Was it an "Emperor's New Clothes" moment for "Brokeback Mountain"?
The cowboy-on-cowboy flick - starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as star-crossed lovers and Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway as their unlucky wives - has been lavished with awards and critical acclaim, lassoing seven Golden Globe nominations and the Venice Film Festival's top honor, the Golden Lion.
But openly gay stage and screen star Nathan Lane went on the "Today" show Friday and, instead of treating the Ang Lee movie with customary reverence, had a satirical field day at "Brokeback's" expense.
"I wish I could quit you," twanged Lane - who was on the show ostensibly to promote "The Producers" - mocking Gyllenhaal's cowboy confession to his bunkmate.
"It's really when [Ledger] said, 'This thing gets hold of us the wrong time, the wrong place, we're dead,' " Lane recalled as Katie Couric and "Today" crew members giggled. "I thought, 'What do you mean, like the A&P? You're in the middle of nowhere! Get a ranch with the guy! Stop torturing these two poor women and get a room! What's the problem?' "
Flacks for Focus Features didn't return phone calls, and a publicist for "Brokeback" screenwriter Larry McMurtry declined comment.
