Set in 1997 -- before gay liberation and law reforms -- Plainclothes focuses on a young Syracuse, NY police officer assigned to vice squad duties. His job: hang around malls and entice gay men into bathrooms where they’ll soon be arrested for indecent exposure, lewd behavior, or indecency. Tom Blyth plays Lucas, the young cop who lures men into restrooms and then bolts as his fellow officers race in to make an arrest. The twist: Lucas is coming to grips with his own gayness. The situation spawns a complex drama about Lucas's struggles with his conscience and with his blue-collar family, which isn't exactly gay friendly. Blyth ably captures the conflicts tearing at Lucas, who's also in the midst of separating from his wife. A key story component arrives when Lucas develops a relationship with a man (Russell Tovey) he refuses to arrest. Tovey's Andrew teaches Lucas to operate on the sly, introducing him to a world in which homosexuality often involves men leading double lives. Maria Dizzia, as Lucas's mom, and Gabe Fazio, as one of his uncles, make the family dynamics real, if not always pleasant. The film also deals -- albeit briefly -- with Lucas's relationship with his fellow officers. I thought it would be interesting to tell this kind of story from the perspective of a straight man whose conscience begins to nag at him. That's probably another movie, though. As it is, Lucas's story serves as a reminder of what life had been like for many gay men before society began to change.
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