Patrick Swayze in a DRESS?!?!

Author's Rating:

Pros: The acting, the plot, the emotional depth and impact, the laughs

Cons: None that I've found

Author's Review
When previews for this movie first came out almost four years ago, I thought, "Right. They've got to be kidding." I thought the movie would last about three seconds in the theaters. I thought "Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo are about as manly-looking as they come. No way they could look like women." I was dead wrong and completely stunned the first time I saw it. After I bought the video, have now watched it several dozen times, I am still stunned and thoroughly delighted each and every time. While the movie was billed on it's exploration of three drag queen characters, it reaches an emotional depth that goes way beyond the transforming make-up and fabulous clothing.

The opening scenes flash between Swayze and Snipes dressing for the annual drag queen beauty pageant in New York City. The winner will be flown to the national pageant in Hollywood, all expenses paid. But for the first time, there is a tie between Noxeema (Snipes) and Vida (Swayze). And when the two "women" find Chi Chi (Leguizamo) crying after the contest, they decide to take "her" along as a drag princess. Their trip cross-country is hilarious, flamboyant and fun, but not without its moments of seriousness that touch the heart. By the end, I found myself wondering about it means to be a man, and what it means to be a woman. And what the difference(s) between the two really are.