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To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995) More at IMDbPro »

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104 comments in total

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40 out of 50 people found the following comment useful :-
Hilarious and full of Amazing Performances, 10 August 2005

Author: aharmas from United States

From its original conception, this film must have started as a riot. The premise of having three macho actors take on the roles of drag queens to put together a very funny and insightful comedy of the sexes must have appeared as an impossible task. In the end, the film works because of its tight screenplay and its well defined characters. Swayze, Leguizamo, and Snipes hold nothing back, making each character real and multi dimensional. There are elements of farce, hilarity, outrageousness, and some very daring moves from its three leads. With the help of a strong supporting cast that includes Stockard Channing, as a battered woman, the film moves along quite nicely.

It's a fantasy with a firm hold in reality. The leads portray three human beings that must confront what society deals them, and in the film, they manage to make some of their dreams come true. Unlike other movies dealing with special types of love, such as "Beautiful Thing" and "Big Eden" where the ending perfectly matches the rest of the fantasy, this one faces reality and offers an interesting type of compromise. It's bittersweet, expertly interweaving both the possible and impossible.

Leguizamo shines as the very caliente latina persona who lives dangerously and tries to fit in, in her own special way. Swayze is the classy one, who is not allowed to forget her true nature. Wesley Snipes' role borders on caricature, but he keeps it from crossing the line between farcical and ridiculous. They all do very good work with this very risqué and difficult material. It works out.

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32 out of 39 people found the following comment useful :-
Bravo! to Snipes, Swayze and Leguizamo, 22 October 2005

Author: blueleo65 from United States

The main reason I liked this movie is because of the trios' performance. I think they did an excellent job. How could a man that did "Roadhouse" be in this movie? That's what makes it so appealing. And not only be in it, but do an amazing job. Snipes made me laugh my heart out, and Leguizamo had a dark undertone to his performance that reflects the hopes and dreams of many Latinas living in poverty. I also admire the intentions of this movie. It wants to bring a message without offending or turn off the audience it intends to deliver it to. Not an easy task, but at least it's an admirable attempt. I think some of the reviewers on this site are a bit too harsh on this film. It is a fun bubble gum of a movie. Watch it and enjoy it, and in the process if you come away from it with a little more of an open mind, I think it has done its job.

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26 out of 32 people found the following comment useful :-
Cross over movie in more than one sense, 18 October 2005

Author: jungle_jim-1 from Brunei Darussalam

I admit to being a little homophobic and i cringed at the thought of these stars in these roles( though not the case with Leguizamo- he always struck me as rather weird).My kids(12,13,13 and 18) on the other hand had no such prejudice. We were unanimous that it was one of the most satisfying and hilarious movies we had ever seen.They appreciated the multi layers of cinema in this movie as you would expect from kids weaned on TNT and dad's collection of oldies.It is seldom that you see so many characters developed to such a depth in such a short space of time.I counted no less than eight of them that we all could vividly recall- a real tribute to the writer. This movie was an education and a miserly score of 5.5 shows how unwidely entertained this membership is.See it.

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18 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Purely entertaining and very funny, 6 August 2001
Author: (kasper-15) from Florida, USA

I think Patrick Swayze was incredible in this movie. For a male actor to make you believe he really is a female in mind and body is a large undertaking and he did this for the entire length of the movie. I was entertained from beginning to end, and I also saw Priscilla and liked this just as much. Robin Williams has a little cameo at the beginning that is hilarious, and Stockard Channing does a great job as a small town abused wife. Great movie to watch on a weekend afternoon when you just want to escape and laugh!

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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
And Wheeeeeere is tha bodaaay???, 31 January 2003

Author: (edhomie22)

This movie was HILARIOUS. Every time I'm sad or down in the dumps, I pop in this film to cheer me up. I thought Ru Paul and even Julie Newmar made excellent cameos. Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, and John Leguizamo played believable drag queens, and they all did great jobs trying not to trip in their stiletto heels. Stockhard Channing was great too, as the abused wife who never gets to have any fun. The movie has a happy ending, and after the movie you find yourself accepting others for who they are.

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19 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent Acting, Do-Good Movie, 14 April 2005

Author: reblit (reblit@alltel.net) from United States

I watched this movie, probably about 9 or 10 years ago. At the time I remember being amazed at how absolutely feminine and lady-like Patrick Swayze was. I also remember that it was a "nice" story the wouldn't offend anyone.

