Mo Abersheid | 3 Lads, an American Fool and One Night / 2008

a european fling

by Douglas Messerli

 

Mo Abersheid (screenwriter and director) 3 Lads, an American Fool and One Night / 2008 [24 minutes]

 

A bit like the Yiddish schlimazel, to which unfortunate things keep happening, the American idiot is a kind of fool to whom a series of bad events keep occurring, although in some cases he is also the cause of the events himself becoming simultaneously the schlemiel. 

   Greg (Pedro Pano) is on the phone with his girlfriend Lori (Lisa Crosato) assuring her that he hasn’t forgotten about tonight, and yes, since she reminds him, he remembers that it is the third month anniversary of their going together. He has, so he suddenly remembers, booked a very special restaurant and bought her some flowers, her favorite kind, yes, just the ones she mentions. He’ll see her at 7:00.

     He quickly pulls out his copy of the phone book (for those who have never consulted such a book, they were once essential to communication with others), flipping through its pages in search of a special restaurant which after finding, he clearly intends to call and make a last-minute reservation. At that very moment, the phone rings. It’s a young man named Jack (Paul Costin), a Brit traveling in the US, who has just arrived in Los Angeles after a cross-country trip, and he doesn’t have enough money for a motel. Greg’s friend Tim has recommended that he call him, suggesting that perhaps Greg could put him up for the night.

     Jack assures him that he’s a cool guy, he’s trustworthy, Greg needn’t worry. All he wants is a little space just for the night. The American fool appears to have no choice but to agree to the situation, besides he might make a new friend in Jack, completely forgetting about his plans with Lori.

     Greg agrees, ready to provide directions of how to get to his place, when Jack tells him that he’s outside the building actually. Greg’s somewhat hesitant response: “I suppose you should come up then.” Fool that he is, he quickly dusts off the coffee table and rushes to do a brief clean-up of an already tidy apartment.

     When he opens the door to Jack, however, he’s also greeted by Chris (Billy Ray Gallion), and Ian (Adam Powers), Jack’s traveling partners who enter the place and drop their backpacks and sleeping bags on the floor with a heavy thud.

      Greg slightly complains that for “for some reason I had the impression that there was only going to be one of you,” Jack insisting that he had mentioned his buddies. He’s really sorry, but they have been traveling around together. What’s the fool to do? “I promise you, we won’t get in your way,” Jack assures him.

      Greg responds, “Well, you’re already here; we’ll see how it goes.”

    They pull off their hiking boots and, putting their feet up on his coffee table, await the inevitable invite to order up beers. Chris, the friendliest of the lot, joins Greg in the kitchen to give a hand, and in a whisper assures him that if this is in any way an imposition, they can leave immediately. Greg naturally assures him it’s okay, but clearly appreciates the sympathetic offer.

     By the time Greg has returned to his living room, Ian has discovered his “awesome collection of CDs” and is busing checking them out. Jack joins him as they discover Tall [Men Group], Velvet Underground, and Limp Bizkit. Ian and Jack are so involved in checking out his CDs, that they don’t even respond to his attempt to hand them their beers.

      He sits down and Chris and asks about their trip, which evidently started in New York and has ended up “here” in Los Angeles. They’ve been on the road for about a month, Chris reports, “and we probably smell like it too.” Greg agrees. And before you know it, of course, Jack is asking if they can use his shower.

     Before the host knows it, Ian and Jack have put on his music, lined up for showers, and are asking for some more brewskies, and as well as wondering if there is something to eat. Greg is all ready to call for pizza but remembers that he hasn’t arranged for Lori, and makes a quick call, apparently explaining to her the situation and begging her to trust him.

    Chris, seemingly the least presumptive of them all, asks a rather strange question, asking Greg who cuts his hair, and when Greg admits he does it himself, he suddenly wonders whether Greg might cut his hair as well.

    As Gregg heads to the bathroom for a scissors, the others wonder what’s up with the two of them, but Chris puts them off, as they lay back and listen. In the kitchen meanwhile Chris questions Greg about a girlfriend, and Greg, after admitting to Lori, wonders that they must have met up with some beautiful women along the way. Chris responds that Jack has hooked up with a couple, but says nothing about himself. Back to the subject of Lori, Greg reports that he guesses he’s in love with her as much as he could be after three months; but he doesn’t sound convinced.

    Lori, meanwhile, is on the phone with a friend discussing the story Greg has evidently told her about the English guys having called him out of the blue and are staying the night. She feels it’s a little far-fetched and wonders if he might be cheating. She decides, so she reports to her telephonic friend, that she’s going to pay him, “and whoever he has over there, a visit. And he better be telling the truth.”

     Having both now showered, and with a pile of CDs in front of him, Jack asks if his friend had a good “wank,” as Ian wonders if maybe they should put some clothes on, that it’s maybe a little rude since their guests in someone’s house. But Jack dismisses the question, the two discussing a hot chick Maria who Jack promised he would look up on LA.

     Both are wondering where Chris and their host is, with Jack suggesting that he’s cutting Chris’ hair, Ian suggesting that Greg seems a little naïve, as like the jockos they really are, they begin to swat one another with their towels.

    Back at the kitchen hair salon, Greg finishes the cut, both agreeing that it looks nice, with Chris wondering if he might also give his little chin growth a bit of a cut. The American idiot, after a few seconds of pause, says he’ll give it a try. But as he moves around with shaver to face his new friend, Chris reaches out to hold his hand, expressing the fact that he feels Greg is pretty special.

     At that very moment Lori enters, calling out “Greg,” but finding two nearly naked men standing in his living room, demands to know who they are, Jack, putting arm around Ian’s shoulder, laughs telling her “It’s not what you think.”

    Lori goes rushing off calling her boyfriend’s name is horror, only to find Greg kissing Chris, he also responding, “It’s not what you think.”

     Lori is understandably confused and furious as she turns around to leave. Chris admits to his friends that he has just kissed Greg, they also surprised to find out…what he quickly assures them he is not, and neither is Greg, but….he turns away confused. They assure him they don’t mind.

     With that chaos over, so it appears, they still would like some pizza, a request which, of course, Greg obliges. A few drinks later and a pizza in their belly, Jack apologizes for scaring off Greg’s girlfriend. He reacts that he doesn’t really care anyway. “Three fucking fun-filled months,” he spews out in a surprising voice of irony. “It’s all right. I’m just a little drunk.”

     The camera pans the room a few hours later, showing Jack asleep on the couch, Ian on the floor in his sleeping bag, and Chris in a large chair. Greg comes in and gently touches Chris’ forehead before bending into a kiss.

      A short while later the director shows them laying together in Gregg’s bed, awakening, and planting another kiss on Chris’ cheek. Greg argues that Chris might consider staying another night, but Chris assures him that he and his friends have another long drive ahead of them. Besides, Chris admits, although he had a really great time last night, it’s the first of it’s kind and he can’t imagine it happening again.

     “Okay,” answers the American idiot, sad as the clown he plays. “Okay.”

     The trio heads off, with Chris and Greg hugging one another again before he walks out the door.

     The only question that remains is what will the American idiot do when, as it happens just a short while later, his doorbell rings and Lori shows up. Will he tell the truth yet again, make up another story, take her back, or send her packing like he’s been forced to do with his new friend.

     Unfortunately, American idiots like Greg are swayed by the so-called “norm,” and will probably eventually enter into an unhappy marriage in which he spends his life apologizing for his existence. But we have to hope that just maybe his European fling has opened his horizons and his mind.

 

Los Angeles, September 15, 2025

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (September 2025).