To Wong Foo, Thanks For Nothing ! How can I put this nicely. I hate this movie. I loathe it. And
this is unusual for me, because I can get some enjoyment out of
most movies, and I will usually give anyone the benefit of the
doubt. I appreciate creativity and originality. I admire
talent and intelligence - whoops! wrong movie!. These awful
characters,spawned of a brainless script, are so sickeningly
sweet. Even the tarty John Leguizamo character unfortunately
develops a conscience in the tradition of the best American
family film - which by the way this is not! Call me picky -
but it's just impossible to buy this concept. OK - here's the
deal: 3 drag queens in full regalia and being pursued by the law,
suffer a car breakdown in a small rural American town, where
they are promptly adopted as guardian angels by the towns
populace. Fine! Now, where is the humour? Where is the bite?
(think "Priscilla" - so much of which is ripped off, but with no
panache at all) Where is the style, that may have lifted this
slightly above the dross that it is? These glamour babes are
so goody-goody that you could be forgiven for thinking you had
stumbled into some Mary Poppins Twilight Zone. And I have to
admit, there were several dreadful moments when I was just sure
Patrick Swayze was going to burst into song, and with a full
orchestra blazing away in the background, start skipping down
the street. Actually his performance and characterisation
particularly nauseated me, what with his Little-Miss-Fix-It
character, breezing into town and sticking her nose into
everybody's business and solving all their problems. Very
trite in every respect, and superficial beyond belief. Only the
intellectual giant portrayed by the usually flawless Stockard
Channing, has the slightest inkling as to the original gender of
her new friends. As for the rest of the town - are we to
believe that these simple country folk are too unsophisticated
to recognise a big burly man in a dress? Let's face it,
Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes are built like footballers, and
putting a dress on them, no matter how well tailored, no matter
how fabulously colour coordinated, does nothing to disguise
this simple fact. Most irritating moment of all - Patrick
Swayze declaring the day a "say something hat day" Pass me
that airsick bag !! Quick !!