Retro Review: To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
The mother of all drag comedies should be required viewing for everyone.
NOTE: For the month of September, I’ll be watching and reviewing three classic comedy films I’ve never seen before. Bring on the discussions in the comments, let’s have some laughs!
I knew To Wong Foo would be a feel-good watch, but I didn’t expect to be moved coming out of a road comedy about drag queens.
It’s wild to know how ahead of its time this film was. Think of the environment it came into: released in 1995, when the swath of ’80s AIDS-related deaths in the U.S. was still on the minds of many — along with the Reagan administration’s grossly homophobic initial response. (Truly, the result was an entire generation of young gay and bi men wiped out; if you’re wondering why there are so few visible queer elders, that’s certainly one reason.) It was pre-Will & Grace and Queer as Folk and The L Word… hell, even pre-Ellen coming out.
This tale about drag queens is more than a classic LGBTQ+ film; it’s a movie that uses tools of queer liberation to bolster everyday paradigms of femininity. It makes feminine behavior (whether performed by men or by women) both the butt of the jokes and the heart of their resolution.