Hey folks, Harry here... and having seen what a man like myself looks like in Drag... I am fully prepared to watch Ving try to pull this off... Drag is a hard hard thing to pull off... At least I have the long hair for it... Ving has no hair, so it makes it easy for the wig departments... But here... Caveman Crumbone has suffered for the rest of us... read his review as though it were a warning...
Well, recently I was lucky/unfortunate enough to see a preview of what I think is a new TV movie of the week staring Ving Rhames and Alfre Woodard. Now, the clear selling point of the film is that VING RHAMES IS FEATURED AS A DRAG QUEEN. Yes, you read that right, but as usual, he is able to carry it out very well. It’s too bad that his performance only carries the movie for so far, because beside him, the movie is fairly bad. Let me tell you why.
The plot concerns an “aging drag queen” (played by Ving) that is mourning the death of his former lover and getting ready to start a new life in Paris. When he isn’t singing in the drag club he is the leader of his Church’s gospel choir. Anyway, the night before he is due to leave for Europe, he saves a woman (Alfre Woodard) and her daughter (Jesika Reynolds) from an abusive boyfriend. The two move into with Ving, and the three of them live happily together for a while. Ving becomes like a father to Jesika (don’t remember character names). But as Ving and Jesika grow closer, Alfre drifts away from her daughter because of her hard-to-kick cocaine habit and her new, drug dealing boyfriend (Mykelti Williamson). Eventually, the drugs become so bad that she is kicked out of the house by Ving, and left by Mykelti. What ends up happening is an odd couple-esque relationship where Mykelti and Ving have to raise young Jesika together. When Alfre finally comes back to live with them, it ! ends up being too late (I refuse to ruin the end, despite the fact it was terrible).
If you think that last paragraph was incoherent, you should see this movie. It was one of the slowest paced films I’ve ever seen. Ving Rhames was good, but for character that was supposed to be a famous drag queen, he wasn’t much of a drag queen (Ving Rhames is a terrible dancer). After a while though, you almost forget he is Ving Rhames. He is a good thing in an otherwise bad movie.
Although many people in our focus group thought Alfre Woodard was good, I thought she was terrible. Her drugged out scenes were really over the top and fake, especially one where she tries to write poetry and reverts to weed instead. Otherwise she was good, but since she was jacked up on drugs for about half the movie, her performance made the film that much worse.
The best thing about the movie is the relationship between Ving and Mykelti. It evolves from Mykelti pulling a gun on Ving, to the two of them becoming friends when they have to raise a child that they both love very much. Their onscreen chemistry is wonderful, and the relationship is well written. By the way, I wanted to save this for the end, but the film is directed by ROBERT TOWNSEND (of Meteor Man fame). Take that as you will.
All in all, this movie is pretty bad, but because it’s free (on TV) I suppose it’s worth watching. Watch it if you like Ving Rhames. Until next time . . . I’m back to my cave.
- - - Caveman Crumbone
