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RSS Feed - ReviewsConnie and Carla
By EdwardHavens
April 16th, 2004
Sometimes, we go to the movies to see other cultures and other worlds. From time to time, we go to the movies to learn about history from a specific point of view. And then once in a while, we go to the movies to have a good time. “Connie and Carla,” Nia Vardalos’s follow-up to her surprise smash hit “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” isn’t really a movie, in the sense that it has much of a plot or any perceptible dilemma. For a movie whose entire storyline can be summed up as “Some Like It Hot” meets “Victor/Victoria,” “Connie and Carla” is a joy to watch, due to the charm and talent of its two leading ladies, Vardalos and Toni Collette.
Since their childhood days, all Connie and Carla want to do is to entertain. And despite their best efforts, the best gig they can get as adults is doing a bizarre medley of dinner theatre’s greatest hits performed in an airport lounge. Knowing this set-up has little potential if dawdled upon too long, Vardalos the writer gets to the first plot point right away: the girls’ boss is paid a visit by a vaguely shadowy gangster and his vaguely Eastern European muscle man, over some deal gone bad. But before he gets shot (and, conveniently, shot in full view of the girls), their boss slips a package of some kind into one of their bags. However, they also conveniently leave behind another bag, which includes Connie’s organizer, filled with all their booking contacts from the Midwest to the Deep South, so they figure they’ll need to find someplace that is culturally narrow and devoid of dinner theatre.
And, like that, they’re in Los Angeles. Or, more specifically, West Hollywood, where the dynamic duo has found themselves a cramped apartment in a building which, naturally, caters to gay men. As does the nearby bar, which conveniently is about to lose their house drag act, and is in need of a new show. Seeing a golden opportunity to advance their careers, Connie convinces Carla to pretend to be drag queens and try out. Naturally, their audition stands heads and shoulders above the rest of the lip-synching drag queens, and they get the job. And, can you believe it? They are an immediate hit. The dumpy old bar soon is packed to the rafters with cheering queens and gay-friendly women looking for something fun to do.
Every so often, we’re reminded that someone is after Connie and Carla, as the gangster’s muscle man travels from all across the country, from Orlando and Branson to New York City, trying to find the girls, to no avail. Eventually, the gangster catches a lucky break, when Connie and Carla’s dimwitted and left behind boyfriends get a job working in the bad man’s warehouse, where the bad man overhears the guys talking about the girls. Oh, and David Duchovny figures into the mix as the sensitive but still masculine younger brother of one of the drag queens, who is trying to reconnect with the older brother who mysteriously left home at 16.
Reading this notice, you’re probably thinking this movie is a real stinker. If things like story and character development must exist in your filmed entertainment, you probably will find it to be a dud. If you’re a would-be screenwriter who is livid at the thought that this second level actress with a truly fluke success has been given another chance to write a movie, just stay away. But if you can allow yourself to let go and let a movie sweep you away for a short time, no matter how silly or unrealistic things get onscreen, you’re likely to have a great time at the theatre.
My rating: B