Reverend's Review: Playing Doctor with Kal Penn

Nearly 20 years after her death, the sad saga of Anna Nicole Smith endures for many. She died in 2007 at the age of 39. The Texas-born, former exotic dancer’s particularly American brand of stardom seemed designed for gossip shows and magazine covers. Among the memorable events surrounding Anna Nicole were her 1993 Playboy “Playmate of the Year” title; a legal battle over her late octogenarian billionaire husband’s estate that went all the way to the Supreme Court; appearances in fashion ads and movies; and affairs with a German “prince,” celebrity photographer Larry Birkhead and attorney Howard K. Stern, her costar on E! Network’s The Anna Nicole Show.

Her 20-year old son Daniel died suddenly in 2006, a mere three days after Smith gave birth to his half-sister, Danielynn. Smith herself would die soon after, a victim of longtime substance abuse. These highs and lows of her life are being recounted in a new movie, Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, which will be released this Friday, October 16th. 

The film primarily focuses on Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, a Los Angeles physician and son of Indian immigrants who started treating Anna Nicole after buying her previous doctor’s practice in 2004. As their doctor-patient connection turned into a casual acquaintanceship, Anna Nicole invited Kapoor to the 2005 West Hollywood gay pride parade as her guest. Afterward, he went clubbing with her, her beloved dogs, and her entourage. Various bystanders at the club and newscasters at the parade filmed them.

That footage leaked to TMZ in 2009, two years after she was found dead, and Kapoor was subsequently charged with eight felonies including prescribing her potentially lethal doses of methadone and Vicodin. He was eventually found not guilty. Kapoor’s 2017 memoir, Trust Me, I’m a Doctor: My Life Before, During and After Anna Nicole Smith, was a look at the court case from his point of view. He also shared personal stories including becoming a father to twin boys via a surrogate and coming out as gay to his parents while in his 40’s.

Writer-director Thane Economou (The Wedding Party) has adapted Kapoor’s memoir into an insightful, frequently funny, and often moving biopic about being burned by fame, and the way a craving for attention can be its own kind of drug.

“I saw Sandeep Kapoor as someone who stood at the intersection of entertainment, the justice system, and politics,” Economou explains in the film’s press notes. “There’s no question that Anna Nicole Smith was indicative of the late 20th century and early 21st century’s obsession with fame. Kapoor is a person who, in a tangential way, got totally pulled into that world.”

Kal Penn headlines the movie as Dr. Kapoor. Perhaps best known as Kumar in the Harold & Kumar series of stoner comedies, Penn gives an unexpectedly dramatic performance here. His casting is most appropriate given that Penn, like Kapoor, is a son of Indian immigrants. He also came out as gay in 2021.

In addition to his acting career, the multi-talented Penn worked for the Obama Administration in several capacities from 2009 to 2016 and teaches Asian-American studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

While preparing for his latest role, Penn noted that some of the ways Kapoor behaved when around Smith were not only indicative of a man charmed by a celebrity, but also of someone whose sense of self-worth seemed to inordinately hinge on approval.

“There was something very interesting about him from an acting perspective,” said Penn. “The thing that made Sandeep compelling to me were the levels of simultaneous insecurity and a self-importance that wasn’t necessarily reflected in his world. People were obsessed with Anna Nicole Smith--not with her doctor--but because Sandeep was her doctor, he got sucked into an aspect of fame that is not there in reality.”

Though the movie jumps back and forth in time as the onscreen Kapoor tells his story in a series of asides and callbacks, Penn adjusted his own copy of the script so that it was in chronological order. This gave the actor an emotional throughline to his character.

“More than anyone else, Kal knew the journey of the character,” says writer-director Economou. “He was always thinking, what is the intention behind this or that thing Kapoor says or does? Because at any given moment (in the film), Kapoor is hiding something or lying about something — even when it’s something totally unimportant. We kept asking, ‘What is Kapoor’s intention here, what’s going through his head?’ What I really respect about Kal is he had the memoir, and he had his conversations with Kapoor, but then at a certain point he said, ‘Now we honor the character as written in the script, and that’s the person I’m going to stick to.”

