Doogie Howser, man arouser?

So, Neil Patrick Harris comes out of the closet and announces with a flamboyant flourish that he is "a very content gay man living my life to the fullest."

Good for you, Doogie. First Lance Bass, now NPH. Could it be we're witnessing a culture shift where more and more celebrities are willing to put their prestige on the line and admit to the world who they are? It'll be a watershed moment when nobody feels the need to stay in the closet anymore.

Although I have to say, this paints his performance in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castlein a whole new light.

NPH wouldn't do that!

Oh wait, I guess he would.

Would you like to know more?

So Vinnie Delpino grows up to be a mobster and Doogie grows up to be a poofter.

What a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world.

Who knew Hitler could be so gay?

Bored with our Festivus festivities by 1 o'clock, I went to see The Producers, the adaptation of the critically acclaimed Broadway musical (itself an adaptation of the 1968 Mel Brooks movie). Faithfully adapted for the screen, the movie is a ton of fun. Brooks' songs aren't great, although his lyrics are fairly clever (especially in the riotous "Keep It Gay"). The music was especially lacking in comparison to last month's powerful Rent adaptation, but let's face it - you don't go to see the Producers for the songs. You go to see the outrageously offensive, so-bad-it's-good play-within-a-play, Springtime for Hitler.

The cast was very good - especially Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, whose chemistry as nebbishy accountant Leo Bloom and scheming has-been producer Max Bialystock is undeniable. Although there is a certain cognitive dissonance to Lane playing a shameless womanizer.

Or to 4'9" Matthew Broderick hooking up with 7'2" Uma Thurman, who radiates heat as Ulla. Of course, her character is pretty much one-dimensional eye candy. Great actors seem sort of fish out of water in roles like those, but do you have any idea how long Uma Thurman's legs are when projected across a thirty-foot screen? No complaints here.

I wonder if having two big-budget adaptations of Broadway musicals featuring gay and transvestite characters hitting theaters in consecutive months is proof of the homosexual agenda.

Probably not. Unlike Brokeback Mountain, where homosexuality is used as a conduit for love (insert your own anal joke here), or in Rent, where homosexuality is a matter-of-fact part of the fabric, here gayness is played over-the-top for good-natured laughs.

I'd give the movie a grade of B+.