Straightman is not without its merits, first and foremost the fact that it shows a kind of gay man not usually seen on the screen, a blue collar, scruffy, fashion-clueless everyman. It also depicts a friendship between a straight man and a gay man which doesn't unravel when the gay friend comes out, but is instead greeted with a matter-of-factness that hopefully happens more often in real life than movies would have you believe. Both Bens are well cast and the real life bond between them is obvious.
What I find hard to believe is that this film won the Best Screenplay award at Outfest, my "local" gay/lesbian film festival. Why? Because there is no screenplay, just I would guess a brief description of what each scene is to be about and the words: Improvise.
That improvisation is the same as real conversation is a huge fallacy. Improv sounds like improv, and is no substitute for well written dialog performed by talented actors who make the audience believe that their words are spontaneous.
Had the writers/director/stars used improvisation as a starting off point, and then written carefully thought out dialog, this film would have avoided the many boring and repetitive moments that others on this site have criticized.
Memo to filmmakers: Get a script, have your actors learn their lines, rehearse, and say the words. You'll end up with a much realer film than this one.