Paving the way for the likes of Love, Simon and Heated Rivalry, a beloved indie gay rom-com of the early aughts is marking a milestone anniversary.
Dan Bucatinsky, writer and star of All Over the Guy (2001), recently caught up with Deadline as he prepares to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Julia Davis-helmed romantic-comedy, in which he starred alongside Richard Ruccolo.
“It’s so funny you’re mentioning it because I woke up, I think at 4:00 in the morning because somebody called me, I think it was a wrong number. And as I hung up the phone, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s 2026, 25 year anniversary of All Over the Guy. What are we gonna do?’” he said.
“We’ll do something. I’ve got something cooked up. I’m hoping that there’s some way that one of the LGBT film festivals could do a 25th anniversary something or other, I’m not quite sure. I’m not quite sure how to embrace it,” added Bucatinsky. “I would love to find a way to go back and bring Sasha Alexander and me and Richard and Adam Goldberg together.”
Noting they celebrated the 10th anniversary with a screening at Outfest, Bucatinksy said the reunion also included co-stars Lisa Kudrow, Christina Ricci and Andrea Martin. “It’s now 25 years. It’s harder to bring everyone together from wherever they are, but I would love it,” he added.
In All Over the Guy, Eli (Bucatinsky) and Tom (Ruccolo) are reluctantly thrown together on a blind date orchestrated by their straight best friends, Brett (Adam Goldberg) and Jackie (Sasha Alexander), who spark their own romance while Eli and Tom stumble through a situationship.
“I would love it because so much has changed in 25 years, but I think the movie still holds up, and it’s out there. I think it’s on a bunch of platforms [including Prime Video and Tubi],” said Bucatinsky. “We got the rights back and we put it back out there because I feel like people should be able to find it. I’m very, very proud of that movie. So, stay tuned. I have to get on it because it’s only gonna be 2026 for nine more months, but I think this year it would be great to find a way to honor the anniversary of the movie.”
Described in its time as When Harry Met Larry, as the film didn’t dwell on gloomy topics that often came with LGBTQ films, such as the AIDS crisis, hate crimes and the struggles of coming out, Bucatinsky was proud to make a romantic-comedy “like nobody was making,” calling it a “just so happens to be” movie as it’s about characters that just so happen to be gay.
“I mean, it started as a play that I did here in Hollywood with a woman, as a straight relationship, and somebody said to me, ‘You should make this play into a gay movie.’ And I did,” he said. “Because really, the issues are interchangeable and universal, and at that time in 1999 and 2000, 2001, it was hard for there to be a gay movie that didn’t sort of delve deep into the dark side of what it meant to be a gay person. And I really enjoyed just sort of making a rom-com where two straight people fix up their two gay best friends and there’s no other issue.”
Christina Ricci and Dan Bucatinsky in ‘All Over the Guy’ (2001) (Lionsgate/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Explaining that the film was made before big studios would even touch LGBTQ-focused projects, Bucatinsky recalled it was produced “for very little money,” before Lionsgate put the movie in theaters on August 10, 2001.
“First of all, it was a time when people would go to the movies a lot more than they do now, and Lionsgate was releasing dozens and dozens of movies a year, and oftentimes would pair up LGBT movies,” recounted Bucatinsky. “It was a different time.”
Bucatinsky reminisced about All Over the Guy while discussing his nearly 25-year producing partnership with Lisa Kudrow and the third and final season of The Comeback, airing Sundays at 10:30pm ET on HBO and streaming on HBO Max.
