To Wong Foo - vs. - Priscilla
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Taxday71 — 19 years ago(July 13, 2006 05:27 PM)
"To Wong Foo" seemed like it was made for "the masses": the people in areas that aren't familiar with drag queens/gay people. "Priscilla" is more of a character driven story and didn't rely on goofy he/she drag queen jokes. I almost cried at the end of "Priscilla"- I found the storylines touching. The only serious part that was ALMOST touching in "To Wong Foo" was the scene about "Vida" driving past her/his parents house.
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joeleol — 19 years ago(July 24, 2006 04:47 AM)
To Wong Foo, although amusing, feels sanitized and fake to meveering towards exploitation/minstrel show territory.
How many queens do you know who walk around in drag 24/7? And how many of them would drive across the USA in full drag? In a convertable with the top down?!?
The USA that I live in is one where you can get beaten to within an inch of your life just for looking at the wrong guy for a moment too long. I know that in '95, while Clinton was in office, we were optimistic about gays entering the mainstream and gaining ground among the masses but reallythis is too much.
I feel similar mixed feelings about "Will & Grace". I mean - seriously - a cute, rich lawyer with a fantastic apartment in Manhattan who can't find a man for years??? ARGH!!!!
Anyway, rant over, give me Priscilla anyday. =)~ -
symph0natic — 18 years ago(May 09, 2007 08:28 PM)
I thought Priscilla was definitely the better of the two films. That said, To Wong Foo has some really good acting and some great lines, especially by John Leguizamo. It's not really a rip-off of Priscilla except for the basic idea. The concept of "drag queens go off on cross-country trip, having to deal with rednecks along the way" is really the only similarity; other than that, the two films have completely different storylines.
Each film had its scenes of drag-queens-in-danger. Actually, To Wong Foo upped the ante a bit by including domestic violence into the mix. However, I just knew that, with this film, everything would turn out alright at the end. To that extent, it did feel a bit Hollywood-ized. I liked the fact that in Priscilla, you really did not know what was going to happen next. It grabbed my attention more as I prefer more character-driven films.
The main problem I had with To Wong Foo was the Sheriff Dollard character was handled wrongly in my opinion, especially in the bar scene where he had this long, belabored monologue about drag queens. It looked as if the intention was to imply that the idea really turned him on deep inside, that only emerged to the surface when he was drunk and that he was normally ashamed of it. While that accurately represents what lurks inside a homophobe's heart in the real world (being secretly gay and unable to accept it), it does a disservice to this film as it stops the film cold and creates an excruciatingly awkward moment immediately following when a guy comes up to Dollard and, before mentioning to Dollard that he saw the drag queens he's after, the sheriff is looking him up & down & smiling at him like he is about to jump his bones.
Overall, I like both films, just Priscilla a LOT better!
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
: 9/10
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar
: 6/10 -
amers983 — 18 years ago(July 14, 2007 04:00 AM)
I am an American living in Japan. I have not seen Priscilla, the movie. I haven't seen TWFTFEJN in a couple of years, at least. However, I returned from a trip to Sydney 3 days ago. I saw a live musical of Priscilla at Star City Casino. I was extremely entertained. It was amazing. The friend that accompanied me has never seen To Wong Foo. I rented it for us to watch and compare, but I have the feeling we will both be hugely disappointed after the wonderful show we witnessed on Tuesday night. The costumes were amazing. The songs were great. The talent was very impressive. I am currently looking around to find a copy of Priscilla so that I can witness the movie and make an actual comparison.
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ThePirateKing — 18 years ago(July 31, 2007 11:10 AM)
To Wong Foo is a decent watch, but I think Priscilla has the better script the novelty of seeing Patrick Swayze in drag with Wesley Snipes wore off pretty quickly, and the schmaltzy ending on To Wong Foo always bothered me. Priscilla errs into the realms of ridiculous at times but it has its platforms firmly planted on the ground as far as the characters are concerned, to me the characters in To Wong Foo just aren't as 3 dimensional.
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LauraCohle — 18 years ago(March 23, 2008 09:44 AM)
Totally like Wong Foo better than Priscilla. Priscilla had too much of a gaudy Australian feel to it (being Australian it kinda embarrassed me.especially cos I'm from Alice Springs and yeah.yuck), and Wong Foo is just incredibly funny and entertaining, I love it.
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symph0natic — 17 years ago(April 22, 2008 08:46 PM)
I notice that you people who like
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar
better than
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
all seem to be straight. Well, I'm gay and I believe that
Priscilla
does a better job of understanding the gay community, as well as the dark side of gay humor.
Oh, and to what exactly does your "yuck" comment refer?