It’s official, everyone: we have a new Clueless! Yes, yes, that’s quite an honor, but the desperately hilarious, sharp-as-a-tack G.B.F. (or ‘Gay Best Friend’) is so smart, and so funny, it deserves that envious title, unequivocally. Upon watching this top-notch high school comedy (directed by Jawbreaker helmer Darren Stein), you can’t help but feel the overwhelming timeliness of it all—much in the same way Clueless celebrated (and mocked) its generation, G.B.F. is undeniable Gen-Y material. With entire friendships made and broken over text message (or the urge to send a text, and then not), and quotes like “I learned to clear the internet history when I was 11!”, it’s clear that this isn’t your mother’s (or bitchy older sister’s) teen comedy.

 
Taking that cliché slo-mo-high-school-hallway-shot to the next level, G.B.F. introduces us to Tanner, a somewhat cute, fairly regular sophomore who, oh yeah, is gay. Due to some politically charged mishaps within his somewhat progressive high school’s popularity food chain, Tanner finds himself outed against his will. But while the high schools of previous films weren’t yet equipped to deal with an openly gay teen, G.B.F. takes a refreshing turn, making Tanner into the new must-have ‘it’ accessory for the most popular girls in school (hence the title: a ‘GBF’ is quoted as the next coolest thing to have in a fictional teen mag in the film).

This is where G.B.F. goes from being a spunky niche film to an outright mainstream comedy hit, since the three ‘queen bees’ of Tanner’s school – mafia-inspired rival queens of the top cliques – bring their own brand of wackiness to the film in a perfectly complimentary way as they duke it out for Tanner’s friendship (and ergo, GBF bragging rights). Some of the best one-liners are uttered by Fawcett (Sasha Pieterse, aka Alison DiLaurentis on #PLL!), ‘Shley (the delightful Andrea Bowen), and especially the sassy Caprice (Xosha Roquemore – with a name like that, you know this actress is Fierce).

 
Add to all this some brilliant featured roles played by the likes of Jonathan Silverman, Rebecca Gayheart and most gleefully, Megan Mullally, who hasn’t turned her ‘Karen’ on this much since Will & Grace. Here, she plays the overly supportive mother to a particularly fey teen (Tanner’s best friend Brent, well played by Paul Iacono) who is very flustered and uncomfortable coming out to his mom, even though she knows and loves him endlessly. It’s one of the many subtle and timely touches in the film that prove that aside from being funny, it is also super smart and touching. And watching Megan watch Brokeback Mountain with her positively mortified son – that is truly priceless.

—DH