dark musical comedy about love and hope

Rating: 9/10 (26 April 2004)

The story of a talented rock-star shunned due to the unfortunate status of gender politics of the age. Hedwig's lover co-ops his music and becomes a huge teen-heartbeat star removing all meaning and quality from the music and makes it socially and mainstream consumable, discarding Hedwig left to meander in the underworld of broken dreams. Think Elvis, if he had heisted his gig from a glam star...
An odd mix of theater drama, dark tragedy and sharp political gender comedy, this film easily entertains the open minded and interests even the closed minded. Some parts are a bit over the top but it retains a freewheeling vibe that doesn't allow the sad facts of Hedwig's life to bog it down. Certain scenes of the film seem like unneeded filler and even at times are bordering on agitating but they combine to give more depth to the character as a whole which in turn allows you to care about what happens next in the story and life of Hedwig.
It respectfully (and thankfully) avoids gay cliche' and stereotypes with an intelligent story while retaining the wild and very human charisma that makes it engaging. Steven Trask's score is beyond stellar and even if you can't get into the subject matter of movie, the soundtrack would still be recommended as a solid rock opera piece. The story COULD have easily been used as a bridge device to different musical numbers, however it avoids that horrid musical cliché' with good acting, engaging dialog and bright but sparse directing, making this a great dark comedy. I cannot remember the last time I saw a musical that ran the length of emotion that this one did. Dark comedy, sad introspection, longing, lust and most importantly love.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is successful in being a great dark comedy about love and hope as well as being a great musical achievement. 9/10