Reel Talk & Banter
Ever wanted to just sit around and make fun of an old movie with your friends? That's exactly what Reel Talk & Banter is all about. Join best friends Omari Williams and Jay Richardson as they rewatch movies that came out at least a decade ago. It's a mix of a film review and a comedy roast, where they discuss everything from the plot to the terrible acting, and even if the film has stood the test of time. Get ready to laugh and hear some hot takes on your favorite (and least favorite) classic films.
Reel Talk & Banter
A Cult Classic In Heels: Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)
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Three larger-than-life movie stars. Full drag. A bright yellow Cadillac. And a 1995 road trip comedy that still sparks arguments nearly 30 years later. We’re revisiting *To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar* with zero nostalgia goggles and a lot of honesty about what hits, what misses, and what it meant to see drag culture pushed into mainstream Hollywood.
We talk through that unforgettable opening makeover sequence and why it can be genuinely jarring if you’ve never spent time around drag shows or LGBTQ nightlife. From there, we dig into the performances: Patrick Swayze’s grounded warmth as Vida, Wesley Snipes’ razor-sharp humor as Noxeema, and John Leguizamo’s hungry energy as Chi Chi. We also get into the questions the movie raises about representation, including whether Chi Chi is coded as transgender, and how much “authenticity” we should expect from a studio comedy built for a wide audience.
The conversation turns when the film flirts with darker material like harassment, violence, and the constant calculation of safety while traveling through small towns. We break down the sheriff storyline, why it doesn’t fully work for us, and how the movie’s tone sometimes sprints away from consequences. Then we land on what makes the Snydersville stretch so memorable: chosen family, unexpected acceptance, and the way confidence can spread when people feel seen.
If you love movie reviews, cult classics, and thoughtful debates about LGBTQ representation in film, hit play. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend, and leave a review telling us: does *To Wong Foo* hold up today?
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Welcome And Movie Pick
SPEAKER_05Hello and welcome to the Real Talk and Banter Podcast, the movie podcast where we discuss and review films that are at least a decade old. I'm Amari Williams.
SPEAKER_03And I'm Jay Richardson.
SPEAKER_05And today we are discussing Too Wong Fu, thanks for everything, Julie Newmar.
SPEAKER_03Oh, you're waiting for me to say something fabulous or I don't know.
SPEAKER_05I don't know. Okay, alright. Well, hey, listen. Okay. So this uh this was your selection, right? And um I had never heard of this movie. Yes. Uh didn't knew nothing about it. And um it was quite the experience for me. Yeah? Yes, yeah, quite the experience. Um tell me about your background with this movie. It's it's one you love, correct? That's what you said.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. This is one that I uh watched quite often as a child. Um I don't know why I loved it, but yeah, I always thought it was like nice and cute and kind of like, oh and uh yeah, I didn't I didn't uh I I still liked it a lot. Okay. When when was uh last time you watched it? Ooh, good one. That's a great question. Yeah, I don't not within the last 10 years, I'm sure. Oh, okay, okay, okay. So let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. That's why we're here, right? Yes, ma'am. Let's do it. Um, so we have two on foo. Thanks for everything. I just leave it there. I always forget the Julie Newmar part, but yeah.
SPEAKER_05It's a random ass title. I don't know, that title. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03It's very long. Very long.
SPEAKER_05Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_03Uh but yeah, it's a comedy. Uh following three drag queens driving across America and a bright yellow Cadillac. Why the Cadillac?
SPEAKER_0567 DeVille.
SPEAKER_03So this movie came out in 1995, a time when Hollywood pretty much wasn't really talking about drag culture in a mainstream film. Um, but somehow this movie was able to get three major stars, or at least two at that point, and then a third one eventually. Um Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, John Leguzma, Leguzamo. Leguzamo. I'm so sorry, John. I like you for real. John Leguzamo. Uh, who pretty much are always playing tough guys or action heroes at this point, and now they are dressed in drag and very comfortably as well. So tonight we're gonna talk about it. We're gonna talk about whether this time this movie was uh ahead of its time, you feel like it represents drag culture, and why it become uh cult classic nearly 30 years later. So let's do it.
Quick Facts And Cast Setup
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_03A little extra uh facts, some quick facts. So um director was B-Ban Kidron. B-ban Kidron, which I didn't get a lot of details about that person, so I'm not really sure what they did after this, but uh B-ban Kidron took that.
SPEAKER_05She was pregnant during um filming. Did you see that?
SPEAKER_03Uh no, I didn't see that.
SPEAKER_05No, she was she had her she hid her um pregnancy because she didn't want to um get denied the opportunity to direct, uh, because Spielberg's company were the one production companies who had it. And um when she finally revealed her baby bump, they're like, Well, you're a fucking liability. Um but I mean, come on, like but they kept her on. I think Spielberg told her that if you know the baby's coming, like you need to stop, like I'll step in and take over. To which she joked, she doesn't know why someone didn't push her down the stairs so that this movie could have been directly by Spielberg instead. I was like, Did I read that correctly? She was really passionate about it. I guess she went into labor like as the movie rapped, which was funny. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03I don't know. I mean, I I guess I don't know about a liability. Like pregnant women can work. It's not like she was jumping off a building, like she was pretty much sitting in that chair and depends on how much traveling they were doing or whatever.
