a theater/stage performer.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | July 10, 2021 4:26 PM |
R12 "Burn"? Oh god you are both ancient AND retarded. Good to know!
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | July 10, 2021 4:27 PM |
It was one of the few gay-themed movies of the time that was actually entertaining despite being low budget.
Yes, it's superficial, but at the time, that was really its strength. It wasn't about AIDS. It wasn't a 110-minute coming-out story. It wasn't about a gay bashing. It was just a silly romcom.
Coco Peru's character wasn't part of the ensemble, but it was a standout in the movie and I have never forgotten "IT BURRRRRRNSSS!" It was such a bizarre and unexpected scene the first time, and honestly, it captured how strange the whole gay scene can feel to someone young who isn't acclimated to the subculture. I was also scared of drag queens at first, not getting the comic sensibility of drag performance.
And we have to be honest: the appeal of this movie was threefold: First, the stripper's body. Second, that it cast Tori Spelling in a gay movie and she was funny as fuck. Third, a sweet, superficial gay romance.
Between Trick and House of Yes, I have always had a soft spot for Tori Spelling. She is a very talented comic actress, even funny on her own as herself, and I don't understand why she has been so underused and became a joke to people. I think she's a well of untapped talent as a zany tongue-in-cheek character actress like Jennifer Coolidge.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | July 10, 2021 4:28 PM |
R17 ...says the idiot who doesn't realize there are no "R" numbers in an original post. :-)
Go back to bed, Coco.
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | July 10, 2021 4:29 PM |
r17 Sorry let me correct.
SICK burn at r10!
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | July 10, 2021 4:30 PM |
I was deeply closeted at the time this movie came out; or at least I wasn't telling people who weren't nice to me details about my personal life.
I was on my way out to see this movie and my assholic -- and according to our mother, later -- deeply closeted brother called.
I said gee, I'm just running out to the movies...
What are you going to see?
(Beat.)
The Thomas Crown Affair
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | July 10, 2021 4:32 PM |
R18 Tori really is a talented comic actress. Her meltdown scene in the restaurant was hilarious.
I remember her short-lived VH1 show, "So Notorious," and thought she was very funny in it. She could have had a bigger career.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | July 10, 2021 4:36 PM |
The Coco Peru scene is the most memorable.
Indeed, it is the only thing I remember from the movie.
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | July 10, 2021 4:36 PM |
Trick was and remains a great movie. It's very much of its time and all the better for it.
I've always thought it would make a great musical, finishing with a proper Broadway production of Enter You. Songs for all the cast including Tits performed by Roommate's European Traveller Girlfriend, Something In My Eye by Miss Coco Peru, Understudy Dreams and New Jersey performed by Katherine.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | July 10, 2021 4:37 PM |
R25 It also needs an ode to Mark's "beer can."
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | July 10, 2021 4:38 PM |
Tori was a funny looking teen and her dad gave her her jobs when she was young, and people are cruel to her because of it, but she got other, better work on her own merits and she can be funny as fuck. She also seems like a really affable and easygoing person in interviews. I like her because she seems likable and is talented and is generally hated, and I just think that sucks. I hope she has a late-career renaissance. Not in a dumb sitcom or 90210 reboot, but in a decent TV series or as a riotously funny standout in movies. I have faith she can pull it off.
I don't know the woman personally of course, but she seems like a cool person considering her nutso mom.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | July 10, 2021 4:43 PM |
It captures the time and place so well. All it needs is a rerelease in Odorama to completely deliver a hot summer night in late 90s New York
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 29 | July 10, 2021 4:44 PM |
r23 I loved So NoTORIous. I think that was also what caused a lot of problems between her and her step mom.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | July 10, 2021 4:50 PM |
R17 Oh, the irony of a bitter queen worshipping a 60-something drag queen while calling someone else "ancient" and a "frau."
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | July 10, 2021 4:51 PM |
R30 I loved Loni Anderson playing her own version of Candy Spelling in that one. The way she called Zach Quinto "that Persian boy."
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | July 10, 2021 4:52 PM |
JP is a hetero and has kids. I don't know if he's still married. His hair is very salt and pepper now and he's just as sexy.
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | July 10, 2021 4:53 PM |
Coco is a freaking LEGEND. If you know the origins of the movie, Jim Fall used Clinton for the auditions. I am positive that Jim knows Clinton's husband Rafa. Rafa is a California University system professor who is from Spain who is just a pinch more drop-dead-handsome than Pitoc. It was a small leap for Fall to cast Coco.
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | July 10, 2021 5:01 PM |
R18 Yes, exactly! It was a cute romance - not a heavy AIDS drama, not a story about struggling with one's sexuality.
You had two cute guys who happened to be gay navigating a hot summer night in The Village and encountering every obstacle and crazy person in their midst.
That's what made the movie work.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | July 10, 2021 5:05 PM |
[quote]Really haven't seen it since so not sure how it would hold up now.
