Malcolm Ingram's Small Town Gay Bar is the documentary equivalent of a Xeroxed, stapled 'zine: Its homemade scruffiness provides much of the charm. In the best punk tradition, it's all about self-expression and passion rather than slickness. Kevin Smith produced this Sundance sleeper, which takes a bemused, affectionate look at the small-town Southern gay bars that serve as life-affirming oases of queer-friendliness in a vast sea of intolerance. Homosexuality went mainstream ages ago, but countless burgs in the Deep South lag decades behind the curve. For blue-collar gays in shapeless jeans and faded sweatshirts, these bars function as much more than places to meet friends, drink beer, and scope out potential lovers; they're life preservers for Southern gays drowning in the Bible belt's small-mindedness and backward sexual politics.
