According to the IMDb premise, It’s in the Water is about a town that goes into a panic after a gay local says the town’s water supply is what made him gay. I thought this was a very funny premise for a queer comedy and looked forward to watching this movie. Sadly, that description is not an accurate representation of what It’s in the Water is.
Yes, this movie is about a small town in Texas and yes, a member of the community does make a comment that the water made him gay. However, the panic that causes lasts about one scene. Other than that, it’s a pretty standard example of one of those films about a community who discovers that gays exist among them and ultimately end up being not as awful about the whole situation as they could’ve been.
The big issue I have with this movie is that every character is a stereotype. The only exception to this is Alex, the lead character. She gets a little depth because she’s the protagonist and is onscreen enough to develop some secondary personality traits. Other than Alex, The straights are such stereotypical straights and the gays are stereotypical gays. There’s also a black housekeeper who feels like she’s in a movie made in the 1920′s. I’ve not seen a Mammie stereotype this blatant in a movie this recent that wasn’t at least somewhat deconstructed or subverted. This one is not. Nor are any other stereotypes this movie employs in place of characters. Characters in this movie start as wooden stereotypes and the end the movie as wooden stereotypes now with slightly more empathy for other stereotypes.
It’s possible that some of these blatant stereotypes were for comedic reasons. But that’s the other thing; this movie isn’t funny. IMDb lists the movie as a comedy but the story is closer to a drama and the attempts at comedy are unfunny and often jarring. The movie will go from emotional family moment to wacky comedy character without warning and it makes neither mood work. As for using stereotypes for comedy, it’s poorly done. The comedy stems from leaning into these stereotypes, not subverting or destablizing them.They just have these cliche, queer characters become part of the plot to act as some sort of comic relief. That’s not an acceptable way to tackle this issue and on top of that, it’s not funny! Stereotypes are lazy comedy.
Even for 1997, It’s in the Water doesn’t feel current enough. It seems very much like a well-meaning straight wrote this but their understanding of queer people was still largely hypothetical. Any attempt at allyship, representation or understanding get bogged down by overused gay tropes like all gay men are into the clubbing lifestyle and every girl needs a witty gay friend. The film clearly struggles, as its characters do, with seeing queer people as regular people “just like us.”
It’s just a bummer that this is the movie we got. The premise of a small town going into gay panic because they think the water supply turned them gay is absolutely one that could be used for both comedy and drama. I was sort of hoping for standard, straight stereotypes experimenting sexually because of some sort of gay placebo effect. Maybe there’s a heartwarming story about a long-closeted or questioning member of the community to finally have a chance to come out among this wacky misunderstanding. Admittedly, I maybe hoped for too much and placed too much weight on a misleading summary. However, I still feel like the movie that I imagined this film would be was better than the one we actually got.
It’s in the Water isn’t good. However, it’s also not bad enough for me to get particularly passionate about. It’s just a mild failure. It’s not funny and the characters are wooden. On the positive side, the chemistry between both queer couples (one of two men and one of two women) is solid. But that’s all I can think to actually praise about this movie. Give it a miss. It was dated in 1997 and by 2020, it’s completely irrelevant. Leave this one in the past where it belongs.
Overall rating: 4.4/10
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