Funny, Bizarre and Disturbing all at Once

Rating: 7/10 (12 August 2014)

This was a film that I had seen once before several years ago. It was riotously funny and heartwarming to watch at times. The film's over the top characters and acting made for campy entertainment.
However, there are so many stereotypes here that I think it takes from the pro-LGBT message. The anatomically female characters are so horribly depicted that it made for some painful watching. That is with the exception of Marion (Sarah Chadwick), Tick/Mitzi's wife, who is lesbian or bisexual herself.
Mitzi (Hugo Weaving), Bernadette (Terrence Stamp) and Felicia (Guy Pierce) have casino gig in Alice Springs, about 1800 miles from Sydney. Felicia purchased a hooptie bus that acted as a makeshift tour vehicle and christened it Priscilla. From then on, the film documents the adventures and travails of the trio until they arrive in the Northern Territory.
Their first misadventure occurs when they go shopping and drinking at the Palace Hotel. The place was anything but a Palace. They encounter Shirley (June Marie Bennett), a scruffy looking woman who informs the trio that they are not welcome because of their appearance associated with their orientation. Bernadette in turn responds with some nastiness of "her" own and calls Shirley a "mullet" and tells her that the only satisfaction that she'll ever get is when she lights her lady bits on fire. Later on, "Bernice" and "Shirl" go toe to toe in a drinking contest, where she loses to Bernadette. The message here is: haters never win and a transgendered woman's as strong as any biological female. However, females have a lower tolerance for alcohol than males.
There are other snags along the way such as the malfunctioning bus, which serves as a metaphor for the little engine that can. The "girls" suffer anti-gay bigotry where Felicia is almost mobbed by a group of angry macho men. It is around this time when Bob (Bill Hunter) and Bernadette fall in love after courtship.
I can see the moments where the film chastises people who do not allow others who are different to live and be themselves. These characters are so exaggerated, even for drag queen standards. This bold face type portrayal underscores the point that gays are often targeted for expressing themselves. The film shows how dull and unsophisticated conservatively minded people are.
The only people who express empathy are the Aboriginals, whose names we never find out. In the film they're just desert dwellers who play along with the queens. The trio appear uncomfortable (especially Tick/Mitzi) being with the indigenous people. The reasons for this apparent discomfort are unknown, but there's the underlying message that native peoples are not seen in "civilization." These people behaved with more humanity than the other townspeople that they encounter until Alice Springs.
Cynthia (Julia Cortez) was the stereotypical Asian mail-order bride depicted as a vulgar lunatic whose purpose in the film was like that of a minstrel character who has one special trick: shoot golf balls from her vagina. Bob justifies treating his wife roughly because "she's always making a fool of herself." In addition to this, Cynthia's a lousy cook. She can't do anything right, except for that one thing. Her presence in the film acts as a contrast to Ralph/Bernadette by sending the message that heterosexual relationships are a joke. Bernadette is portrayed like a better lady than Cynthia and eventually snags her husband, Bob. He also treats Bernadette much, much better than Cynthia. Bob's very fascinated to be dating a former Les Girl (showgirl).
There are several instances where the film and characters negatively depict the female anatomy and personhood, yet these men have earned their living impersonating women and lip synching to songs sung by women. The male characters live unhappily because they appropriate and disfigure the same thing that they aspire to be: womanhood.
The end scenes with Benjamin (Mark Holmes), Marion and Tick's son, as as heartbreaking as they are troubling. "Benj" is a loving and understanding boy, yet he knows too much about his parent's intimate affairs for a child his age. He knows of his parents lovers and has a blase attitude about the situation with Mommy and Daddy. The scene with Benj sitting on top of a man's shoulders while watching Daddy Mitzi and Felicia's drag show was disconcerting. Children are not supposed to be in bars and casinos where adults drink, smoke, have sex and curse.
Despite these things, I decided to rate the film 7/10 because this an honest and unsanitized look into the LGBT community. That helps me to better understand them and some of their issues. It's important to not sugarcoat things in order to make others feel better about themselves.