I watched To Wong Foo....again and once again I watched while Patrick Swayze turned himself into Ms. Vida Boheme and then throughout the rest of the movie I kept studying this character in all of the different outfits - complete with matching hats, shoes and gloves - that she wore and kept asking myself, "How can that possibly be Patrick Swayze?" The three stars; Swayze, Wesley Snipes (Ms. Noxeema Jackson) and John Leguizamo (Chi-Chi Rodriquez) we just terrific as drag queens who head out for Hollywood and end up in a small town when their car breaks down. he town is old and appears almost as if it were shot in black and white until the "queens" find some old "60's" clothes in the dry goods store and then the town is transformed into a decorated masterpiece.

The movie is fun and has a do-good message that is up-lifting. There are a lot of other actors with little "important" roles that make the movie. Stockard Channing has an excellent role and Robin Williams has a cameo that was great.

Noxeema Jackson and Chi-Chi are really typical "RuPaul" drag queens in this movie but Swayze's character is such a "lady" that is difficult for me to even relate other movie images of Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing (Johnny), City of Joy (Max), Father Hood (Jack) and others) to this character. Perhaps if a Wesley Snipes fan or a John Leguizamo fan watched this movie they would have the same reaction to these actors' characters as I have had to Patrick Swayze's character - amazement and discomfort.

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19 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
A lightweight romp., 10 March 2001

Author: budmassey (cyberbarrister@gmail.com) from Indianapolis, IN

The only bad thing about this film, as with most Hollywood films in which gays are depicted, is that it perpetuates the stereotype that all gays are drag queens. Still, Snipes and Swayze are fabulous, hilarious, and courageous to risk their testosterone-driven careers on such a romp. But John Leguizamo, as the drag princess, steals the show, no small feat considering the supporting cast includes Robin Williams, Stockard Channing, Blythe Danner, Melinda Dillon, Arliss Howard, and, of course, the statuesque Julie Newmar.

Much has been made of the similarity between this film and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, but each stands on its own for many reasons. Each presented superb casts in stories with obvious similarities. But oh the differences. Completely different approaches to humor, not to mention drag. Also, To Wong Foo is a more pleasant if somewhat more lightweight movie. The American audience probably had a much easier time with this one than with Priscilla.

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26 out of 45 people found the following comment useful :-
Relentlessly Upbeat, But Not Risqué, 1 August 2005

Author: nycritic

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Maybe it's that I'm a little of a cynic, but the fact that the story of TO WONG FOO - THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, JULIE NEWMAR has an incredibly unoriginal premise but manages to look so wasn't lost on me. Or the fact that despite the fact that for some of the subject matter exposed here, nothing quite serious was made of it. Nevertheless, I will say that from start to escapist finish, the movie was fun, entertaining, and quite daring if for the presence of three macho actors effectively playing drag queens (and never allowing us to see them in any other form).

Like I said, the premise of this movie has been done to death: highly different people come to a small town (by accident), see the problems there, and manage in the course of their stay to get townsfolk to get in touch with themselves. It's a premise seen in such films as Pasolini's TEOREMA which had a different yet similar premise where a stranger gets inside a household and manages to somehow change every person there. Of course, that film was risky; this one, while featuring drag queens, is not. But my guess is that the intentions of the writer and director was not to attack social issues (such as spousal abuse, or Vida's estrangement from her family, for example), but to present them and move on because life is and should be a party.

But this course is the movie's fault. That Vida Boheme, Noxema Jackson, and Chi-Chi Rodriguez, in getting lost and winding in a backwoods town where not only do they stumble upon Carol Ann (admirably played by Stockard Channing) who is being abused by her husband (in two particularly uncomfortable scenes, one played off-screen), but where Chi-Chi almost gets raped by the local roughnecks, seems like this should belong in something darker, not a comedy. The fact that on both occasions nothing is resolved (satisfactorily) points towards this movie's failure to step up to the plate, examine those issues, and make something truly revelatory. That what should have been a one-scene situation in which Vida Boheme whacks Sheriff Dollard unconscious is turned into a weak showdown in which neither of the drag queens comes out to make an appearance (like they would under similar circumstances; anyone who knows or has seen drag queens knows that they have little fear of cops or men in uniform and will knock them out easily) only makes matters more false: whether or not these townsfolk were latently ready to accept "change" it is highly unlikely that it would have been played out this way. Why would Dollard even want to arrest these men in drag? It makes little sense but to force the issue that the "people" will stand up for Those Who Are Different. (And that among those "people" are the same roughnecks, now wearing pink and read boas? Something is wrong here.) And that Virgil just drives away once Dollard has been humiliated probably can be plausible in a non-verbal, more poetic sense, but again, this is not a poetic movie with suggestive images devoid of dialog, and the reality in spousal abuse is much different than what is left unexplored here. Also unsatisfactorily is the way ChiChi's budding relationship with the local guy (Jason London) is handled: why not have him know she is a he and by doing so, take a huge risk that would strike the point home? Maybe it's timing. America isn't ready for men in drag and the chance someone might see through the appearance of femininity a man may have and go with their instincts. If Leguizamo's and London's characters would have hooked up it would have sent the message right onto anyone's lap. Building the gorgeous scenes between them as if to lead the viewer to believe they will become an item only to have ChiChi reject him is a total cop-out.

