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To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar: Difference between revisions

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To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (view source)

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1995 comedy about a trio of [[Drag Queen|Drag Queens]] on a road trip to compete in a national pageant. If this sounds familiar at all, that's because ''[[The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert]]'' was released in the previous year, with a similar premise and equally-unwieldy name. However, while ''Priscilla'' was steeped in realism, ''To Wong Foo'' opts for the [[Rule of Funny]]. That is, we never see the men out of drag even though they're not [[Transsexual]] (female pronouns are used for the sake of convenience), and the people they encounter don't know they're men at first.
 
Female impersonators and close friends Vida Bohemme (the late [[Patrick Swayze]]) and Noxeema Jackson ([[Wesley Snipes]]... yes, [[Blade|that Wesley Snipes]]) tie for a state-level drag pageant and win a trip to Hollywood to compete in the national. On their way backstage, they run into competitor Chi-Chi Rodriguez ([[John Leguizamo]]), distraught that she lost. Seeing a diamond in the rough, charitable Vida manages to convince Noxie to take Chi-Chi with them to Hollywood while teaching her the ways of drag. To pay Chi-Chi's way, the girls sell their plane tickets (something else that doesn't thrill Noxie) for an old but stylish convertible and embark on their 2,000-mile journey.
 
About halfway through the trip and following some minor episodes, the girls are pulled over in the [[Down Onon the Farm|Midwest]] by a racist sheriff. He insults Noxie and Chi-Chi and tries to rape Vida, who punches him out just as he realizes [[Unsettling Gender Reveal|something isn't right.]] The girls flee, thinking him dead. A few hours later their car breaks down on the road, and Chi-Chi hitches a ride to the nearest town. However, the mechanic has to order the necessary parts which won't be in for a couple days, leaving the girls stuck in "Gay Hell" with the [[Not Quite Dead]] but quite humiliated sheriff on their trail.
 
Swayze and Leguizamo were nominated for Golden Globes, and the film remains a guilty pleasure, especially for gay men who were kids when it was released.
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* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Noxeema. At first she's snarky (though not deadpan) and self-serving, with a mixture of disdain and social anxiety towards the mainstream public, but warms up by the end.
* [[Directionless Driver]]: For a drag queen, Vida has a decidedly macho distaste for interstate maps.
* [[Down Onon the Farm]]: Much of the movie takes place in a Midwestern rural hick town where the girls are stranded.
* [[Dude Looks Like a Lady]]: John "Chi-Chi" Leguizamo stands out for really looking like an attractive girl. He spent much of his stand up career impersonating his Latina relatives, so the script played to his strengths.
* [[Drag Queen]]: Well duh!
* [[Everything's Better Withwith Princesses]]: In an attempt to keep Chi-Chi from running away after being deemed a "boy in a dress", Vida says that she's not quite a Drag Queen...she's a Drag Princess.
* [[Fan Service]]: The very first scene shows [[Mr. Fanservice|Patrick Swayze]] coming out of the [[Shower Scene|shower]]. Oh yeah!
* [[Foreign Remake]]: Critics claim it served as this to ''Priscilla''.
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** Also serves as an [[It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans]], as the girls conveniently show up right when the town is about to have its only party of any sort.
* [[Stupid Sexy Flanders]]: John Leguizamo in drag.
* [[Tap Onon the Head]]: It's worse than that. Vida simply ''shoves'' Sheriff Dollard, and he's out like a light.
* [[The Three Faces of Eve]]: Vida ([[Team Mom|The Mother]]), Noxie (The <s>Seductress</s> [[Alpha Bitch|Bitchy]]) and Chi-Chi (The <s>Child</s> Drag Princess).
* [[Teeth-Clenched Teamwork]]: Chi Chi and Noxeema don't exactly hit it off. Before long, Chi Chi has stirred up bad blood with Vida, also.
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