SPEAKER_05I don't know. I mean I I don't know. I mean, this is a 90s too. Like, were they really tied to these OSHA regulations? It could have just been the set was dangerous. I don't know. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03What okay, fine. I'm just saying.
SPEAKER_05All right, they were shooting on locations, they weren't in a fucking uh, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they were shooting on locations. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She definitely, yeah, she was definitely in danger the whole time. So yeah. Keep her wrapped up in a bubble. Anyway, the budget for this movie was $30 million, and with those three major stars there, that kind of makes sense. Uh Box Office worldwide made 47.8 million. So, you know, not not really knocking it out of the park. It still still made his money back at the very least, but not really making it, not really knocking it out of the park. Um, fun fact, it actually did stay uh number one for two weeks when it first came out. So, you know, pretty wild considering the subject matter in the mid-90s that's what you normally do. Very impressive. Um all right, so going into the main actors here, like I said, we have Patrick Swayze, who's playing Vita Bohmi. Um she's kind of like the Bohem. I'm sorry. Did I say Bohmey? Boe me. I feel like Bomie works. It's B-O-H-E-M-E. Bohmy. It's what? It's Bohem. Okay. It can be Bohmey or Boehm. Fine Boehm.
SPEAKER_05I guess. It is Bohem. It is Bohem. It is Bohem. I know what it is. I wasn't like asking you what it is, but okay.
SPEAKER_03Anyway, so Vina Bomie is here. No, Vita Boehm. I'm listening if you haven't noticed by now, listeners, I'm terrible with names. It's just whatever comes out is just like, yo, so sorry. Uh uh, Vina Bowam here is uh Patrick Swayze, kind of like the classic, uh classic lady kind of mentor figure. You know, she's a lady is playing when when uh she's getting ready, whatever. Um, then you go over to Noxima Jackson, who just had quips throughout the entire movie. I was like, damn, did she say that?
SPEAKER_05Jesse's child.
SPEAKER_02She dropped that line.
SPEAKER_04I was like, what the hell?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Which today's um his funeral, too, which is crazy.
SPEAKER_03She did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is that is crazy. That is crazy. Um, which was played by Wesley Snipes, sharp, funny, kind of bold personality, a lot of attitude, but a lot of humor. And then you have Chi Chi Rodriguez played by John Luguzamo. Luguzamo, there we go.
SPEAKER_05That's what you say.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, John Lugazamo.
SPEAKER_03They're like, who the f uh, you know, uh, he's uh, or she, I'm sorry, she's uh called a boy in a dress at this point. She's the youngest, least experienced, um, kind of wants to prove that she belongs to drag culture. So we got three different personalities here. They're kind of balancing each other. Uh Noxima and Vita are taking Chi Chi under their wing to essentially teach her how to be a drag queen with these absolutely made-up rules of uh what it takes to be a drag queen.
The Opening Transformation Shock
SPEAKER_03So we start on the beginning um with a opening shot of Patrick Swayze as as he's known, uh, you know, chiseled chest, strong jawline, you know, looking very handsome as he normally does, and then within seconds, we're immediately uh Patrick Swayze disappears, and immediately Vita is introduced. So since this was your first time seeing this movie, uh how how is that opening scene for you? What do you what did you get that from there? Um it was uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_05I'm gonna be honest with you. Listen, right? Yeah, no, so so I'm gonna ask for some grace, right? Okay, I'm gonna ask for um Yeah, some grace as we discuss this, but also some assistance, right? I am going to uh be honest about how I feel about things, you know. Um I am going to be thoughtful as well, but I'm also gonna be vulnerable, all right? That's all I'm gonna say as we talk about it. So as a movie started and watching uh Swayze and and uh and Wesley Snipes, man, like like put on the makeup. Uh what laid me out is when um when Noxima was laid on the bed and did the giggle kick the legs thing. I was like, Wesley, man, what the fuck? Like, what are you doing? Wesley was in it. Wesley was in it. He was in character. I was like, what the fuck? Like, what is happening? So immediately I got nervous. I got very nervous. I'm still probably a little nervous for this episode, right? I don't want to come off as insensitive or whatever, uh, or closed-minded, but I can acknowledge that my mind may not be as open as ish as I like to think it is. Because that first scene, I was like, uh I was like, I might, I think I'm gonna have a tough time with this movie. That was my first initial instinct uh reaction in that open scene. Okay, okay um spoiler, I do not keep this same train of thought as the movie goes on. But early on, I was like, um, this is whoa, what's happening, you know? So yeah.