As Penn recalls, “If you go to Kapoor’s practice in the San Fernando Valley today, it’s in the same building as it was when he knew Anna, it’s the same practice as when Anna was his patient. He’s the only doctor there. He knows all of his patients, and they literally will text or call him with any issue. He cares about all of them, he writes down notes about them in a pad. Shadowing him was interesting to see all that; I mean, if I need to see my doctor, good luck getting an appointment for two months, and good luck getting a human on the phone! So seeing Kapoor work in a kind-of old school way, and understanding that about him, shed a lot of light on his character.”

Observing Kapoor also gave Penn additional insights for his performance. “There’s so much that Sandeep Kapoor does physically that I thought carried a lot of tension,” explains Penn. “For instance, the way he crosses his legs felt to me to be very tight from the waist down. From the waist up, as he was speaking with patients, he was very open — but from the waist down, he seemed really closed off. I thought there was an interesting tension there; something was happening behaviorally.”

Penn concluded: “It’s not every day you get to play a guy who you can meet with and who is so open and vulnerable about his insecurities. It was an interesting and welcome challenge to play him.”

Reverend's Rating: B

The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.

Reverend's Reviews: Teacher Time Warps

In the wake of attending a performance of TOSOS Theatre Company's world premiere play Burning Leaves last weekend, Reverend became inundated with memories of one of my former teachers, Don Harris. Mr. Harris, as we referred to him then, taught the Junior High gifted program I was unexpectedly privileged to be part of way back in 1979-1981. He was fit, attractive, and given to wearing tight Polo shirts but--primarily due to his stern demeanor and mustache (I've never been a fan of facial hair)--I didn't develop a crush on him, unlike some of the girls in my class.

He took an interest in me, however, as a young fan of movie musicals and one day offered to loan me his original Broadway cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures. I hadn't heard of it nor of Sondheim but I took it home, listened to it and, soon after returning his copy to him, bought my own LP of it. A musical theater queen was born! Don and I met for lunch one day approximately 24 years later. We officially came out to each other then and I thanked him for his early encouragement of me.

The protagonist of Burning Leaves is a high school theater (NOT drama) teacher by the name of Matt Leland. Mr. Leland, up until now an NYC-based actor, has newly arrived in rural Illinois in the wake of a traumatic (though initially secret) event. Though he intends to keep a low profile as a closeted gay man, things become complicated once a male student as well as a female co-worker take more than a professional interest in him.

Written by the accomplished Tom Rowan, the play is an affecting piece despite some melodramatic flourishes and dated elements. While it is set in 2007, Matt's naivete regarding appropriate student-teacher relationships (although he wisely doesn't cross the line into the physical/sexual) as well as the ethical conundrum posed when he rents a room from his aforementioned co-worker, Jane, make the time period seem at least 10 years earlier. The fact that Jane's daughter/Matt's new housemate Hallie is one of Matt's students heightens the inappropriateness, from a 21st century perspective, all the more.

Director Graydon Gund certainly takes this story seriously and wisely cast some strong actors who also do so. Brady Dalton Richards, an alumnus of Broadway's Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, is excellent as the increasingly conflicted Mr. Leland. Meanwhile, Campbell Idol is making his New York theatrical debut as Matt's increasingly lovelorn student, Jesse, and matches Richards beat by dramatic beat. Sophie Tananbaum as Hallie is also noteworthy for making her teen character less naive than the adults in her life.

The provocative yet heartfelt Burning Leaves is playing through October 17th. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit tososnyc.org.

The new(ish) off-Broadway politi-musical satire Slam Frank similarly reminded me of my former teacher Mr. Harris, mainly because he assigned The Diary of Anne Frank to me and my classmates as required reading during 7th grade. It also reminded me of Broadway's Hamilton, from which it takes inspiration as evident in its Hamilton-esque logo above, and the more recent but equally irreverent Oh, Mary!

This generally gleeful, definitely left-wing production re-casts real life Holocaust victim Anne as a hip hop, wannabe Latina intent on destroying outdated constructs--then and now--like patriarchy, hetero-normativity, racism and gender conformity during the Nazis' oppression. Anne aka Anita and her fellow attic-dwelling family members/associates confront all of these with the help of Andrew Fox's jaunty songs (although his lyrics are sometimes hampered by the volume/acoustics) and Esosa Oviasu's exuberant choreography.

