thePeanutBloggery

Before funny Will Truman and Grace Adler, and before adorable Jen Lindley and Jack McPhee, there were bittersweet Nina Borowski and George Hanson of The Object of My Affection.

Written by the late playwright Wendy Wasserstein (The Heidi Chronicles) from a novel by Stephen McCauley, and directed by Nicholas Hytner (The Madness of King George, The History Boys), The Object of My Affection is a smart and insightful film about the complicated nature of relationships between straight women and gay men. Jennifer Aniston plays Nina, a woman looking for an alternative to her overbearing boyfriend, Vince (John Pankow), who discovers she’s pregnant, and Paul Rudd is George, the gay man seduced by the possibility of a more traditional life when Nina asks him to raise the baby with her. Ultimately, though, this film tells the hard truth about the supremacy of desire and romance over their cozy fantasy.

When the film hit theaters in 1998, it was marketed as a romantic comedy. Although the trailer revealed George was gay, this fact was presented as an obstacle to hurdle en route to the magical ending. This strategy may have won an audience on opening weekend, but it was the wrong audience. Anticipating an easily-digested Sleepless in Seattle or While You Were Sleeping, with a satisfying kiss in the final moment before the credits roll, the viewers left disappointed.

If you were one of those people who skipped the film altogether, because a fluffy romance isn’t your thing, spend this Friday night in watching The Object of My Affection. Better yet, buy a pint of ice cream and ask your gay roommate to watch it with you.

The Object of My Affection is available on HBO On Demand until February 18.