About as well as Xanadu.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | July 10, 2021 5:10 PM |
Loved the Coco Peru scene. Loved the entire movie. The whole movie experience was great for me. I went with a fuck buddy I liked. The theater I watched it at was closed a few years later. You don’t know you miss something til it’s gone.
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | July 10, 2021 8:49 PM |
Christian Campbell was absolutely adorable.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | July 10, 2021 8:53 PM |
I watched it and my heart broke a little bit for that slice of gay NYC life just before 9/11- had we known what was to happen- would we really have tried to enjoy it any more? Because all of us were already enjoying it to the absolute hilt. You could still hold a handful of shitty jobs and go out every single night of the week AND live in the city though with a roommate. We would leave a sock on the doorknob if having sex! I met dozens if not hundreds of boys exactly like those portrayed in the movie- NYC was the place you went as a gayling to find yourself AND find love…
1999 was the year I moved to NYC- I took a job managing a salon for a Brazilian hairdresser that had Versace and Calvin Klein for clients (never, EVER schedule both the same day!) he had a tiny shop in Chelsea on 8th Av. so I landed in the thick of gay life and he knew absolutely everyone so we never paid to go to the clubs. Beauty editors, famous designers, he was doing hair on two off Broadway shows and had a line of clothing in Bloomingdales. I was working seven days a week handling his three different businesses. He had a bevy of gorgeous male stylists and former porn star working behind the chairs, God, that place was SO much fun AND frustrating to work in! He worked with Swarovski crystals and had festooned a jet black muscle shirt with “J’ADORE DIOR” and shuffled a handful of dancers (he was dating one of Britney’s at the time) to Roxy wearing them. It turned out John Galliano was in NYC that weekend and saw them dancing at one of the clubs. He reported him to the company’s lawyers. I was the one that received the cease and desist letters and had to scout down every last shirt he sold and ship them all back to Dior to avoid litigation. I wish I kept one!
One of my last days working I came in early, opened the street grate coving the door and there was hundreds of dollars of cash and drugs splayed out all over the floor. I gently closed the shutter back down and called out sick, the next day when I came in he was still high on a crystal bender, red rimmed eyes, he started screaming at me- and I took all my pay out of the drawer and quit that day.
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | July 11, 2021 4:20 AM |
Hey Elder Sage - was that “The Service Station?”
| by Anonymous | reply 42 | July 11, 2021 4:41 AM |
Nope. It’’s funny you say that because the salon I worked at was right across from the street. The time I worked there I never knew her but I actually met the woman that co-owned Service Station with her wealthy husband many years later and she’s one of my best friends, we both worked as hair colorists at a celebrity salon for well over a decade together across from Tiffany’s on 57th. Her stories are every bit as good as mine!! That place was SCANDALOUS…
I won’t say the name to be fair, the guy gave me a break when I really needed it and looking back any animosity had to more do with me putting up with his behavior because I had no other choice at the time.
| by Anonymous | reply 43 | July 11, 2021 5:07 AM |
Fun Fact:
Both leads are super straight
| by Anonymous | reply 44 | July 11, 2021 6:05 AM |
I got this movie and The Edge of Seventeen (1998; hated it) from Netflix when Netflix was new. It was the only place I could rent gay-themed movies and a lot of independent movies. I loooved Netflix and discovered a goldmine of old movies. I used to get so excited to get a red envelope in the mail knowing a new 1930s Bette Davis movie was waiting for me.
This is being discussed in another thread, but Netflix evolved into such a disappointment.
Originally it had this vast supply of hard-to-find old and indie movies, and its algorithm was like, "Since you like Bette Davis, we think you'd love Katharine Hepburn movies."
Then it became "Since you like All About Eve, we think you'd like these Movies About Aging Actresses Who Are Usurped by Young Ingenues and Who Miss A Show Because They Run Out of Gas In Connecticut"—like wtf?
And now it's just endless poorly made TV series with unknown actors that are never promoted so or reviewed presumably you're supposed to invest in 15 paint-by-numbers series to find one good one.
| by Anonymous | reply 45 | July 11, 2021 2:57 PM |
Coco has done better for herself than another of the three leads
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | July 11, 2021 3:02 PM |
OP, your posting BURRRRRNS!
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | July 11, 2021 3:25 PM |
Is the sequel still happening?
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 48 | July 11, 2021 3:35 PM |
JP Pitoc is still gorgeous. He fucked up his body by tattooing it, but I don't understand why he never got much work.
| by Anonymous | reply 49 | July 11, 2021 3:46 PM |
R48 I never knew they were planning a sequel. No, please don't.
| by Anonymous | reply 50 | July 11, 2021 3:51 PM |
I loved the movie and was a little sad to see both Campell and Pitoc are actually straight.
| by Anonymous | reply 51 | July 11, 2021 3:58 PM |
It’s big. It’s beautiful. And you’re gonna love it.
| by Anonymous | reply 52 | July 11, 2021 4:00 PM |
I attended the premiere of the film at Outfest and love it. The party was off the chain. I used to see JP Pitoc around town and couldn't help but stare at him. I watched the film again a few years ago and it holds up as a valentine to a special time in NYC.
