Queerly Ever After #14: BREAKFAST WITH SCOT (2007)

Queerly Ever After is a bi-monthly column where I take a look at LGBT+ films that gave their characters a romantic happily-ever-after. There will be spoilers.

As a perfect follow-up to my last column on Regarding Billy, I have picked another holiday-themed movie about a couple who become unwitting parents, 2007’s Breakfast With Scot. I did say my favorite sub-genre is the couple who have to raise a child due to dead/absent/incompetent birth parents. I am sure there’s a lot to unpack about why I gravitate towards that sub-genre (it is not confined to LGBT movies alone, I just generally like it), but this probably isn’t the place for that.

Introducing Scot With One T

Tom Cavanagh stars as Eric McNally, a former Toronto Maple Leaf who, after an injury, is now a sportscaster. The NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey organization actually allowed the film to use real jerseys, clips and other club memorabilia in the film. Eric is in a long-term relationship with sports attorney Sam (Ben Shenkman), but while the two men live together  and are out to their close friends and family, they are not publicly out.

Side note: Cavanagh starred in the NBC show Ed which ran from 2000-2004, in the season 3 episode “Captain Lucidity” his character dreams that he is married with three children, I played one of those children and you can see the full episode on Youtube. I come in around the 00:32:38 mark.)  Eric and Sam’s life is thrown for a loop when they have to temporarily take in orphaned child, Scot (Noah Bernett).

Scot’s mother Julie died of a drug overdose and left Scot in the care of Sam’s deadbeat brother Billy (Colin Cunningham). Billy, however, is off somewhere in Brazil and unreachable, Child Protective Services sees placing Scot with Sam and Eric as the next best option. Although they do not want a child, Eric and Sam apprehensively agree to take in the young boy until Billy can come take him. You can probably see where this is going, they eventually come to love Scot and decide to raise him. Yes, it’s not a radical concept, but, this film ends up being about so much more than what it seems at face value.

Be A Man

Eric and Sam are expecting Scot to be a stereotypical, hockey-loving (it’s set in Canada after all) 11-year-old boy. Scot couldn’t be further from that. Instead, Scot can best be described as gender non-conforming, he wears flower-scented hand cream, feather boas, makeup, a charm bracelet, he loves singing Christmas carols, and he believes in kissing his friends (whatever their gender) on the cheek as a way to say goodbye. And, he is totally comfortable in who he is. Eric and Sam? Not so much.

Especially Eric, who has spent his life trying to play straight in the public eye, while his coworker Nula (Jeananne Goossen) knows he is gay and in a relationship with Sam, no one else at his office knows as he believes it would negatively impact his career. Sports have never tended toward being LGBT-friendly. He proceeds to try to temper Scot’s more non-conforming nature, only truly starting to bond with Scot when he expresses an interest in playing hockey (which Scot does of course only to appease Eric).

As Scot tries to conform to Eric’s conventional masculinity, his behavior begins to change, culminating in an on-the-ice physical altercation with his best friend, Joey (Alexander Franks). Eventually, Eric comes to realize that his discomfort with Scot’s gender presentation is not Scot’s problem, but rooted in his own internalized homophobia and that ultimately, it is on him to change and not on Scot.

Self-Acceptance

Finally acknowledging that Scot’s non-conformity does not reflect in any way on his own gender identity or sexuality, Eric comes to terms with the fact that in order for him to truly be happy in his life, he needs to fully and openly accept himself. He also needs to openly accept his relationship with Sam and stop keeping all signs of affection confined to inside their home. As far as Scot’s sexuality is concerned, while Eric and Sam mention that Scot’s behavior does come off as stereotypically gay, he is an 11-year-old and the film makes no attempt to determine his sexuality one way or the other. Instead, the film acknowledges that one’s gender performance and presentation is not the same as one’s sexuality.

The film is not without its flaws of course, the most notable being that it is far too chaste. Yes, Eric and Sam try to present as outwardly straight and, while in public, maintain their distance and don’t show affection beyond friendship, but behind closed doors the story should be different. This is one of those films that, in trying to appeal to a broader (straight) audience, saves the “one big gay kiss” for the end of the movie. Is it a powerful moment? Yes and no. Yes because it happens in front of a group of other people, no because it still comes off as a chaste peck. Cavanagh and Shenkman have good chemistry, and do feel like a couple, but can they please show more affection while at home? Especially to highlight the stark difference between their public personas and their private ones.

Breakfast with Scot: In Conclusion

While not without its one big flaw, Breakfast With Scot is one of those movies that just makes you feel good. It takes some heady subject matter (gender identity vs. sexuality) and turns it into a lighthearted holiday movie that is well-acted and thoroughly enjoyable. Credit has to be given to Bernett’s performance as Scot. He is able to take a character that could easily fall too far into caricature and keep him grounded. He really manages to carry the emotional core of this film.

Breakfast With Scot came out November 16, 2007 in Canada, and had a limited release in the US on October 10, 2008. For all other release dates see here.