The Worst Film Ever

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

The worldwide cultural hit that helped introduce LGBT themes to mainstream audiences. Not only did it encompass drag queens, transgenders and homosexuality, but bravely tackled deeply moving subjects including homophobia and cultural segregation. It's easy to class this as a comedy road trip, and on the surface it is, yet surprisingly the humour disguises a powerful drama within. Two drag queens and a transgender woman journey across the Australian outback, meeting various individuals along the way, to perform their drag act in a remote casino resort. The energy that keeps this narrative flourishing is the chemistry of the cast. If the friendships are non-existent then the darker subjects pack no emotional resonance. Fortunately, both the literal characters and the performances were exceptional. These three fully independent sassy "queens" each have their own personality when in the disguise of drag. Felicia becomes extremely flirtatious, this juxtaposes Bernadette's more withdrawn persona which in turn results in Mitzi being viewed as tawdry. It's a testament to the power of drag, being able to portray someone else that opposes their conventional behaviour, and the film captures that both elegantly and comedically. Weaving (consistently underrated), Pearce and Stamp all give outstanding performances. The costumes were illuminatingly vibrant, the utilisation of resplendent colours against the backdrop of the dusty outback made for many memorable moments, particularly when Felicia sings atop of Priscilla (the name of the bus they travel in). Whilst the story addresses homophobia, it would've benefited from more tender moments considering how well developed the characters are. Also, I saw the camera crew in various reflections, just took me out of the film occasionally. Despite these criticisms, Priscilla remains hilariously flamboyant, boasting a stupendous screenplay by Elliott and fantastic central performances, cementing this as the pinnacle of LGBT films.

The Adventures of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert is a wonderful story highlighted with stunning cinematography, excellent costume design and outstanding performances. The story is concerned with three drag-queens who get a gig in the middle of the Australian desert. Through these characters the film touches on subjects of alienation, found and forgotten love, friendship and hardship. Mostly set on their road trip through the desert, they travel in a lavender bus, which over the course of the film is subjected to hate crimes and breakdowns; becoming a symbol for its femme-masculine inhabitants and what they have endured. The Adventures... is truly original and entertaining from its highs to its well executed dramatic lows. S

Few films tackle the gay/lesbian genre with such flamboyant and outrageous tendencies, but The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert manages to be one of the genre's rarities. It's an uncommonly free-spirited film, bound by nothing and restrained by no one, with a writer/director who clearly understands and empathizes with the subculture and a cast committed to giving it the respect and the zany fun it deserves.We focus on Anthony Belrose (Hugo Weaving), who uses the drag pseudonym "Mitzi Del Bra" and works in Sydney as a performer for Lasseter's Hotel Casino Resort in the remote town of Alice Springs. Anthony, despite success at Lasseter's, hungers for something more out of his life and his performances; he's sick of being belittled to "get naked" or show skin when he's pouring his heart out on stage before the microphone. As a result, he rounds up his colleagues Bernadette Bassinger (Terrence Stamp), a transsexual performer and Adam Whitely (Guy Pearce), a younger, more obnoxious soul who goes under the stage name "Felicia Jollygoodfellow" to embark on a four-week tour through the Australian Outback in their large RV named "Priscilla." Classic road trip tropes ensue the second this eclectic trio embark on their journey. The three find a group of Aborigines, whom have never seen the art of drag performance, along with a group of rednecks that nearly have them lynched for intruding on their territory. Along the way, the gang gets equal parts feisty and sentimental with one another, getting on each others nerves at times and finding solace in one another for at least empathizing with their desire to be understood and respected for what they do.The Adventures of Priscilla, in order to really succeed as a film, needed to occasionally capture human emotions through a tender, sentimental lens and Elliot perfectly delivers it without the violins and the overblown emotional manipulation. He gives us a lot of time to spend confined with this trio on Priscilla before the emotions take over. He starts off lighter, peppering the film with bouts of wittiness (when the three harmonize the drinks they want in tune of "Twelve Days of Christmas") and light-hearted fun.The first leg of their trip about the goofy, somewhat hostile conversations they can have with one another. The second leg of the film is when most of the antics kick in and we see the trio's interactions with other minority subcultures, who choose to respond to the three in whatever way their own culture has perceived them (either openly or narrowly). Finally, the final leg of the film takes the aforementioned introspective look into these characters as human beings, with their own sense of idealism for themselves and the people around them. This is when The Adventures of Priscilla becomes a bit sadder, but never forgoes the element of good-natured, consistent fun.Aside from the conversational banter being a real hoot, Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner's Oscar winning costume design is almost a character in itself. Chappel and Gardiner bathe the film in an exciting, eye-popping array of flamboyant color schemes and loud tones and hues that make for a visually delicious experience. Brian J. Breheny's cinematography also lends a hand to making the Australian Outback a lively character, accentuating every detail of the land in a way that makes the excursion that much more enjoyable. All the background devices in the film are precise, which makes The Adventures of Priscilla not only an interesting character study but a royal feast for the eyes.The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert also features some of the most compelling and uproariously funny work from Pearce, Stamp, and Weaving, three veteran character actors who continue to expand their horizons with the variety of roles they take. With all of this, there is a general showstopping quality to the film that stems from all its aesthetic attributes and central performances. Like a drag show, the film steps out with a bold, unflinching amount of confidence and persists to exploit every ounce of entertainment and humane element that it can handle and, in turn, delivers terrific entertainment for most of its runtime.Starring: Terrence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Bill Hunter. Directed by: Stephan Elliot.

If the makers of this film intended to show drag queens as vain, shallow, boring, and fundamentally insecure, they did a great job. Other than that, this movie was just ONE. BIG. DRAG. Maybe the problem is that it was mislabeled as a comedy, when it should have been marketed as a horror film. Because staring at Terence Stamp's face up close was absolutely horrifying. This movie, like its plot, got lost around midway and never quite found itself. I've seen worse, but I've DEFINITELY seen better. Check out Hedwig And The Angry Inch, for example. That movie was much better, and so was the acting and the direction.(10 line minimum, eh?) Well...that's abouttwo more linesthan this movie reviewdeserves.