The entire cast headlined by Olivia Bernabe as Anita/Anne is fantastic. Reverend was amused by Bernabe's program bio in which she wrote: "Thank you Slam team for trusting me with Anne and not replacing me with Rachel Zegler" (during the transfer from another theater last season to the current one). The show's considerable, often hilarious video design by Zack Lobel also deserves a shout out, as does super cute Walker Stovall (who Reverend recently saw in the gay-themed fantasia Silverback Mountain) as each performance's ASM/live cameraman.

Slam Frank gets more serious and subsequently more challenging during the climax of Joel Sinensky's perceptive, timely book. How one feels coming out of the theater will likely depend on one's current political and/or religious perspective, but this show's overall generational appeal may yet transport it to Broadway a la Oh, Mary! For now, it is playing at NYC's historic Orpheum Theatre. Visit slamfrankmusical.com for more info and tickets.

Reverend's Ratings

Burning Leaves: B

Slam Frank: B+

The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.

Reverend's Interview: Reverend Himself!

While Reverend has interviewed many filmmakers, actors, writers and other creatives during the past 30 years, I've only been on the other end of the mic, camera or email a handful of times. Therefore, I was delighted when the magazine I've contributed to for the past 14 years recently decided to spotlight me! Here is a link to their October 5th website posting of it: 

30 Years, Countless Stories and One Very Good Plot Twist - Rage Monthly Magazine

And here is the interview as initially conducted via email:

Q: This summer marks 30 years since you became a consistently published critic and entertainment writer. What first drew you to this work, and do you remember the first piece you saw published in print?

REV: Thank you so much for recognizing my anniversary! It has been a journey, to be sure. I actually started out to be a filmmaker. When I was in the 6th grade in Phoenix, Arizona, I discovered my late grandfather’s Super 8 movie camera and made a Superman movie with several of my classmates. In high school and college, I studied film and theater and eventually earned an Associate’s degree in Motion Picture/TV production and my Bachelor’s in Communications. I even won some student filmmaker awards. I was all set to move to LA/Hollywood in 1988 when God called with a different plan.

I entered seminary and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1995. The editor of Arizona’s bi-weekly Catholic newspaper, The Catholic Sun, was aware of my background and asked me if I would start writing movie reviews for them. I agreed to do so in 1996 and my first published review was a favorable one of Disney’s animated The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It sparked a debate via letters to the editor that ran for three issues over the merits of the movie as well as whether a priest should be reviewing movies in the first place. One reader accused me of doing “a great disservice to Catholic children,” lol. But the controversy made me a local celebrity virtually overnight.

Q: How has your voice as a critic evolved over those three decades, and what do you understand about the job today that you didn’t when you started?

REV: While I wasn’t exactly closeted when I first started reviewing, my departure from the Roman Catholic church 10 years later allowed me to be completely out as an openly gay critic and focus more on movies with overtly LGBTQ content. Becoming more comfortable in this regard was an evolution as well as adapting to the internet, which was pretty new to me. Streaming movies and TV shows is an even more recent development, and trying to keep up with all the new offerings is the biggest challenge for me nowadays. But between my print and online presence today, I have a broader and even more international readership than I ever imagined.

Q: Fourteen of those years have been spent writing for The RAGE Monthly. What have you enjoyed most about covering film for our readers, and are there any RAGE assignments that hold a special place in your memory?

REV: I am so grateful to RAGE for your support over the years. When I first moved to Long Beach in 2006, I was invited to write for the late Blade magazine. I did so for 6 years, but then Blade was sold and other circumstances led me to RAGE in 2012. I certainly feel it has been a happy collaboration, and I appreciate that RAGE has allowed me to not only write about film and TV but theater, opera and music as well. You’ve definitely helped broaden my critical horizons!

Q: You’ve interviewed such notable figures as Alfred Molina, Dakota Fanning, Charles Busch, Bebe Neuwirth, Alex Newell, Bryan Fuller and the late Ray Liotta. Which interview has stayed with you the most, whether because of something the person said or something unexpected that happened?

