Plot
Three drag queens travel cross-country until their car breaks down, leaving them stranded in a small town.

Release Year: 1995

Rating: 5.8/10 (11,687 voted)

Director: Beeban Kidron

Stars: Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo

Storyline
After jointly winning a local drag queen pageant in New York City, Noxeema Jackson and Vida Boheme win the right and are given the round trip airfare to compete in the Drag Queen of America pageant in Hollywood, California. Noxeema sees herself as the next

Cast:
Wesley Snipes - Noxeema
Patrick Swayze - Vida
John Leguizamo - Chi-Chi
Stockard Channing - Carol Ann
Blythe Danner - Beatrice
Arliss Howard - Virgil
Jason London - Bobby Ray
Chris Penn - Sheriff Dollard
Melinda Dillon - Merna
Beth Grant - Loretta
Alice Drummond - Clara
Marceline Hugot - Katina
Jennifer Milmore - Bobby Lee
Jamie Harrold - Billy Budd
Mike Hodge - Jimmy Joe

Taglines: Attitude is everything.

Release Date: 8 September 1995

Filming Locations: Cornwall, New York, USA

Opening Weekend: $9,019,180 (USA) (10 September 1995) (1294 Screens)

Gross: $47,774,193 (Worldwide)

Runtime: 109 min

Trivia:
According to the three male leads, upon completion of filming they burned their costumes, wigs and make-up because it took so long each morning to "become women."

Goofs:
Continuity: When Virgil is in the kitchen at the stove, he has his forefinger in his mouth tasting the stew. Then the camera switches views and he is pulling his middle finger out of his mouth.

Quotes:
[first lines]
Vida Boheme: Ready or not, here comes mama!

Hilarious and full of Amazing Performances

Rating: 9/10

From its original conception, this film must have started as a riot. The premise of having three macho actors take on the roles of drag queens to put together a very funny and insightful comedy of the sexes must have appeared as an impossible task. In the end, the film works because of its tight screenplay and its well defined characters. Swayze, Leguizamo, and Snipes hold nothing back, making each character real and multi dimensional. There are elements of farce, hilarity, outrageousness, and some very daring moves from its three leads. With the help of a strong supporting cast that includes Stockard Channing, as a battered woman, the film moves along quite nicely.

It's a fantasy with a firm hold in reality. The leads portray three human beings that must confront what society deals them, and in the film, they manage to make some of their dreams come true. Unlike other movies dealing with special types of love, such as "Beautiful Thing" and "Big Eden" where the ending perfectly matches the rest of the fantasy, this one faces reality and offers an interesting type of compromise. It's bittersweet, expertly interweaving both the possible and impossible.

Leguizamo shines as the very caliente latina persona who lives dangerously and tries to fit in, in her own special way. Swayze is the classy one, who is not allowed to forget her true nature. Wesley Snipes' role borders on caricature, but he keeps it from crossing the line between farcical and ridiculous. They all do very good work with this very risqué and difficult material. It works out.

Comments: