Musicals are one of the more challenging genres to achieve. There are so many musicals that work but there are also a slew of musicals that completely miss the mark. DICKS: The Musical is one that will end up being very subjective as some will love it and put it in the ranks of such classics like Rocky Horror and Little Shop while others will pass it off as too “edgy and woke”. I am in the former camp as I really enjoyed Dicks. It’s not something that will work for everyone as some will absolutely despise it, but it will definitely find its audience.
The big thing that will divide audiences is the message and the humour. This film is unabashedly a left wing satire written by two gay men. They take aim at everything and there are some jokes and moments that took it further than even I would have expected. This film was manufactured to piss off specific people and uplift others. The basic premise is two “very straight” rival coworkers who find out that find out they are twins and decide to “parent trap” their family back together. It’s a simple set up that goes into some truly odd yet satirical places that take on the preexisting notions of the genre and our society as a whole. The film gave me some WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story vibes (which was my first ever TIFF film and the opening night movie at Midnight Madness in 2022) and it clicked to me when they said that this film had a smaller budget and they shot it in a small amount of time. They both are super ambitious musical projects that are heavily satirical and play off the fact that they are lower budget with their surface level jokes and some of their more layered humour.
The film definitely earns its R rating in some truly unexpected ways and that will definitely not be everyone's cup of tea. LGBTQ+ individuals and musical theatre fans are the two biggest demographics for this film and they definitely aren't hiding that. They cast big broadway names like Nathan Lane for that specific reason. There are even some jokes in the background on posters and buildings that are nods to things from the world of musical theatre and queer life in general that some might pick up on, but those the joke was made for will love.
Dicks is about an hour and a half, which is a great runtime for musicals and comedies, especially those that play at Midnight Madness. The film never has any downbeats that take you out of it and it maintains a chaotic yet consistent pace throughout. The performances are great, the music is knockout and they do some interesting things set wise even though they had a lower budget and less time to work with. The best scene in this film is Nathan Lane spitting chunks of meat into the Sewer Boys mouths. That moment, along with Megan Thee Stallion’s number and the final sing along number had the most laughs and intrigue from my audience. I can see that ending song specifically riling some people up based on some of the lyrics and how it’s a “sing along” moment which our whole theater for sure sang along for.
Dicks is one of those musicals that will definitely face some controversy out of the gate, but will for sure be remembered as a cult hit later down the road, similar to other musicals like The Rocky Horror Picture Show. An unabashedly queer tale that takes on the world of musical theatre and our cis normative male focused world and puts a sharp satirical spin on it. While the film won’t be for everyone and it will definitely piss off many people, it will find a following with some. I really enjoyed DICKS: The Musical and it’s probably the most fun i’ve had with a musical in a long time. A simple yet chaotic tale about how all love is love and we should all just respect each other. For the first “A24 Musical”, I think it was a smash.
The Rating
