Scottish actor Alan Cumming proves his musical worth in Any Day Now.
Scottish actor Alan Cumming proves his musical worth in Any Day Now.
A boundlessly charismatic performance from Cumming lends a charm to this based-on-fact story that helps it transcend its rather schematic structure.
The Scots-born actor plays Rudy Donatello, a lip-synching drag queen in a Los Angeles disco bar, who has aspirations as a solo artist. He's overdue with the rent inhis crummy apartment, where the walls shake with the loud music his drug-addict neighbour likes playing.
When the neighbour is arrested, Rudy shelters her Down-syndrome son Marco (Leyva, whose smile could power a small town). In almost the same breath, he takes up with the closeted assistant district attorney Paul Fleiger (Dillahunt).
The process by which Rudy moves from rescuer to would-be adoptive father is not exactly dramatically coherent, but before you can say "how are your fathers?", the two men have got Marco's mum to sign over temporary custody and they're in court arguing for their rights.
This being the 70s, of course, they don't have any, and they are dragged through several hearings in which Crabby Bigoted Judge (Fisher), Cynical Court-Appointed Lawyer (Henry) and Homophobic DA (Mulkey) are wheeled in from Central Casting.
Wisely, the film, which has been widely honoured in LBGT festivals worldwide, has too much self-respect to let its polemic be drowned in the treacle of a happy ending; 40 years on it is, alas, a long way from being irrelevant, even in California.
The musical items, including an inevitable scenery-chewing climactic version of I Shall Be Released will play better with gay audiences than straight ones, I suspect, but they show that Cumming has a decent set of pipes on him.
Cast:
Alan Cumming, Garret Dillahunt, Isaac Leyva, Frances Fisher, Gregg Henry, Chris Mulkey
