The titular question is a fascinating one in a broad cultural context, and if writer-director David Thorpe could get out of his own way, his documentary would hang together better. Blending the personal with the political and historical, Thorpe embarks on a journey to figure out why his voice sounds the way it does, why it bothers him and if he’s capable of changing it via help from linguists and speech therapists. An understandable way in, but not, ultimately, all that illuminating.
Along the way, Thorpe does elicit entertaining, thoughtful and sometimes deeply sad insights from David Sedaris, Dan Savage, Tim Gunn, Don Lemon, George Takei and Margaret Cho. The film looks back at “gay voice” throughout popular culture, starting with films of the 1930s and with TV icon Paul Lynde; it also plays a disheartening clip of a young Louis CK bellowing “f - - - - t!” in a routine.
Thorpe interviews a teen boy in Ohio who was badly beaten by classmates for sounding un-masculine; he asks pedestrians of all stripes what they think of his voice, and why. The ensuing conversation, less than the inconclusive answer, is what makes “Do I Sound Gay?” worth a look.