Lukas Gage is a ‘sex-positive twink’ to Zachary Quinto’s ‘rich zaddy’ in new queer comedy Down Low

Is there any better way to start a queer comedy than with Lukas Gage giving Zachary Quinto a handjob? No, not really.

That’s how the pair’s “outrageous” new film Down Low begins and, if the hype is to be believed, it only gets messier from there.

Directed by actor Rightor Doyle in his directorial debut, Down Low sees Gage star as Cameron, a sex-positive twink and masseur, while Quinto is Gary, a terminally ill, rich zaddy who is yet to go all the way and have his first full, sexual experience with another man.

The film is co-written by Gage, while other stars include Ugly Betty’s Judith Light, Scary Movie star Simon Rex and Beauty and the Beast’s Audra McDonald.

After premiering at SXSW Film Festival last weekend (11 March), the first reviews are in, and it truly sounds like one of the most chaotic films of 2023.

DOWN LOW: A hysterical single-set dark comedy that takes the term “be gay do crime” to the next level. Zachary Quinto and Lukas Gage have magnetic, tender chemistry as an ailing newly-out man and an assertive sex worker. Gage is a star and a damn great screenwriter! #SXSW2023 pic.twitter.com/xfDPvgoazm

— Rendy Jones (@rendy_jones) March 11, 2023

happy to announce that DOWN LOW is extremely good. almost every joke hits to some degree, and while their chemistry certainly burns slowly, zachary quinto and lukas gage are fully committed to the film’s unapologetic and chaotic queer humor. keep an eye on this one #SXSW2023 pic.twitter.com/foRnKbVCiX

— erin 🍉 (@erinmartina) March 11, 2023

Oh, man, Rightor Doyle's DOWN LOW is the queer dark comedy I've been waiting for. Inappropriate, nonstop and genuinely affecting. What a knockout debut where everything going wrong is done so right. Lukas Gage, Zachary Quinto, Judith Light & Simon Rex killed it. #SXSW2023 pic.twitter.com/2CQTMgoCGl

— Paul Lê 🦛 (@AFinalBoy) March 11, 2023

After their encounter, Gage’s character helps Qunto’s Gary to join a queer dating app, and they go in search of a third under the charming screen name “Lad and Dad”.

They’re soon joined by a supposedly straight, incredibly closeted third (Sebastian Arroyo), known as Sammy – or ‘Looking2succ’. After a bit of an angry fuss, Looking2succ ends up hurtling out of a window and swiftly dies.

Peppered throughout are camp references to queer obsessions like The Real Housewives and the phrase “we stan”, while Variety refers to it as a gay version of 2009 cishet phenomenon, The Hangover.

Simon Rex’s character, affectionately known as ‘Fleshpuppet’, is an oddball with a penchant for the dead or dying, who is sourced by Cameron and Gary via the Dark Web to help them dispose of the body, while Judith Light is a nosy neighbour who accidentally stumbles upon Looking2succ’s corpse.

It sounds so very wrong, but so very right.

“It’s fun, it’s outrageous, it’s unapologetic,” Quinto told Deadline ahead of its premiere, while Gage called it “morbid at times”.

“There is a beating heart underneath all of the outrageousness that is first proposed when you start watching the movie,” director Doyle told the publication. “There’s something so fresh about their outrageous sense of humour mixed with this sort of deeply feeling, wanting, unsettled, love that is sort of beating underneath it.”

There are many, many questions left to answer. Will Gary finally get the succ before his inoperable brain tumour takes over? After his The White Lotus rim job, his You golden shower and now his Down Low handjob, what gay sex act will Lukas Gage attempt on screen next? What will make Down Low worthwhile, its “beating heart,” or Lukas Gage beating off Quinto?

Down Low is currently screening at SXSW Festival with a worldwide release date yet to be announced.