Review: 'Feeling Randy' is A Dose of Big-Hearted Nostalgia

The '70s was a helluva decade to be going through puberty, especially if you were unsure which team you pitched for. Nobody at the time could fathom that the letters LGBTQ+ would ever be used in succession, let alone that a rainbow would define them. 

With such heteronormativity in place, it was harder for a young man to even admit to himself that he might like other boys. It wasn't until you found the human anatomy illustration page in your encyclopedia that you might have had an inkling you were pretending to be something you're not. 

Such is the setup for Dean Lent's "Feeling Randy," a gay coming-of-age story based on Lent's own teenage experiences in Northern California. Its title is a clever play on both the main character's name and the British slang term for horniness. 

Reid Miller plays the titular character, whose friend group consists of Mark (Oliver Hibbs Wyman), Adam (Shane Almagor), and Sampson (Taylor Lawrence Grey). They are all obsessed with "pussy." It's this hormonal obsession that drives them to take a road trip to The Kitty Ranch, a low-grade brothel in Nevada. They each have their own trumped-up stories about their personal experiences there on the drive back home, Randy being the only truthful one wherein his time with a pretty worker named Trixie isn't filled with hyperbolic hubris. 

While this story is technically a comedy, Lent also explores the dark side of familial homophobia. Randy's dad (Jonathan Silverman) is verbally abusive when he walks in on him applying lipstick in an angsty emo moment. 

Enter Luke (Blaine Kern III), Sam's older brother. Randy goes to his house hoping to get moral support after the big blow-up with his dad. It turns out his friends aren't there, and Luke is a heavy pothead. He's also kind of a sexually enlightened hippie.

The logline itself (basically, four friends head to a brothel in order to have sex for the first time) would make for a raunchy teen comedy, but Lent spends little time on that story, and instead leans into Randy questioning his sexual orientation. It's an uneven journey, but the lean 75-minute runtime, the incredible cast, and Lent's confident direction keep "Feeling Randy" from falling apart. 

The best performance comes from Miller, who embodies the '70s teenager with masterful scope. He's done lots of short films and television roles, with this being his first major one. 

Miller is a part of a new generation of young actors who are willing to take risks. The whole ensemble here is, but Miller is able to capture Randy in his transition mode from adolescent to young adult. There's a sweet spot there, and Miller stays within it until the end, and while the others nearly fall into shopworn tropes, Lent's direction keeps them from doing so. It all works incredibly well; there's not a bad male actor in the bunch. 

"Feeling Randy" is a nostalgia-inducing gem with big heart, and, if you're of a certain age, it's wholly relatable. Lent doesn't want to bang you over the head with a coming out message; he just wants to gently remind you that everyone's journey is different, and whether you're gay or straight, it doesn't matter how you arrive at self-realization, just as long as you get there. 

"Feeling Randy" will be available on all major streaming digital platforms starting November 5.