Man of the Year

In 1992, Dirk Shafer was voted Playgirl magazine's man of the year. He was the incredible hunk, handsome, buff, built, yet sensitive and intelligent, sympathetic to the modern woman. Dirk worked Playgirl like he knew it was his big break, and Playgirl worked Dirk. They knew he was the best spokesman they could hope for. He manned the phone hotlines, and he did the TV talk show circuit. Only one problem. Dirk Shafer is, was and surely always will be...gay. A semi-documentary, this purports to be the work of film-makers who only stumble across Shafer's deception mid-shoot. This conceit doesn't come off: we never believe in the team behind the camera, let alone the eccentrics in front of it. The fake interviewees are fairly easy to spot, but the film gets the tone about right, touching lightly and wittily on issues of sexual orientation, pornography, 'outing' and popular self-deception. Dirk emerges as charming, naive and a little manipulative. He also wrote and directed this playful mea culpa.