“Bob’s Burgers: The Movie” opens May 27 in U.S.
Over 12 seasons, it has included a Pride parade, a lengthy list of LGBTQ guest stars and recurring characters - including sex worker Marshmallow (David Herman) and limo driver Nat Kinkle (Jillian Bell) - and plenty of queer coding. Since it began airing on Fox in 2011, the offbeat series has been one of the most LGBTQ-friendly shows on mainstream television.
While Bob and his optimistic, wine-guzzling wife, Linda, try to figure out how to run things without an entrance, their quirky kids work behind the scenes to solve a mystery that could decide the fate of the family business. In “Bob’s Burgers: The Movie,” it’s high season for the mom-and-pop burger joint, but, as usual, something disastrous stands in the way of commercial success: a giant sinkhole that opens up right in front of the restaurant. One of two LGBT+ films based on Broadway shows coming from Ryan Murphy to Netflix this year, The Boys in the Band reunites the cast of the 2018 revival of the play for a film version. Just after the final season of the beloved animated series “Bob’s Burgers” comes to a close on May 22, fans will be able to see the Belchers in their feature film debut. When it’s all said and done, Noé’s abbreviated new offering feels like something between Fellini’s “8 ½” and a sexploitation horror film from the 1970s. That sets the stage for a derivative film packed with allusions to works by directors like Jean-Luc Godard, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Federico Fellini, which climaxes as the fictional shoot descends into chaos and psychedelic visuals.
When the film opens, Dalle is sharing a mostly lighthearted conversation with her leading lady, Charlotte Gainsbourg, who also plays herself, about their exploitive experiences working with male directors. The mockumentary features French femme fatale Béatrice Dalle, playing herself, as a first-time director shooting a film about medieval witch hunts. The film began as an assignment to make a 15-minute commercial for Yves Saint Laurent and ended up as a 50-minute meditation on directing, feminism and genre. Director Gaspar Noé (“Irreversible”) makes dizzying, sexy, avant-garde films, and the Cannes Queer Palm nominee “Lux Æterna” is no different.