TO WONG FOO is a movie that should have tackled these premises more upfront. It should have given all three of these men an actual sex life, real personalities. The closest thing that happens to romance is some shy flirting from Bobby Ray (Jason London) towards Chi-Chi, but even that is left flat after much exposition. The same way nothing else is said of Vida's familial relationship: all we know is that there is an estrangement, but nothing else. And Noxema gets saddled with nothing else but to be there, say one-liners, and chat with an old lady about Hollywood. And this is also, precisely, what keeps it from being a richer movie which explores its characters instead of laying them out to pasture and later dressing them in boas and fancy dresses. To see a drag queen without her make up on is to see the man underneath; since we aren't given that chance here, this is drag-lite, in which all is at surface level, messages of love run rampant as house music plays in the background, and just as it started, it ends in a beauty parade.

Kudos to Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo for stepping out of their shoes and donning pumps and wigs. All are great, in equal measure. Snipes manages to channel a lot of Missy Elliott while Swayze might as well have become Brini Maxwell with a red wig. Leguizamo, though, is my favorite. While playing a close rendition of Rosie Perez with a good deal of Jennifer Lopez (pre J. Lo.; look closely and it's there), he gives his character a sweet dimension. These three are the ones who make this movie completely enjoyable despite these complaints that arise once the credits have rolled. Because of them I accepted the (pardon the pun) fairytale ending and its message of love and acceptance, and that takes guts and talent to make it work.

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Much more than a "light comedy", 1 July 2006

Author: jreedha from United States

This movie is much more than a showcase for middle-aged actors to strut their female stuff. It's all about how men, even homosexual men, perceive women, as opposed to the reality of women and their lives.

It's a trenchant though gentle and very funny lesson in gender politics. These actors are brilliant in their portrayal of all of the superficial attributes of women. Every time I see the movie, I'm amazed at their performances - and at the insight and depth of the text.

This movie suggests the impossibility of separating the external gloss of femininity from its source - women themselves. And that women are not the sum of their feminine mannerisms, but whole people who are still too often subgugated by men.

The drag queens are so much more "female" than any genuine woman they meet. But because they are actually men, they enjoy the power of their masculine gender to construct and control their lives that is unobtainable for the women.

The 'girls' end up defending the real women in the movie in a way that is more 'gallant' than any Knight in Shining Armor. Their homosexuality fosters a compassion and understanding of the lot of women in a way that the 'manly' men in the movie cannot grasp. And perhaps the 'girls' end up with a more complete notion of femininity as well. I treasure this movie because I am so grateful for its message.

This flip, light little movie really deserves close examination. Magnificent performances and real heart. Thanks from me too, Julie Newmar!

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Loads of Fun, 11 July 2006

Author: Scoval71 from New York, NY

Oh this movie is a lot of fun. Light, frothy, sparkling, shiny fun, fun, fun. So surprising to see such macho actors turn into attractive women---although, to me, in a lot of scenes with that short haired bob wig, Patrick looked like Jack Lemmon's character in Some Like it Hot. The plot of this film is very unrealistic and the town that they land in is something more out of the 1700's than the 20th century, but it is a funny film and also teaches us about tolerance and acceptance for and to others. I laughed so many times at this movie. It is a great comedy and wonderful entertainment. I highly recommend it. Some of these reviewers here who slammed this film really don't see or get the point in reviewing this movie looking for deeper meanings and criticisms all over the place. It is a light, funny comedy. It delivers and it is wonderful.

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