Connie and Carla, as more than a cult classic, may have displaced La cage aux folles and its sequels (1978, 1980, 1985, 1996). Whereas La cage depicts the frustrations and joys of the life of gays who work for a living by performing as women, Connie and Carla is entirely upbeat. Even gays who dislike men who crossdress will find Connie and Carla delightful. But Connie (played by Nia Vardalos) and Carla (played by Toni Collette), who perform at the West Hollywood nightclub Handlebar, are actually women disguised as men who pretend to be women. The plot starts in Chicago, where the women are pursued by rather boorish suitors (played by Dash Mihok and Nick Sandow), who deprecate their career as a singing act (as women) in an establishment run by Stanley (played by Ian Gomez). One evening, Stanley stashes a large quantity of cocaine in one of their make-up bags on hearing that Rudy (played by Robert John Burke) has arrived at the club. After they witness Rudy murder Stanley, they dash out of town to avoid also being murdered, unwittingly taking along the cocaine. Rudy then orders his enforcer, Tibor (played by Boris McGiver), to track them down. But where are they? Realizing that they can easily be traced in Florida and New York, they head for a city that they believe lacks culture--Los Angeles (the filming, though, is in Vancouver). Shortly after their arrival, they find that the only nightclub where they might perform is a gay establishment, the Handlebar, which is auditioning drag performers. With the exaggerated makeup of drag queens, they win the audition against many competitors because they can sing with authentic female voices in an Ethel Merman style; the men who audition just sound camp. While they become a great success, four drag queens (played by Christopher Logan, Robert Kaiser, Alec Mapa, and Stephen Spinella), who lost in the competition, happen to live in the same apartment and prevail upon the duo to join in on the action--as members of the chorus line. Subplots abound, but are much less comedic, trying to show unsurprisingly that gays often have to put up with homophobia. One such involves straight Jeff (played by David Duchovny), who discovers that his brother lives in Los Angeles, tries to get reacquainted (similar to a plot in the recent film Adored: Diary of a Porn Star), learns that his brother is a drag queen, and also inexplicably wants to get closer as well to Connie. Inevitably, one of the duo slips up, leaving a 323 area code on a caller ID to her Chicago boyfriend, who in turn has been hired by Rudy. A dramatic ending is in store, including a cameo appearance of Debbie Reynolds, who performs on the opening night when the bar becomes a club that serves meals. Between the bookends of the plots and subplots, the singing of numerous show tunes is so extraordinary that the DVD of the filmscore is destined to be a hit. Directed by Michael Lembeck, the story is a retake of Some Like It Hot (1959) by writer Nia Vardalos, the creator and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). Interestingly, many prominent straight reviewers have given Connie and Carla a poor rating; but film critics, who view prerelease tapes, unfortunately cannot hear the raucous laughter and postscreening applause of film audiences, gay and straight, in The Grove, a cinema on the outskirts of West Hollywood. MH
I
want to comment on this film
