A Kiss Between Two Men Doesn’t Automatically Make It a Queer Comedy

Seven years after “The Perfect Secret,” the circle is back. The first installment drew more than five million people to cinemas in 2019, and now director Bora Dagtekin continues the story with the same ensemble. “The Perfect Vacation” opens on October 22. At the world premiere in Munich, the applause was tepid. After the film, one can sense why.

At the center is Pepe, the math teacher who, from a queer perspective, is played by Florian David Fitz. He has come out as gay, and his friends are eager to help him embrace it. Leo (Elyas M’Barek) travels with him to Mallorca to work through the practical aspects of coming out. The others know nothing about the trip. Yet because Dagtekin leans into coincidences with relish, soon the entire group is on the island, and the tangle of lies, affairs, and mistrust continues to unfold. This setup already signals the film’s aim: public coming-out is, first and foremost, a project undertaken by heterosexual friends.

Heterosexuals in Rainbow Swim Trunks

That’s how it looks when things get serious. At the queer beach party, the friends appear in tight rainbow swim trunks, accompanied by lines you’ve heard in mainstream comedies for decades. The gags, of course, punch down at the expense of the queer character. An ironic break is clearly intended, but it’s so weak that the clichés stick instead of being dismantled.

Fitz defends the approach, saying his character grew up with these friends and loves them, even though he’s always felt he didn’t quite belong. “Now his friends expect him to do everything they imagine when they hear the word ‘gay,’” he told the Bavarian Broadcasting (BR). Pepe responds, “Sorry, but that isn’t me.” It’s a promising premise—a misfit finding a way to be true—but it isn’t realized on screen.

Gay Tongue Kiss in Close-Up

That the film sees itself as bold becomes evident in the kiss Leo and Pepe share, exchanged for an Instagram selfie at the party. With tongues in a close-up shot. In 2026, this isn’t a taboo in a mainstream comedy, but the film stages it that way.
M’Barek, who shares the frame with Fitz, views the scene with a practical eye: kiss scenes are always absurd situations, he told the “Merkur.” “What happens on camera is ultimately just the job.” An intimacy coordinator wasn’t present on set. He also notes that the body is showcased: for the swimwear scenes he trained, which fits his character: “Leo is a little self-absorbed, vain, and puts value on his looks.”

Visibility Is Not Enough
The rest is Dagtekin’s standard fare. The Ballermann-style resort hotel that the Munich middle class must relocate to yields a handful of running gags about the on-site entertainment programs. Beyond that, the characters and their conflicts remain shallow, despite the star-studded cast. Each character ends up hurting someone—often more than once—and is hurt in return.

For queer audiences, the comedy is an especially big disappointment: visibility alone isn’t enough. The gay Pepe appears in one of Germany’s most prominent film ensembles, yet he mostly serves as a setup for farce. “The Perfect Vacation” allegedly aims to expose the prejudices of Pepe’s friends. But because he enacts those prejudices himself within two hours, the film ends up confirming them rather than challenging them.