SPEAKER_03No, I think it was a hell of a I don't know, first of all, I don't know how they convinced these three dudes to do this.
SPEAKER_05Well um that's the thing too though, is guys were knocking people over to play this, to take this role on, like to be in this movie, right? You know, there was there was also many for for the Vita role, there were so many notable popular actors that wanted this role, and that was very interesting to me. I didn't find out until after I watched the movie, but that was very interesting to me just because I'm like, did somebody lose a bet, or was like, did somebody was it like contract shenanigans or whatever? And no, these guys generally wanted to do this, and they I didn't look it up.
SPEAKER_03Who else was in the running for Vita?
SPEAKER_05Okay, so some of the actors for Vita included Robert Downey Jr., William Baldwin, Gary Oldman, Matthew Broderick, James Spader, John Cusack. Um, I can see Spader doing this. Spader's a weirdo. Like, I mean that like in the best way possible. Uh Mel Gibson, Robert Sean Leonard, Willem Defoe, John Totoro, Matt Dillon, Rob Low, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise, and even Robin Williams. That's Tom Cruise. That is awesome. I'm surprised. I know. Um that's interesting.
SPEAKER_03I didn't know that. He got caught. Okay. Well, that's interesting. Yeah, I didn't remember when we were talking about who who could have played Shaw, and that was pretty much our list, those people. Yes. So it's crazy to see like they're like fighting for this role here. Yeah. Um, but yeah, no, these, I mean, yeah, you would not expect that in this time, and especially with that list of people, and in even the final list here of all these men who were super macho, super badass, super kick ass, get the girl, and like now they're here in you know, full makeup, full dress, high heels, doing makeup better than I can, because I can't do shit. Um, so yeah, absolutely crazy. Even uh Chi Chi or Um John, who wasn't as well known at this point, um took it very seriously. He spent like weeks or months or something with like ingrained in the drag queen uh culture trying to learn, and you know, so he obviously really took it to heart and they wanted to do this these roles justice. So, you know, kudos to these guys. But I could understand the initial scene where you watch Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes disappear as they are known and become uh drag queens right in front of your very eyes, and how that could be so you know jarring and you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what am I gonna watch here?
SPEAKER_05Wesie blade, you know? That's blade. Yeah, that's blade. I was like, what is going on right now? So yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Hey, we we have room for vulnerability. It it is definitely nothing's wrong with it. Nothing's wrong with being with um seeing something different and your body and your mind saying, hey, what is this? Because it's different. But you know, it's good. It's good to expose yourselves. Sorry, don't expose yourselves. Anyway, all right, so we have that opening scene. I I think it's a well-done scene of just not much else is going on, but just a transformation.
SPEAKER_05It's just it is ultimately, it is a good scene, agreed, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh, okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Because I mean, because that's what they wanted, right? They wanted because they could have just started off the movie with them already in drag, right?
SPEAKER_03Because you never see them again, exactly you know, out of drag.
SPEAKER_05Yes, so they never go back and forth. So they did that to give the audience that as you as you so well stated, here are your action heroes and now they're gone. You know? Right. And um, so it accomplished what they wanted it to accomplish. So it's a good scene. No matter how it made me feel like I was weirded out, like it was a good scene, 100%, objectively speaking.
SPEAKER_03100%, 100%.
Drag Contest And Early Impressions
SPEAKER_03Uh so they they uh they're preparing for this show to become uh the New York drag queen of the year contest, or they were trying to win it. Uh so we had uh Vita, Naxima, and Chi Chi all in this this contest. So if Chi Chi was barely in it. Yeah, I don't know what Chi Chi was doing. I mean, she was there. She she she entered. She entered. She entered. Oh my god. Um there were a lot of famous drag queens actually in there. You had uh RuPaul, probably the most famous drag queen there as the as last year's winner, showing up in a Confederate dress with um 1812 overture playing in the background. I was like, Jesus Christ. Uh so she comes in, announces that both Vita and Noxima won a trip to Hollywood. That is the big thing uh for a national drag competition where I guess there'll be, I don't know, drag queen of the year in general, instead of the New York drag queen, I guess. U.S. drag queen, I guess. I don't know. I don't remember what they win upside for that. Um so again, a lot of different moving parts there as far as a lot of imagery, a lot of colors, a lot of I mean the drag culture is like it really is a world of its own. And I'm not saying like I'm some kind of like expert on it. Like I enjoy what I enjoy and I I go to drag shows or I have gone to them, not like I do it every week or something, but I have gone to them, and it's just like the amount of effort that they put into it. Even like I I like I like watching uh RuPaul's drag show because like they just make the most amazing sets and costumes and they just create an entirely different character for themselves and like bounce between them, you know, between being in drag and being out of drag and you know um exaggerating themselves. But at the same time, I mean Noxima is fine, but and and they didn't do it here, which I did appreciate it, but sometimes, and this is this could be some of my some some of my ignorance of what I see on TV. Sometimes I feel like it's just like an exaggerated black woman that they're doing, and I'm like, what the fuck is that? Like that's not like a normal person. Like it's so exaggerated. Sometimes it's off-putting for me.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But you know, it's you know, characters are characters, and you know, whatever it is. But sometimes it just feels like a almost like a caricature and like like damn near, like blackface without blackface, like how they used to it's like character, you know, like like you know, you know what I'm trying to say.
