VIOLET TENDENCIES Mindy Cohn teaches the facts of fag-haggery in Violet Tendencies, a fairy tale that dolls up its rote celebration of staying true to one's self with bawdiness and blunt sentimentality. Forty-year-old Violet (Cohn) adores her gay-companion lifestyle, but also yearns for straight romance, a quest stymied both by homosexual pals who shun hetero bars and her penchant for frankly discussing on dates her FUPA (“fat upper-pussy area”). That acronym is emblematic of dialogue that's way too pleased with its own cutesy outrageousness, though at least Casper Andreas' film has enough zippy momentum to mildly compensate for its lame sense of humor. Violet's saga involves a bitchy bulimic co-worker (Kim Allen); a commitment-phobic roommate (Jesse Archer); a best friend (Samuel Whitten) coping with a husband (Andreas) eager to have a baby; and, eventually, a dull paramour (Armand Anthony), whose idea of fun is watching architectural columns at sunrise. In this flamboyant world, love means never having to change. Yet it's hard to swallow such a dubious message when it's made via schematic, preposterous plotting that stacks the deck in favor of its protagonists' happily-ever-afters, culminating in deus ex machina style with the faux-surprising appearance of a mythological “fag stag.” (Nick Schager) (Sunset 5)

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.