CONNIE AND CARLA

US, 2004, 98 minutes, Colour.
Nia Vardalos, Toni Collette, David Duchovny, Stephen Spinella, Dash Mihok, Robert John Burke, Debbie Reynolds.
Directed by Michael Lembeck.

If ever anyone proved herself a talent to be watched it was Nia Vardalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Not only did she star in the film and create a vividly memorable character, she wrote the screenplay and won an Oscar nomination. The film is one of the highest non-studio box-office winners.

She had another story, another screenplay - and here it is. If it reminds you of Some Like it Hot, of course it does. Two musicians (here, moderately successful lounge singers of show tunes who love what they do) witness a murder and have to hide out. Where else but in a girls…, well, not exactly band and not exactly girls - in an LA drag queens’ club. They are a rip-roaring success because the men assume they are men dressed as women whereas they are women pretending to be men dressed as women.

There are lots of show tunes, quite lavishly done in a high camp fashion, and an affectionately satiric picture of this gay world. It is, in the vein of Priscilla, To Wong Foo, Strange Bedfellows, a comedy plea for understanding before condemnation. By having a very straight man (David Duchovny) become attracted to Connie is bewildering to him and serves as a lesson for the wary straight audience.

But it’s the girls who provide the good fun. Nia Vardalos is Connie, big hair, big voice, big ambitions. Carla is Toni Collette in yet another different role in her versatile career. The two do their own singing, impressively so. (And draw on Barbra Streisand in Yentl at the end to explain what has happened!)

It’s all very silly, of course, but that does not matter much because it is a frothy musical comedy that advocates heart and understanding.

1.Entertainingly artificial? The theatricality? The film as a review?

2.The influences of different films: Some Like it Hot, Victor Victoria, Yentl, Sister Act? The film’s variation on these themes?

3.The importance of the songs, the staging, the costumes, the choreography? Connie and Carla and their singing styles? The original act? The transition to Los Angeles? The drag show? Debbie Reynolds and her coaching? The musicians?

4.Nia Vardalos and her writing of the script, her starring, her verve? Singing? Toni Collette and her versatility, performance, singing, drag?

5.Connie and Carla as children, singing Obla De Obla Da and other songs? Their friendship from childhood? The transition to the airports, their singing, songs, performance, changing of costumes? Their loving to sing? The relationship with Al and Mikey? Frankie as the boss? The borrowing of the money – and his death? The bag, their witnessing the crime? Fears, the hysterical touch, decisions of what to do?

6.Connie and Carla and the relationship with Al and Mikey, the possibility of a romance? Al and Mikey at work, discussions of their relationship? The irony of the crime, Rudy, the pursuit? Their decision to go to Los Angeles?

7.The decision, the car, the comments on Los Angeles, no culture? The streets of LA? The oddball types? The apartments? Going out, the men kissing, the drag club? Connie and her getting the idea?

8.The club, men and their masculinity, drag? Gay sensibilities? The customers? The range of types? The four dancers and singers, especially Robert? The comments about their inner selves? The meeting with Jeff, his being straight, a counterpoint to the other men, to Robert? The explanations? The comment about freaks? Connie and Carla getting used to the club? Letting people be?

9.The auditions, Stanley, the response? Their singing, popular, the customers’ response? The idea of adding dining? The building, the opening?

10.The personalities of Connie and Carla, in Los Angeles, their friendship, the tensions? Their depending on each other? The practicalities of concealing the fact that they were women? The apartment? On stage, their love of singing, the songs, the range, the zest? The other world? The transformation into drag queens, voice, walk etc? Connie meeting Jeff, the relationship with Al? Their talking, the bond between the two, the kiss and the embarrassment? Hanging out together? Carla and her fears, reactions? The fight with Connie, feeling stood up? The reconciliation, the final plan?

11.The group, their friendship with Connie and Carla, their becoming part of the act? Their characters? As men, as drag queens? Robert and his story? The alienation from family? The alienation from Jeff? The attempts to see him? Arriving at the restaurant, the embarrassment? Dancing?

12.The background of the thugs, their dealings, trying to keep track of Connie and Carla, losing them, Rudy and the pursuit? Bringing in Boris, his search, going to all the homes for the elderly, his singing Mame along with them all? His enjoyment of the Broadway hits?

13.The screenplay, the wit, the camp humour, the references for the movie buffs?

14.The build-up to the climax, the revelations, the violence and the shootings?

15.The reactions? Debbie Reynolds and her advice, her enjoying being in the show? The build-up to the finale – and the fulfilment of dreams?