Denis, the Menace?

Denis O'Hare is a name that movie fans should care about, even though in terms of Denis' career, the play is really the thing. A Tony winner for Take Me Out and a standout in revivals of Cabaret, Assassins, and Sweet Charity, Denis was most prominently featured on screen as one of the annoyed neighbors in Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming's wonderful ensemble dramedy The Anniversary Party and as the guy at the bottom of the ravine in Garden State. (He also played the doctor studying Sean Penn's heart in 21 Grams, so imagine how much secret knowledge he has about me!)

Anyway, you may have read about Denis and his boyfriend Hugo getting arrested and detained this week as terrorist suspects at a Virginia airport. And, reading the article, even setting aside the implied inanity of the charges, you may have wondered how come boyfriend Hugo is the one who got handcuffed and dragged around even though Denis is saying that he's the big-mouth, and how come Hugo is still the one being hauled into court. Perhaps looking at this picture of the happy, longtime couple clarifies something about their pairing, and something about Hugo in particular, that goes unmentioned in the newsbyte but somehow makes all the details cohere in a sad, infuriating, but recurringly American way. <SIGH>