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Making a kid “the old-fashioned way” becomes the plot engine the second time this year — after Jennifer Westfeldt’s Friends With Kids — in Gayby, a comedy that, much like the perfunctory p-in-the-v it depicts, gives about 30 seconds of pleasure before going limp. Besties since college, Matt (Matthew Wilkas), who’s gay and still smarting over the end of a long-term relationship, and Jenn (Jenn Harris), straight and tired of waiting for the right guy to come along, decide to forgo the turkey baster in their quest to become parents. Although they share a bed for the business at hand, each encourages the other to pursue true romance. The Kinsey discordant couple is advised by Nelson (Jonathan Lisecki, also the writer-director), an acidulous mama bear who resembles a chubby Justin Long and delivers one-liners — a few of which kill — like Harold in The Boys in the Band. Lisecki’s fondness for portmanteaus — in addition to his debut film’s title, “gaymazing” and “cramazing” are also heard — is just one example of several ill-chosen combinations: sitcom pacing, technical values barely above those found on Logo, an ending seemingly pitched to both the Log Cabin Republicans and fans of Kate Hudson movies.
