Slick

Synopsis

To pay the bills while wading through NCLEX prep, aspiring gynecological nurse Nora is stuck waxing an interminable lineup of coochie at her local full-service salon. In any other context, she’d love to be drowning in it, but this job is bleak… until she meets and falls for her client Lila, who loves Paramore and hates bachelorette parties (she must be gay, right?!). But when Nora’s coworker, wingman, and shopping-addicted friend Kevin encourages her to finally pony up and ask Lila out, Nora still can’t make herself do it. Kevin, after all, is one to talk about bravery—he still hasn’t worked up the courage to come out to his super religious family. 

As if that weren’t enough, Nora’s dad has just returned for game night after a long time away; Lila’s mom is almost at her goal weight of feather; and Kevin’s uncle Terry might let him spend Christmas in Boca if he gets off the naughty list. Everyone’s dreaming of the life they want, and everyone’s fantasizing about Santa (Santasizing). 

Themes

“Slick” is a Christmas-themed queer romantic comedy with a dark underbelly: the quippy banter of one scene gives way to the brooding, repetitious monologues of the next; characters become trapped in their self-made prisons of language, routine, and denial; love masks lust, self-care disguises self-loathing, and cheerful family reunions obscure inherited harmful behaviors, as three Zillennials juggle their strange relationships with the elders who taught them, as best they could, how to live with others—and themselves.