Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (B+ or 3/4 stars)
3 drag queens, Vida, Noxeema, & Chi Chi (Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo) rent a Cadillac & head out on a trip from NY to Hollywood in 'To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar', directed by Beeban Kidron. They intend to compete in the Miss Drag Queen America pageant, BUT, their beat-up car breaks down in the Middle-of-Nowhere, USA. While this fun, witty trio wait for their car to be fixed (over the course of a long weekend), they spend their time teaching & transforming the restrained/mousy women of the small town how to be beautiful, confident women; and convincing an abused wife (played by Stockard Channing) to stand up for herself. Everything goes fine until a homophobic locals & feds (including Chris Penn) starts giving them trouble.
The appeal of this movie is to see macho stars like Swayze, Snipes, & Leguizamo in this stereotypical gay role. Homophobic people may stay away from the theaters. But I imagine lots of people will show-up to laugh at & with the characters. You know what? I I enjoyed the heck out of this movie. Many scenes stick out in my mind: Noxeema's explanation of the differences btwn. drag queens, transsexuals, & transvestites; a scene where the trio make-over their boring motel room to suit their wilder personalities; or the scene where Carol Ann (Channing) sticks up against her man.
The script offers a smattering of fun one-liners. Some interesting cameos pop-up (Robin Williams, RuPaul, Naomi Campbell ... even Julie Newmar, herself). I enjoyed the colorful costumes & make-up work (on our leading men). And the leading men all surprised me; performance-wise. All 3 look to have had a great time hamming it up, here. Swayze has a potent scene or two where he gets to show some emotional range. Wesley Snipes is funnier than anticipated. And Leguizamo may be in the race for a best Supporting Actor nomination. He's very convincing. And I liked his/her story arc.
Now, overall, the film is not a great one. It somewhat runs out of gas as it creeps towards the conclusion. I liked the ending. But a lot of what gets us there could have been funnier, edgier, and/or more topically substantial. A movie like 'To Wong Foo...' should be outrageous, not cautious. Still, as I've said, I kind of breezily enjoyed what I watched. I laughed. The characters are loveable. And despite its ordinariness, it's just a hard film to dislike.
The appeal of this movie is to see macho stars like Swayze, Snipes, & Leguizamo in this stereotypical gay role. Homophobic people may stay away from the theaters. But I imagine lots of people will show-up to laugh at & with the characters. You know what? I I enjoyed the heck out of this movie. Many scenes stick out in my mind: Noxeema's explanation of the differences btwn. drag queens, transsexuals, & transvestites; a scene where the trio make-over their boring motel room to suit their wilder personalities; or the scene where Carol Ann (Channing) sticks up against her man.
The script offers a smattering of fun one-liners. Some interesting cameos pop-up (Robin Williams, RuPaul, Naomi Campbell ... even Julie Newmar, herself). I enjoyed the colorful costumes & make-up work (on our leading men). And the leading men all surprised me; performance-wise. All 3 look to have had a great time hamming it up, here. Swayze has a potent scene or two where he gets to show some emotional range. Wesley Snipes is funnier than anticipated. And Leguizamo may be in the race for a best Supporting Actor nomination. He's very convincing. And I liked his/her story arc.
Now, overall, the film is not a great one. It somewhat runs out of gas as it creeps towards the conclusion. I liked the ending. But a lot of what gets us there could have been funnier, edgier, and/or more topically substantial. A movie like 'To Wong Foo...' should be outrageous, not cautious. Still, as I've said, I kind of breezily enjoyed what I watched. I laughed. The characters are loveable. And despite its ordinariness, it's just a hard film to dislike.