SPEAKER_05I hope he's I got you, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um But they didn't do that in this movie, which you know I appreciated.
SPEAKER_05Um they were just themselves and I actually saw a quote from um Swayze saying that when he tried doing Vita as a caricature, it just the ruled, it didn't work, you know? So he was definitely very intentional about no this she has to be a person, you know, he has to make it grind.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's sort of like on on uh a regular person you'd see down the street, like, oh okay, there's there's those people who are just like fancy pantsy and they're like, you know, obviously a little bit well off, and you have those folks, and you have those folks who have maybe came from a different situation and they've made it, and then you have those folks who are trying to make it, and they they were just very clear characters, but it didn't feel over the top. It didn't feel like they were um, you know, trying too hard or trying to fit it. It felt like they were a drag queen. So that was, you know, the authenticity there was nice. So um so yeah, so uh Vita and Noxima win as they're coming off the stage, they run into little young Chi Chi who is crying on this on the staircase for some reason. Little ladder boy, why are you crying?
SPEAKER_02Little ladder boy, why are you crying?
SPEAKER_03Like, little lamb boy, why are you crying? And then she repeated it, Little Lamb boy, why are you crying? I was like, okay. Because I didn't win. I was like, all right, well, I'm not sure why you're on the staircase, but fine. Uh so they take it upon themselves that, you know, I guess at some point someone reached out to them and helped them up so they were gonna take uh Chi Chi on their wing and uh take their tickets, their flights that they won, and sell them and then buy a 1967 yellow Cadillac convertible so that they could drive to Hollywood with their young protege, Chi Chi.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you know, with me for me watching this, um I I I had I was having a little bit of a hard time because um I'm unfamiliar with drag culture, right? So even like some of the jokes they were making and the references were just going over my head, and I'm like, oh yes, I didn't see that.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, that is. Oh, you had that too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, I feel like I should be like more impacted by these names that they're dropping, but I'm like, I don't know that. Like I don't know who that person is. I can't, like I started like I started like googling some of them. I'm like, this is gonna be inauthentic, because I'm like, I can't.
SPEAKER_05I know. I um I couldn't do that too because uh my internet was down while I was watching the movie. Okay, I had downloaded the movie prior, you know, so in anticipation of watching it like you know at work or something. But I was at home this morning watching it and I had no internet, so I couldn't do those searches, and I'm just like, what the? I don't know what you guys are talking about. You guys think it's funny, you know?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so that I'm sure it was super impactful, but I was like, Yeah, I don't know who that is.
SPEAKER_05So that created a little disconnect from from me. Like, I I've never been to a drag show. I had an well, I guess I had a few opportunities when I was in college because there was a cabaret show um downtown. I just wasn't interested, so I just never went. For my brother's wedding, for Gerald's wedding, they did a uh drag brunch. Um I think that was like the day or the day before we flew in, and we're just too tired, we didn't make it. But all I've had is knowing that RuPaul exists, because remember RuPaul was huge in the 90s. Like even if you're not watching her show, like the commercials are coming on, so you know RuPaul who you couldn't escape RuPaul. And then like Doom Patrol, that was uh have you seen Doom Patrol before? No, I don't think I've known it's a it's a TV show, a DC TV show thing. But they have like this run-in thing where these characters in drag keep showing up. Uh so outside of that, and then Risa was watching an episode of Glow Up, and they happened to have a drag episode on. I saw that with her. So yeah, I'm very less limited in you know the whole drag thing. So that also made it because I'm like, I don't know what the movie like reading some of The reviews after I watched the movie, like some people were criticizing, oh, they didn't do enough, or this wasn't an accurate enough portrayal. And I'm like, Okay, if you say so. And then I've seen other people say, Oh, this was really good. And I'm like, Okay, if you say so, like, I don't, I can't, I don't know how to comment because I don't know what drag culture is, you know. So all I can say is what the movie, like what I thought of the movie, how it made me feel. But as far as what they were trying to communicate, um, like if they were portraying things real, because something I was pointing out was how they never came out of drag. Like, that's not realistic, apparently, right? Because you would you would you know decompress and take everything off at night and then in the morning go back. So that was something someone used to like pull holes in the movie. But I'm like, I don't know, man. This is a comedy. Like, I don't think that they were trying to make some grand statement of like, I don't know, of the drag like lifestyle or something. Cause they alluded because the movie could have would have been much darker if that's what they were doing, right? Because like the violence that you know drag people and trans people like dealt with, especially in that time, and still today, that would have been highlighted more if that was something that they wanted to do. And um I just this wasn't that