REV: I’m honored to have interviewed LGBTQ icons like Busch, Newell and Fuller. Out Broadway director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell, who founded the annual Broadway Bares fundraiser in NYC for people living with HIV/AIDS, was another fave interview who sticks out in my mind. I’ve been privileged to interview the delightful Michael Urie twice. Alfred Molina and I had an unexpectedly funny rapport, and Ray Liotta’s sensitivity impressed me.

I have to say though that the strongest celebrity/artist connection I’ve made over the years was someone I never actually interviewed. Soon after relocating to Southern California, I crossed paths with actor Barry Dennen. Barry was the original Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar on LP, stage and film. He also played the Emcee in the original London production of Cabaret (opposite Judi Dench as Sally Bowles) and memorably voiced the sniveling Chancellor in Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal. We often joked about Pontius Pilate and the Priest being friends, lol. He even introduced me to his friends, including the fabulous Jo Anne Worley, as “my priest.” Barry was culturally Jewish. Sadly, he died in 2017. I had the honor of officiating his funeral at Hollywood Forever cemetery.

Q: You serve as editor and chief contributor of Movie Dearest, a website offering reviews and cinematic perspectives for gay and gay-friendly audiences. How did you become involved with the site, and what role has it played in your writing career?

REV: Movie Dearest was developed in 2007 by Kirby Holt, one of my best friends since high school, and he invited me to contribute. Wow, I just realized Movie Dearest is nearly 20 years old! The blog gave me the opportunity to share “Reverend’s Reviews” and interviews I had done for other publications as well as post new ones, notably my theater reviews. Kirby stepped down as editor/administrator a year or so ago and I took over. I am in the early stages of developing a podcast as part of Movie Dearest, so stay tuned!

Q: You were also a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. Why was it important to create a professional organization specifically for LGBTQ+ critics, and how have you seen its influence grow?

REV: In 2008 or 2009, I crossed paths with fellow critic John Griffiths. We got to talking and both thought a group of specifically LGBTQ critics who could give annual film awards a la the African American Film Critics Association and Women Film Critics Circle was needed in Hollywood and beyond. John ran with it and we formed with approximately 30 members. Today, GALECA has over 500! Some studios were wary of us at first and it took a few years to establish relations with them. Today we present our annual Dorian Awards (named after Oscar Wilde’s timeless The Picture of Dorian Grey) not only to movies but to TV shows and Broadway/Off-Broadway productions! Now that I live NYC-adjacent in Connecticut, I’m a member of our Theater Wing and love it.

Q: You have spent 31 years as a priest, 15 years as an openly gay Reformed Catholic bishop and nearly 20 years as a hospice chaplain. How has each of these callings shaped you, and what have they taught you about faith, identity and service to others?

REV: They say the Lord works in mysterious ways and I can testify to this! If you had told me back in the 1980’s that I would one day be any one of these things, I would not have believed you. I had a rocky relationship with God after my parents divorced when I was 9. Things got rockier when I was a teenager figuring out my sexuality. In hindsight, I can see God had faith in me when I didn’t have faith in God. I tried to remain open, however, and that ultimately allowed God to break through.

I am so grateful for all the opportunities and hats—some literal—that God has given me. I affiliated with the Reformed Catholic Church in 2009 and they consecrated me as a bishop a few years later. Hospice ministry in particular has given me so much insight into the human condition and a greater appreciation of life. I pretty much fell into it after moving to Long Beach. Wells House Hospice was still operating there and provided a final home to many people with end stage AIDS and nowhere else to go. They hired me as a chaplain in January 2007 and I have continued to serve in that role with other hospice agencies ever since. I became board certified in 2023.

Q: After 30 years of reviews, interviews and memorable encounters, what still excites you about the work—and is there someone you would still love the opportunity to interview?

REV: It’s been interesting and exciting, but sometimes frustrating, to watch how the film industry and theater-going have changed, especially post-COVID 19. There are definitely more “hoops” one has to jump through on one hand, while Zoom and online opportunities have made artist/celebrity access easier in other ways. I’m happy that seeing movies on the big screen has become popular again, as evidenced by the massive international success of The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day this summer.

