Tack-a-rama!

Rating: 6/10 (21 September 2004)

I embarked on a journey through the beautiful outback of Australia with three guys who are searching for an answer. They are three drag queens. The best in Sydney, who want to spend the next four weeks traveling to this casino to perform their performance of a life time. There is Adam Whitely, also known as Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Guy Pearce). He is the "classic" drag queen. Constantly looking for a good time. Very comfortable in his lifestyle, and always looking for a chance to be in the spotlight. Pearce adds most of the comedy to the trip and perhaps some of the best costumes that these "ladies" have to wear. There is also Anthony "Tick" Belrose (Hugo Weaving), also known as Mitzi Del Bra. He is the secretive drag queen. We learn that he is married, he has a child, and that he is afraid of his profession. Quite possibly the best performer in the group, he provides a sense of leadership to the group. He is the one that organized this trip, and the one who's wife works at the casino, and set up this gig for them. Finally, there is the elder of the group. The experienced drag queen, Ralph, also known as Bernadette Bassenger. He is almost like the Yoda of the group. Shouting out lessons that need to be learned, he plays the complete opposite to Pearce's character. After buying a bus it to travel through the outback, they christen it "Priscilla". After a few road bumps such as stops in other locations, a Chinese ping-pong lady, a group of violent mates, and even love. As they make it to the casino, our group hits their final snag as they struggle for acceptance in an unchanged world.
This was a horrible film. Not just horrible, but also confusing, plot less, motionless, and uneventful. Yes, I realize many of those words mean the same, but they all happened in this film. My first problem was that I had trouble trying to see who the "stand-out" character was. Normally in films, you have that one character that has more screen time, more sub-stories, more character development. While I first thought that it was going to be Weaving's character, during the bus trip through the outback, I began to question my initial guess. I feel that if we wanted to have the emotional impact at the end of the film for Weaving's reuniting with his son, then perhaps we should have spend less time with Stamp as we traveled. I felt that midway through the film, Stamp became the central character because of his love towards Bob. If this is the case, was the director trying to create the theme of acceptance towards same sex characters, or was he trying to show the theme of acceptance of who you are and not to be afraid to be proud. I felt that these themes broke down like "Priscilla" in the outback.
Not only were the themes jumbled, but so were these characters. I realize that Stamp was nominated for some awards for this role, but I honestly felt like he, along with the rest of the cast, were just walking through some lines and blocking. During their songs, I felt that they were acting. I never once felt a connection to these characters. Colorful costumes do not make a better actor. Terence Stamp hardly smiled in what I felt was supposed to be a fun character. I need to also say this, if you are going to make a film about lip singing to songs, make sure that your actors know the lyrics. About ten times I saw them, especially Stamp, flub his lines.
Finally, there was not enough development at all with Pearce's character. I felt that if anything he was just annoying. Not really contributing anything to the actual story other then the occasional joke or reference, he seemed to just float through every scene on just his physical appearance. Did he need to have his shirt off for every scene?
Overall, the costumes were great...but don't make this the focus of your film. I enjoyed the beauty of the costumes in the desert...seemed to strike me as religious in some way. Dull, trite, and what seemed like bored actors brought this film directly to my DVD then right out the window. Films have moved so much further in this genre of film that I hope that we learn from its mistakes.
Grade: ** out of *****