movie, so I don't know. I I think it was cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think it was fine for whatever it was. I did see that kind of feedback as I was doing research as well of you know, people saying that this uh Tu Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything, was more the Hollywood watered down version. There was another movie they referenced that came out a year earlier, Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, uh, which was like what they said kind of a little more dark and a little more of a more realistic um portrayal of the drag culture. I don't I haven't seen that one, so I have no idea um, you know, how close it is or whatever. But I think for you know, uh an introduction to the to the culture in a mainstream thing, I don't I don't think it was, you know, too bad. But again, I am not in it, so I don't know if it you know, I don't think it was like bad. And I appreciate, like I said, the big thing that I really appreciated, it just wasn't like I didn't feel the caricature of like a black woman. Cause, you know, you it's just like, first of all, you're like a 20-year-old dude from like Wisconsin. Like, what the fuck are you talking about? Like, why do you sound like that?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh so yeah, they made it to Snydersville, uh PA before they made it there. Actually, uh Vita
Family Rejection And Getting Lost
SPEAKER_03decided to make a quick trip to her hometown, in which she stopped in front of her, I guess, childhood home. And at the same time she pulled up an older woman, presumably her mother, maybe grandmother, you know. Uh decided to step out, I guess, recognized her, and immediately shut the door. Which was pretty heartbreaking. I was like, oh that sucks. Tough. That was tough.
SPEAKER_05And then Vita completely overreacted and destroyed their map.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't know what that was. She was like, oh, well, if I'm not accepted, no one is. And she just fucking, we're all lost now. Fucking ripped up the map, threw it off the out the window.
SPEAKER_05It's not enough that we're fricatively lost. Let's be literally lost as well.
SPEAKER_03Let's be literally lost as well. She ripped up the map and then went the opposite direction from where she was going. So I don't know what the plan was at that point. Just head west.
SPEAKER_05Just until you until you get to a fork in the road, and you don't know which direction to go. I was like, damn, this is tough. And you're already in an unreliable vehicle. Like, what is happening?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But they were down for it. They were just like, I mean, Chi Chi was like, yo, what the fuck? And Wesley was like, or I'm sorry, Wesley. Uh Noxima was like, uh, you know, let the winds guide us. And I'm like, oh. Okay. Okay. I guess you become okay. The colors of the wind because you're a drag queen? Because I don't understand that. You're still lost as fuck. There's no way you're getting back over there. But alright, whatever. And that's when uh they start getting into a little trouble. So again, we start s we start to slide into uh slide into some of the to the more negative themes of uh, you know, they were driving and some of these smaller towns, they were not feeling very safe to stop and sleep. Um, you know, they were very concerned about being attacked, being harassed, blah blah blah. Chi Chi kind of was just like, no, we need to stop, blah blah blah. They were like, listen, you don't get your ass beat. Like, you need to relax.
SPEAKER_05Um, you were like, you feel like Chi Chi might be like from the streets or living on the streets or something, but she was doing a lot of dumb shit that was like contrary to her survival. So I'm like, what is going on?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. She was just feeling herself. She was just feeling it, I guess. I don't know what she was doing, but yeah, I think that she'd be like caught more cautious than it than both of them. But you know, I guess they're trying to prove that she hasn't been in the life long enough to really understand.
SPEAKER_05I I don't know, but or that uh invincible invincibility you feel with being young, you know. Because they kept talking about how younger Chi Chi was than the rest that the both of them. So that's true. This youth.
SPEAKER_03The youthful youth. So um they conveniently happened to stumble upon in one of the motels they stopped a convention for basketball, women basketball players. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_05Look um the editing in this movie was not great. There was a lot of like quick random, like cut to a different scene. I'm like, oh my god, like where because they were like, oh, it's a basketball convention, and then suddenly Noxima's out here freaking you know, crossing people up and and and dunking the ball, and then they were back to like hanging out at the pool.
SPEAKER_01I was like, what the fuck?
SPEAKER_05Like, it's almost like that scene was supposed to get cut, and there was like, oh, but I want to see Wesley Snipes like you know play some basketball so they trimmed around it. Um it was just I don't know, it was not edited very well, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_03It was a little jarring, you know. It was a little jarring, but it was it was funny though. It was like, what the hell is happening? I mean, he kind of laid it up, but I was like, I wish he had dunked it. Like I wish he had just like two-hand dunk just like that.
SPEAKER_05I thought I thought the dunk was coming. It was a layup.
SPEAKER_03I wanted to that'd have been amazing. I'd have a whoop whoop if he did that. But now he just did a little dunk and then like like freaking skipped off afterwards. So I was like, okay, let's pretend you didn't just do freaking white man can't jump. But alright. I know.