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | July 11, 2021 7:07 PM |
r45 I loved Edge of Seventeen and Beautiful Thing. Before everything was streamable I would buy gay DVDs from the TLA (?) catalog and about 70% of them were total shit, but there were a few gems. Loved Broadway Damage but went back to watch it a few years ago and it felt incredibly dated.
| by Anonymous | reply 55 | July 11, 2021 7:25 PM |
I saw this film first with a guy I was dating at the time at the Dobie Theater in Austin. Was a lot of fun, and loved JP Pitoc's body and sort of wolfish face.
| by Anonymous | reply 56 | July 11, 2021 7:25 PM |
I posted a link to this thread on Coco's FB.
Coco posted that some of the criticism was horrible.
Did not get the love from all you cunts here.
sadz
| by Anonymous | reply 57 | July 11, 2021 8:11 PM |
What a nasty thing to do.
There was only one unpleasant comment about Coco but why would you draw someone's attention to nasty comments?
Btw Coco if you're reading this would you consider following up the GTA video with a go on Fortnite?
| by Anonymous | reply 58 | July 11, 2021 8:14 PM |
I didn't mean to be nasty.
I thought that people still talking about her film 22 years later would be interesting for her.
I apologize to all offended. It was not my intention.
| by Anonymous | reply 59 | July 11, 2021 8:18 PM |
Who said something nasty?
| by Anonymous | reply 60 | July 11, 2021 10:41 PM |
Some commenters up thread.
| by Anonymous | reply 61 | July 11, 2021 11:59 PM |
Oh, I remember renting this movie as a young 17 year old gayling and just thought it was so sweet. It still takes me back to a very special place. I may rent it tonight
| by Anonymous | reply 62 | July 12, 2021 12:36 AM |
I loved the ending, showed that their budding relationship had a lotta promise.
| by Anonymous | reply 63 | July 12, 2021 2:57 AM |
Fuck the hators- love the movie, love coco
| by Anonymous | reply 64 | July 12, 2021 2:59 AM |
Christian Campbell was on All My Children as Bobby Warner for a while after this. He was really cute and good and could have had a good run, but his whole storyline, such as it was, was botched and I don’t think he was even on for a year.
| by Anonymous | reply 65 | July 12, 2021 3:03 AM |
Coco is very much an acquired taste and a national treasure. We all have a little bit of Coco in us, fighting to come to the surface of our psyche and celebrate….
Free Coco!
| by Anonymous | reply 66 | July 12, 2021 8:53 AM |
Some of us prefer Hot Chocolate.
| by Anonymous | reply 67 | July 12, 2021 1:48 PM |
Some of us prefer tension tamer tea
| by Anonymous | reply 68 | July 12, 2021 1:56 PM |
R68 Is that the one which one drinks during her monthly lady visit to help with cramps and bloating?.
| by Anonymous | reply 69 | July 12, 2021 2:02 PM |
[quote]It wasn't about AIDS. It wasn't a 110-minute coming-out story. It wasn't about a gay bashing.
We need more movies like this. That are also NOT about: coming of age, coming out, dealing with gay this or that.
Just assume it's all fine so you can have a real story.
| by Anonymous | reply 70 | July 12, 2021 2:08 PM |
R7 That phone booth is still there. I think of this film every time I walk by. (Well, at least it was pre-Covid)
As others have said, I loved that it was a simple Rom-com, not an issue movie. Plus a perfect time capsule of what the West Village use to be.
| by Anonymous | reply 71 | July 12, 2021 2:10 PM |
Simple romcom only in the way that Pretty Woman was a simple romcom, he was a whore wasn’t he?
| by Anonymous | reply 72 | July 12, 2021 2:29 PM |
Tori told my friend "Trick" is the work she is most proud of.
| by Anonymous | reply 74 | July 12, 2021 2:38 PM |
R75 I think they used that as a tagline for the movie.
| by Anonymous | reply 76 | July 12, 2021 3:08 PM |
Christian has aged as though he's spent too much time in the sun. Still good looking, but in a leathery way.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 78 | July 12, 2021 8:49 PM |
It’s hard to tell with the filter they are using
| by Anonymous | reply 79 | July 12, 2021 8:52 PM |
[quote] he was a whore wasn’t he?
Darling, we were all whores when we were young, pretty, and in NYC
| by Anonymous | reply 80 | July 12, 2021 11:18 PM |
[quote] Christian has aged as though he's spent too much time in the sun. Still good looking, but in a leathery way.
Neck up, he looks like an alcoholic hobo from the 1930s.
| by Anonymous | reply 81 | July 12, 2021 11:20 PM |
