Nia Vardalos, the writer and star of the wildly successful “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” is back with the new movie “Connie and Carla.”
Also written by and staring Vardalos, “Connie and Carla” is the predicable yet funny story of best friends Connie (Vardalos) and Carla (Toni Collette) who are trying their best to make their way into the entertainment world. Their plans start to go awry when they witness a gangster murder someone and they have to leave Chicago.
Trying to avoid being found, they decide to go to the last place anyone would ever look for them, a place with no culture, Los Angeles. Once there, the only way they can afford to get by is to perform as drag queens. Everything goes well for a while until Connie falls for Jeff (David Duchovny), the brother of Robert/Peaches (Stephen Spinella), one of the other drag queens in the show.
Overall the movie is charming and witty, very much in the style of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”; yet it does not feel like a cheap copy of the previous movie. The jokes are original and delivered with wonderful comedic timing.
The beginning and the end of the movie are the two weakest points. They are much too predicable and drag (no pun intended) considerably in comparison to the rest of the movie, which moves rather quickly and keeps the jokes coming as fast as the audience can take them.
The characters in the movie are wonderfully presented —multi-dimensional where it would have been tempting just to add a stock character for comic relief. The issue of drag was also handled carefully and seriously despite its use for comedic purposes.
Throughout the movie, there are wonderful song and dance numbers from various musicals from “Evita” to “Grease” and even “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” There is even a cameo by Debbie Reynolds who joins Connie, Carla and the other drag queens for a few numbers at the end of the movie. However, only about 30 seconds of any song are presented, so even those who do not care for musical theatre will not be bored or irritated.
Overall, this is a good movie if you are in the mood for lighthearted comedy, perfect for a date or even just a night out with some friends.
