'Looking: The Movie' Picks Up Where the TV Series Left Off

For fans of HBO's breakthrough series "Looking," news of the show's impending end stung like a breakup.

Wooed for two seasons by the intimate exploits of Patrick Murray (Jonathan Groff), Agust�n Lanuez (Frankie J. Alvarez), and Dom Basaluzzo (Murray Bartlett), three handsome but imperfect gay friends living in San Francisco, viewers fell irresistibly in love and were reluctant to say goodbye.

It's fitting, then, that "Looking: The Movie" is about the sweet release of closure-and, like recovering from the end of a toe-curling romance, it will leave audiences, aficionados and newcomers alike, feeling renewed.

"Looking: The Movie" begins with video game designer Patrick returning to San Francisco for the wedding of bestie Agust�n to adorable bear Eddie (Daniel Franzese). Patrick left the Bay Area several months earlier-for a job, he says, but with a lovesick expression that suggests otherwise. Celebratory reunions with hunky restaurateur Dom and the ever-hilarious Doris (Lauren Weedman) ensue, as do multiple erotic minglings, old and new. Whether Patrick reconciles with bad-news-boss Kevin (Russell Tovey), renews his relationship with sexy charmer Richie (Ra�l Castillo), or chooses the non-committed life, we will not say, letting you savor the potent particulars as they unfold.

Tovey recently told Entertainment Weekly: "When I read the script, I just cried my eyes out at the end, and there's some very exciting events that are happening." He went on to add "It's beautifully written and it's incredibly moving - and it's real."

Director Andrew Haigh ("Weekend," "45 Years") and co-creator Michael Lannan evoke a genuine sense of people and place. From partying at The Stud, to bonding on Indian Rock, to getting down and dirty at home, "Looking: The Movie" is rendered in the same radically real style that made the series a watershed in the presentation of ordinary gay lives.

"Our characters are still flawed, messy, and complex, but they've also matured, and like the transformed city in which they reside, their optimism and beauty of spirit are what ultimately prevail."

Check out a sneek preview of "Looking: The Movie" on Thursday, July 21, at 7 pm at The Classic Gateway Theatre (1820 Sunrise BLVD, Fort Lauderdale). For more show times or to purchase tickets, visit ClassicGateway.com