To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything!, Julie Newmar (on DVD)

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything!, Julie Newmar 

[DVD To] 

Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze) and Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) tie for the winner of a drag queen competition in New York and win plane tickets to fly to Hollywood to compete in a national contest. After the competition they come across Chi-Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo), a down-on-her-luck drag queen who lacks confidence and decide to take her under their wing. Instead of flying they decide to buy a car and drive to Hollywood, however along the way their car breaks down in rural Nebraska – it doesn’t actually say it’s Nebraska but since it was filmed in Loma (and Lincoln and Omaha) I’m calling it Nebraska. The town’s mechanic says he can fix it but they’ll need to stay in town until the part arrives. They stay in a boarding house owned by the mechanic and his wife, played by Stockard Channing. The town residents are simple folks who have never seen drag queens before and believe them to be real women. They decide to make the stay worth their while and give the town and its residents a much-needed makeover.

My fiancé was shocked when he learned I had never seen it and forced me to watch it simply because it was filmed in Nebraska (in 1994). I didn’t know what to expect from the title, but drag queens road tripping and getting stuck in Nebraska was nowhere on my list of theories. Much to my surprise I loved every minute of it. It’s filled with great one-liners and really has you rooting for them along the way.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Rocky Horror Picture Show, Themla and Louise or available through ILL: “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” which was filmed right before this one, people say this was ripped off from it but it was already in production before that was released.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ Esquire Magazine article: “When John Leguizamo Fixed Up My Hometown” ]

Recommended by Carrie K.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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