I would love to interview Lady Gaga one of these days and discuss her vibrant career as well as her Catholic background. A newer singer-actress I’ve been impressed by is Amber Iman. San Diego audiences may recall her from Lempicka at La Jolla Playhouse a few years ago. I saw her in it on Broadway (for which she was Tony Award nominated) and recently saw her in the world premiere of the musical Black Swan in Boston. She is now appearing in Hadestown on Broadway. I’d love to chat with her one of these days.

Q: Anything else you’d like to share?

REV: One of the most unanticipated developments in my life was that of marriage. I met my now-husband, James, in Long Beach in 2007 when same-sex marriage wasn’t even legal. Neither of us could have predicted then we would one day be legally married and living together in his home state of Connecticut. We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last year. Yet another example of God’s unpredictable ways, lol.

The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.

Reverend's Reviews: Penises and Politics

Reverend spent time in New York City during Labor Day weekend, and do I have stories to tell! One man who has more stories to tell, though, is Garry Starr. Also known as Australian actor-comedian Damien Warren-Smith, Garry is currently STARRing in a riotous, mostly naked production at Off-Broadway's Studio Seaview through October 11th.

Warren-Smith is an award-winning writer, producer and performer of "brilliantly stupid physical comedy" (Fest Mag). His third show Classic Penguins swept the Australian festival circuit including the coveted Most Outstanding Show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. It then went on to play the 700-seat Garrick Theatre in London’s West End, and it has now reached NYC.

The concept is unique, to say the least. Garry Starr is apparently a penguin, even sporting flippers initially. He claims that he and his fellow penguins wrote the series of abbreviated paperbacks popular with young people such as myself back in the 1970's-80's. He goes through a collection of approximately 70 of the novels positioned on a nearby bookshelf during the 75-minute performance, but utilizes nakedly physical comedy and audience interaction to illustrate their plots. Some of his antics are borderline brilliant, while others are laughably silly. I don't want to spoil things with more graphic details for prospective attendees.

According to his website, "the basis for Damien’s performance work is to use playfulness to tell stories in a more engaging and impactful way. Inspired by master clown Phillipe Gaulier, the pleasure of entertaining through simple, beautiful idiocy forms the foundations of his work." This certainly seems accurate. Reverend also gives Damien serious props for his full-frontal bravery, dexterity and ability to engage his audience. I look forward to seeing more from him in the future, with or without clothing.

Penises (or more colloquial words to describe male genitalia) and politics have long seemed to go together, at least in the good old US of A. This seems especially true of our current, woebegone state of affairs. Leave it to some women, therefore, to try to make some sense of it.

The late Wendy Wassterstein's An American Daughter, which premiered in 1996, is currently receiving its first revival production at NYC's Pershing Square Signature Center through this Sunday, September 20th. It boasts a fantastic cast of recognizable, award-winning actors who are listed alphabetically in the image below.

Blending comedy with pointed socio-political insight, the play examines the unraveling of a prominent Jewish-American, Democrat-Republican political family as personal missteps, sexual politics, public scrutiny and relentless media attention collide. It is a multi-faceted tale of a family that cannibalizes its own legacy by undermining the potential of a daughter, Lyssa, who carries the family torch. The revival is timely, plot-wise, to say the least.

But it can be argued Wasserstein threw in a little too much, even for the late 90's. Extraneous characters like Lyssa's best friend since high school, who struggles with being Jewish and Black, plus her and her husband's unapologetically gay (to a detrimental degree) longtime friend, not to mention her husband's ambitious former student turned influencer...plus a little something more. Their various interactions expand the play's run time to nearly 3 overlong hours.

The play is involving so long as the focus stays on Lyssa and her moral dilemma--thanks to an arguably minor mistake in her past--as the newly nominated US Surgeon General. And this production looks and sounds great thanks to Mikiko Suzuki Macadams' set, Alan C. Edwards' lighting, and great use of period pop music.

Unfortunately, lead actress Jean Lichty's performance as central character Lyssa is a major deficit. She is frankly too old for the role and often delivers her lines haltingly. Of note, Lichty is the current Executive Director of La Femme Theatre Productions, presenter of this revival. This may have been a bit of nepo casting, and the show suffers as a result.

Reverend's Ratings

Garry Starr Classic Penguins: B+

An American Daughter: C+

The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.