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Killer Drag Queens on Dope (2003) 5 out of 10: The most plausible explanation for this film is that a group of homeless individuals picked through a dumpster and stumbled upon a couple of old camcorders, then decided to turn them into a film. These drag queen assassins for the mob have a secret. Drag Queen Ginger aka Eva Destruction (European Notebook’s Alexis Arquette) is both an assertive blonde and a contract killer for the mob. She is vegetating in a crumbled world, while her dorky boyfriend, Bobby Mario, has a shy demeanor and is either too terrified or too useless to perform the tasks set for him by his disturbed uncle, aka crime boss A. Don Edmonds in the role of Uncle A delivers a tremendous performance in his final role.
A refreshingly artistic mix of its genre including rock and pop gave this film its superb music score. There’s also Alexis Arquette and his doll crazy submissive ol’ lady Omar Alexis, who, let’s face it, are entertaining, don’t you think? And considering the circumstances of the rest of the world, their relationship makes sense.
A hostage comedy makes the most of its budget. The sets are very minimalistic and so are the dioramas. The banter between them and their mobster capturers invetibly makes a man chuckle. In fact, the movie is funny overall. Not exactly busting my gut funny, but a pleasant mixture of set pieces. There is some subtle humor here too; the two henchmen are named Anthony and Tony.
If you can call it a mico-budget, then there is a little bit of creativity in here, and the script is better than one would hope for which is what really helps things along.
The Bad: There is low budget and then there is this movie which cost less than my moving into my first aparment. I mean, there are no sets. Subporn budgeting. The mobs hideout is an empty warehouse room with a folding card table, and it doesn’t get better than that. The climactic fight of this epic story takes place in the same room with the card table removed and stacks of cardboard boxes in its place. It was hopeing for a puppet dinosaurs from Future War cameo.
The Ugly: This film’s opening ranks as one of the worst ever attempted. It was shot within a hotel room and involves the girls getting high for the first time. It is a little grotesque and borders on a porn flick (For all the commendable standards set by the title Killer Drag Queens on Dope, there are a lot of discrepancies too. No nude scenes were ever in the plans) The high is unimaginative, miserable, and I will address that trope in which “hey these broads are guys” below. Once the opening credits roll, the good news is the movie improves considerably. Too bad there is such a horrible first impression.
Now for something new and different. The Human Stain lot got a lot of antagonism for using Anthony Hopkins as a black college professor. (This wasn’t even the most outrageous casting choice. Nicole Kidman as a dumb cleaning woman, I am looking at you) The point the filmmakers are trying to make is it’s not like you could have gotten Yaphet Kotto for the part. For those who are not familiar with The Human Stain, Anthony Hopkings is cast in a rather controversial role of a black college teacher who the audience, as well as some characters in the movie, do not expect to be black.
The argument can and should be made that a black person could have been hired for a role, which prima facie is assumed to be for a white. (Like a boy who has black relatives, but himself does not appear to be black) I displace that right now, I can’t think of any male actors that can be put against that criteria. (For an actress, the character change can be made and you will have contenders in plenty. Jennifer Beals of Flashdance is an obvious pick. I swear no one even knew she was black until after she won NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. She plays a white girl in the movie, and during her time in fame, even Jennifer was oblivious about her ethnicity. Mark me, no one ever Even current British royal Rachel Meghan Markle, who you wouldn’t identify as black until you saw her mother during the wedding, would work just fine.)
The problem the Human stain had is that character had to convincingly appear Caucasoid. Well, he was certainly Anthony Hopkins. He also had to be, shall we say, subtly African American. (You know I am going to call that one a miss.) Still thinking Kidman as a terribly, illiterate, point cleaner is even more implausible than Nicole.
Recently, there’s been a significant push to hire trans individuals in their transitioned personas (Check out the entire Transparent kerfuffle.) This idea that men (it’s usually men) while sober and in great lighting are surprised One Shocking Moment this woman has a penis. Well, here’s the deal, you can hire real trans actors and promulgate that stupid trope… but you cannot do both.
The issue is of a suspension of disbelief. I have difficulty comprehending how the characters closest to the person in question could not discern that she was transgender while we can see her over a couch. To give an example of this silliness, we may cite the television series How to Get Away with Murder Season 2 episode 6. Actress Alexandra Billings portrays a woman who murdered her husband because of his abusive behavior. She has a best friend who is also a lawyer, Viola Davis, and she chooses to call her friend for help. The cops have been digging, but honestly, it turns out the reason why they suspect her husband was killed was because he found out Alexandra’s big secret. She used to be a man. Really you do not say.
Alexandra Billings has been playing great roles for a good number of years now, including a few seasons on Transparent. Maybe it’s her talent, or maybe it’s me partying for a few years at the Limelight in the early nineties, but I was truly taken aback here. How could someone in the room be oblivious to this? Well, she is standing right there next to you. It’s rather evident. Look, none of us are saying we want to return to the bad old days like the Sean Young reveal in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (Wow that scene has really not aged well) And yes the trope still works in comedies (you will pry Some Like It Hot out of my cold dead hands.) But these kinds of device changes in drama just don’t work when you hire a trans actor to play a role. Look, I’m no expert, but if you have a murder mystery and the killer is a secret prop comic, don’t hire Carrot Top as one of the suspects.
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