Plainclothes
(2025 | USA | 95 minutes | Carmen Emmi)

Set the paranoid Don’t Ask Don’t Tell nineties in an Albany where public restroom cruising was the top priority of a small town police department, such that they dedicate an entire unit to eradicating indecent exposures.

In this heightened framework, Plainclothes is a cautionary tale of putting a closeted sexy small town twunk on mall bathroom entrapment duty: Eventually they’re going to take their own bait and extreme Gay Drama will most certainly ensue.

Here, it’s between Lucas, a tightly-repressed young cop played by Tom Blyth, and a teddy bear daddy Andrew played by Russell Tovey. From the moment they lock eyes across a generic food court, they have some instant chemistry. Lucas’s macho facade clearly covers some anxious repressed questioning; Tovey’s cruiser is more empathetically seeking than lewdly horny (although there is some of that, for sure). Their unspoken connection and clandestine meet-ups is a strong setup for excavating the tensions of uncomfortable self revelations, but it’s one of many movies at this festival where a gay guy completely loses his goddamn mind in the wake of a good one-night stand.

With dead dad issues compounding familial and societal homophobia, a cinematography design that overuses grainy VHS to enhance internal anxieties, and a culminating party that aims to put The Bear‘s “Seven Fishes” episode to shame for pressure cooking (lentil soup is involved), it’s all A Whole Lot, by the end.

Plainclothes played as an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition Program at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. It has additional screenings in Park City and Salt Lake City throughout the festival and is also available online for the public (January 30–February 2)