SPEAKER_05So I was disappointed, right? Because I really wanted to see. I thought it'd be so funny if all of a sudden instead of Noxema, we're getting Weston snipes, and he's just out there shaking people up and dunking. Like, I feel like an extended basketball scene, and so you can't convince me that they did not shoot an extended scene. I'm pretty sure they did, but I would have loved to have seen that extended scene. It would have been very funny, just him crossing up all these freaking you know, white ladies and just you know going way too hard and then hit it with the skipping and the oh yeah, I'm just a lady, you know, after the fact. Oh my gosh. That would have been amazing.
SPEAKER_03Um, yeah, then they somehow, somehow, so after that, they back on the road. They're still trying to get to California, even though I don't know if they know where they're going. But either way, they're heading west, whatever that looks like. And uh, yeah, they they're they're driving through one of these like one-road towns,
The Sheriff Scene And Real Danger
SPEAKER_03and they get pulled over by the police and Dollard. Dullard. Dullard. Dollard with an O. He was really mad about that. They're like, yeah, but it says Dollard. He's they got a misprints. He was really they probably say that shit all the time. Anyway, so Dullard, Officer Dullard, Sheriff Dollard, I think, uh stops them and immediately asks uh Vita to come out of the car. She does. Of course, we all know that her driver's license is, you know, what she looks like out of drag. Patrick Swayze, yeah. Yeah, Patrick Swayze named Eugene is on her driver's license. So, you know, she's feeling a little kind of scared about that and like, hey, what is this guy gonna do? This is kind of a, you know, they're in this like one town, one horse town with like this random guy in the middle of the night. Um, he pulls her out, he uh tells her he knows what she wants, and she's like, Yeah, I want to go home, or whatever the hell she said. And he's like, Yeah, no, I know what you want. He proceeds to pick her up, put her on his the hood of his car, and shove his hand up her dress, in which he gets a handful of the dingleberries. And uh get your head off my dirt. Yep. The man in here the man in uh Vita came out real quick. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_05Um but uh yeah, unfortunately, you know, he the police assaults her and then uh you so uh I saw that the reaction that Dollard had on his face was a genuine surprise because apparently Patrick Sway because they're tucking, right? Like, you know, in their dragon stuff, so you can see bulges, right? Patrick Swayze had put like a cob of corn under his dress. So when Dollard I I'm so I'm dead ass. So when Dalin reached his hand under there, he felt the corn. So that reaction of surprise was a hundred percent authentic.
unknownHe's like, what the fuck is this?
SPEAKER_03Oh man, I didn't see that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I'd be like, I know what the fuck is this? Uh well, yeah, I guess it did his job because he was genuinely surprised. You could see his eyes widened and everything. Uh he gets pushed down and knocked out at the same time. I'm like, all right, man, he's made a paper. Because he didn't swing or anything. He just fell down and passed out for like 12 hours.
SPEAKER_05Dude, he staggered back. Like he didn't he didn't go down hard at all, you know. He's not at all.
SPEAKER_03Out until he just laid down and passed out. It was weird.
SPEAKER_05I think he just fell asleep. Donna's a weird character, right? Because I mean, because we we also ignored the racism that he hit Noxemax before, you know? So it's like he's racist, he's homophobic, he's a rapist. Um that's a lot of things, man. Like, that's a lot of things.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, pick a lane, man. Jesus Christ. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Oh my god. And like given all those things we just said, like, I don't even feel like he had like a good comeuppance, you know, um, at the end of the movie. There was no lesson learned for him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there was no justice. I mean, all his like all all the guys and all the guy the uh people on the force know, so I guess, you know, that's like his he's embarrassed. But I also feel like he now he's just gonna go around like murdering freaking drag queens now. He's just gonna become a serial killer for drag queens.
SPEAKER_05He told him he was gonna bring their corpses back.
SPEAKER_03That's what I said. I have that note here. I'm like, you know, when a cop says I'm gonna bring three corpses back, perhaps you should take his badge and you know, gun. Perhaps you should.
SPEAKER_04Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_03You know, perhaps, you know. But that's in the real world. You know, whatever. They just let him walk out the door, you know, saying, yep, I'm gonna bring him back.
SPEAKER_05What if he came back with their fucking heads in a bag? What would they like? Oh would they have been like, hey man, I thought you were joking about murdering them. Like, what? No. How about we not joke about murder police officers? Yeah, that was crazy. Crazy. I thought I thought they were hinting at him being gay. Did you see that?
SPEAKER_03Oh, he's gay as shit, bro. Okay. Like, he went from like when he was at the bar exclaiming that they were all drag queens.
SPEAKER_05Weird.
SPEAKER_03He he went from like complaining to like almost like romanticizing and fanatizing.
SPEAKER_05Like, it was weird. But nothing came of that scene. So I'm like, why'd they put that scene? Yeah, they were just there.
SPEAKER_03They were sitting there just staring at him as he was just loudly romanticizing about drag queens.
