‘The Parenting’ is a universal love story that pushes past stereotypes
With a queer Asian lead, the cast discusses the film’s representation and its global relatability
"The Parenting" follows boyfriends Rohan (Nik Dodani) and Josh (Brandon Flynn) dealing with a 400-year-old homophobic and racist poltergeist.
Courtesy of Max
Words by Andre Lawes Menchavez
What happens when you create a movie about a South Asian gay man and his fiance meeting each other's parents, while spending the weekend at an estate haunted by a 400-year-old homophobic and racist poltergeist? A terrifyingly hilarious comedy.
The Parenting—now streaming on Max—follows Rohan and Josh, a queer couple played by Nik Dodani and Brandon Flynn, as their attempt to introduce their families transpires into a campy case of demonic possession. The horror-comedy is packed with a star-studded cast, featuring Brian Cox (Frank), Edie Falco (Sharon), Lisa Kudrow (Liddy), Dean Norris (Cliff), Parker Posey (Brenda), and Vivian Bang (Sara). The film is directed by Craig Johnson (Alex Strangelove) and written by Kent Sublette (Saturday Night Live).
Beyond the well-executed blend of horror and comedy on screen, the film has a special heart to it, showcasing a rare queer South Asian lead and a supporting cast of characters who wholeheartedly support queer love.
Norris, who plays Josh’s father, Cliff—a Midwestern, masculine-type—shares with JoySauce how the film’s diversity and his character’s surprising allyship to his queer child was a big part of him taking on the role.
“I think it's very important to see (diversity) in movies. It was one of the reasons I wanted to play this character, because I wanted to play a dad who was loving and accepting of his gay son, and that was really important to me,” Norris says. “I think Cliff was willing to do anything it took to make this weekend go well. And I think that more people should be loving and accepting of people in this country, in this world, and it would be a much better place. A lesson you could take from this film too is that you can be this Midwest dad, but you can also be a loving person and certainly love your kids unconditionally. I'd love for people to smile at Cliff and go, ‘That's a good guy! That's a dad I'd like to have.’ If that would come through in the movie, I'd love it.”
From left, Nik Dodani as Rohan and Brandon Flynn as Josh in "The Parenting."
Courtesy of Max
Bang—who plays Rohan and Josh’s eccentric best friend Sara, and joins in on the weekend trip—also hopes her character evokes a bigger message in the film beyond the comedy. “I think as humans, we only know what we see, and so the more we see and the more we're exposed, it is going to be our experience,” Bang says. “If there are stereotypes or certain tropes that Asian Americans get, it's because that's all we've been seeing in the media. So I love a character like Sara, who is so nuanced. She's not bad or good. She's not a model minority or just a diva. I mean, she is a diva, but, you know, she's a myriad of things! And one of them is a loving friend who wants to belong to a family, who wants to be part of the party. It really relates to our country and the world that we live in with how there is room to make for people who are different.”
And making room for different narratives and creating representation for people in film that we often don’t usually see is something that resonates with director Johnson, and writer Sublette.
“For me, the movie reflects the world we live in,” Johnson says. “I live in New York City, so these sort of pairings, these families, these chosen families, they feel like they're my reality. I think that films just should reflect that reality.”
Sublette adds, “I can't agree more because it's hard right now to hear some of the things that people say about diversity and it's nice to be able to create things that don’t adhere to what people think it should be.”
Johnson says it's no accident that the homophobia and racism is coming from a 400-year-old demon. “That meant something to me when we were making this movie. We were hiding our medicine in all this fun and sugar, but we wanted to emphasize that (the demon) is the voice of a dying, old, ancient, creature—a voice from another generation,” he says. “We have a character (played by Parker Posey) who in the movie is basically like, ‘The ghost is old, he thinks in an old way, let’s move past that.’ I like to do things with the lightness of touch, and it was a radical act we chose, to be dismissive of that (time period) in the movie.”
But beyond the love story of Dodani’s and Flynn’s characters being valuable representation in Hollywood for the Asian community, the two leads share how these characters’ poltergeist-filled relationship is ultimately a story that can resonate with audiences everywhere.
From left, Dean Norris as Cliff and Lisa Kudrow as Liddy in "The Parenting."
Courtesy of Max
“I think that in a very cheesy way, seeing Josh and Rohan in a relationship together sort of exemplifies being the change you want to see in the world,” Flynn says. “If you want acceptance, accept each other. And if you want, you know, no more demons, kill the demons!”
Dodani adds, “Yeah, Rohan is gay and Indian, and Josh and Rohan are in a very, very, very gay relationship, but the movie and their relationship is also about things that a lot of people deal with. Like the way we become teenage versions of ourselves when we're around our parents, or the desperate need to have everything go perfectly, or the fear that the people we love might not love each other. I just love seeing a couple like Josh and Rohan at the center of a story that is so universal. Meeting your partner's parents is one of the most terrifying things in the world, whether there's a demon or not!”
Published on March 14, 2025