SPEAKER_05And then like Virgil sat next to him, and then like Homeboy stares at Virgil's head until Virgil says, You good? Like, what's up? You know, like he wasn't like a serious villain. Um because they were really, I guess the conflict in the movie was more so like them with themselves and the interactions with each other and all that stuff, and even Virgil was a bigger villain than Dollard really was. Like, Dollard was just like, I don't know, he was not a serious villain at all. But they kind of tried to play it like he was in the last act with him coming up with the bullhorn and everything, and yeah. Um, I don't know. Yeah, his character didn't work for me, I guess, is what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I agree. It was just like they could have gone without that. I don't know. I mean, I think again, they were trying to like ease into like this is like some of the harassment that people are dealing with and whatever, whatever. And like um, and then like and I could sympathize because like when I'm like when I'm traveling, I'm concerned about like where I'm stopping and like does this feel safe? Am I like this is a weird situation, not just for my not just for my race, but for my sex. So like both are combined, I'm like, damn, I don't know who the fuck's gonna be like you. And I'm like, ah shit, you know, so like I could put myself in those situations of like, yeah, I'm there, I'm trying to I'm trying to make sure if I'm going through, if I'm doing a long drive, I'm stopping only at major well-lit places and I don't know, like, you know, uh hole in the wall places, and you know, some people don't have to think about that. But so I so I, you know, I'm I'm vibing, I'm getting, I'm like, okay, I can understand, you know, and that's what kind of makes the movie feel like real. Um and I'm sure it's a lot, it can be a lot worse than that, but yeah. But yeah, dude was just like a waste, but they could have done without it. I would have liked to not have that scene in it. It didn't really add anything. It was just like now they're just now he's chasing a freaking glass slipper. It was just dumb.
SPEAKER_05It was distracting too because when you think about it, Vita thought she killed him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And outside of that initial scene, well, so the the the the subsequent scene where they were at the next stop and they're like, oh my gosh, I killed this dude. They never even thought about that guy for the rest of the fucking movie until he showed back up. So I'm like, you just thought you killed someone. That changes the whole movie. Like you're traumatized, you're scarred, you're trying to cope with you know your actions, and you already don't have all the most self-esteem or self-confidence because of your family situation. That takes you down a dark path, and then it's it's it's a whole different thing. But they just shrugged it off and was like, Whoa, you killed someone. All right, cool. That's weird, and moved on.
SPEAKER_02That's weird.
SPEAKER_03Anyway.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
Stranded In Snydersville
SPEAKER_03Um, okay, so after that we get to Snydersville, right? Right. Um, the car is broken down as they predicted from the beginning. Didn't make it freaking a hundred miles, if that. So, you know. Uh so they get down to uh Snyder's Bill. Uh Chi Chi says, Hey, I can get us a ride, and then proceeds to get us a ride by uh sticking her foot out, and you know, a random dude in the truck shows up and saves him. Um were you getting in that truck? Uh I don't think they should have. No. That that's okay. That's what I thought. I was like, this is questionable. But I don't know what else you do. Like the car is broken down, it's the middle of the night. It's a top-down. I don't think it had a cover. So I don't know what they were gonna do.
SPEAKER_05It has to. It I'm sure it just felt folded up in the back. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I don't know. Like they bought this broken down ass car that the car the the manager of the car dealership told them, do not buy this car, which is not normal. They're usually like, hey, take your shit.
SPEAKER_05They're they're just lucky they didn't get freaking stolen and or murdered because that was very risky. Especially given given the situation the encounter that they just had, like you would think that guard would be up more than that. Well, I don't know. Because apparently Noxima and Chishi didn't know that Vita was outside getting molested, right? Because when they came out of the car, they was like, What happened? I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Were you guys gonna look in the red view mirror to see what's going on? So I guess when homeboy pulled up in the truck, they were just like, Oh wow, how lucky for us.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I guess so. I mean, that that is actually a good point. But I mean, I guess in that point you're so scared because okay, like Vita is presenting it is a white woman right here. So I mean, you know, they're kind of like the most protected at that point. So as a black woman and as a Hispanic woman, you're really like man says look forward, you're kind of like, well, I don't want to get shot, so I guess I'm gonna look forward.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But no, I I turn my neck around, but like, nah, I gotta see what the hell's happening. You have to 100%.
SPEAKER_05The side mirror and the rear view mirror, just like fucking people glancing that.
SPEAKER_03People guns.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I cock it open. I'd like I'm looking. I'm 100% looking. Yep. Um, so we're in Snydersville, which is like again another like dusty ass town with like dusty ass people in it. I'm gonna be honest. Like everybody looked like they were dirty. The whole town looked like they were dirty. And I was like, what the fuck? Listen.
SPEAKER_05I was convinced that Bobby Ray and Bobby Lee were brother and sister.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I thought so. I was like, why are you named? They're definitely they're definitely related because Bobby Ray and Bobby Lee is just like, alright, bro. Whatever.
SPEAKER_05I was so confused when Bobby Lee was like trying to talk a hint at who she was into. And um, I'm like, Because the way the scene presented, it was an obvious, like, oh, they're talking about the same person, but I couldn't get there because in my mind, I was like, nah, that's Bobby Lee's brother, so you can't be talking about the same person.
SPEAKER_02You can't like him, and that's your brother.
SPEAKER_03Unfortunately, the owner of the Bed and Breakfast is also being beaten by her husband. Like, there's a lot of themes in here of like things he just kind of touched and just kind of like let it go. Like, hey, nah, just kidding.
SPEAKER_05It was like I mean, it's a comedy, so you you go you have to lightly touch it and keep it pushing, or else write the whole movie down.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, now it's a draw.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so I guess I don't know. I see. These are heavy themes that they're kind of like. They're very heavy themes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's very heavy themes to just kind of touch and then let go real fast. It's like, ah, by the way, nah, just kidding. It's like uh okay.
SPEAKER_05The boxes fell on my head. I was like, what the fuck?
SPEAKER_01I was like, okay, yeah, that works. Yeah, that that works. That works.
SPEAKER_03Like, I'm just cutting onions.
SPEAKER_05I'm like, oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03There's zero onions around, but uh so even again at this at this at the uh when they're in a town, before she like officially meets Bobby Ray, um she's walking down the street and then or down the pathway, and then again almost gets accosted by the I guess town men, uh town people, uh town boys, I don't know what they were. But the yeah, the town rapists, yes, they were definitely about to like grab her and take her. Like, holy shit. Again, again, they're touching on it, and like, alright, they're not safe anywhere. Like, damn.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's tough, tough, tough, tough. But again, they just kind of touched on it a little.
SPEAKER_03They just touched on it, and I guess that's when Bobby Ray and Chi Chi decide to fall in love because he saved her from being accosted.
SPEAKER_05I guess. So I feel I feel like the movie forgot about Chi Chi a little bit during this section of them of the movie. Because I know I forgot about Chi Chi a little bit. Because when when when uh Vita and Naxima were bonding with the ladies, and you know, they went on their ladies' day and all that stuff, like Chi Chi was nowhere around, and I didn't notice until Oh shit.
SPEAKER_03I don't think I noticed either. I thought she was there.
SPEAKER_05No, she wasn't. She was not, she was off about to be raped, and then she was hanging out with fucking Bobby Bobby Ray uh the whole time. So when they cut to her, I was like, I said, Oh my god, Chi Chi is not here at all. She so yeah, it was weird.
SPEAKER_03Um Yeah, I don't know. Well, you know, uh if you look in the background, they were saying that there was some tension between um John and Patrick Swayze. Um they said that uh Patrick Swayze didn't like that John was Kind of um doing a lot of improv and not not as serious a style as uh Patrick Swayze was doing.
SPEAKER_04Interesting.
SPEAKER_03So they had some tension behind, and I don't know if that, you know, maybe that's why maybe the third scene or third act didn't have as many of their scenes together. This is me, this is what they said. I don't know why they didn't do that. Um then there was a little bit of a competition. They said it was a competition between Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes. They were trying to compare to see who had the better legs between the two of them, and I was like, what the fuck? Um but otherwise it seems like it they had a you know a decent enough crew and cast together, except for John and Patrick, which was like the main character.
SPEAKER_05So I I because I I did come across where it said there were some kind of issues on set, but I couldn't find some specific or even uh concrete, like who it was. Like at one point I saw Cass and Crew, and then this article I was reading said that people said it was Swayze and Snipes or Swayze and Luguzamo, but it seemed like inconclument. Like nobody went on record really, at least in what I read saying what exactly happened. So that's interesting.
SPEAKER_03Um all right, so we're so we're in we're fully in the third act. And somewhere in the background, the cop is still kind of looking for him. Not kind of, he's fully just abandoned his job at just looking for these people. He set up freaking uh checkpoints. He's like comparing people to this like hastily drawn thing.
SPEAKER_05The list he had that said, uh, what was it, places for homos or something? Yeah, yeah. Places homos go. I was like, damn. Oh my god. It was I'm sorry, it was a funny list. The list was funny.
SPEAKER_03Uh so we finally get to the to the final act, and this is where uh well a couple things happen here. One, uh, Chi Chi uh tries to steal Bobby Ray in front of Bobby Lee and everybody else in this kind of white negligee thing. I was like, what the fuck is she wearing outside like that? Like, what is happening?
SPEAKER_05That was crazy. That scene. That was crazy. That was first of all, isn't he a kid? Huh? Isn't he a kid? He is, but um Chi Chi, we're supposed to believe Chi Chi's a kid too. Like I no, when I say kid, like 19 or something like that, you know?
SPEAKER_03I was thinking homeboy was like 17.
SPEAKER_05Who? Um oh Bobby Ray? No, no, no. Bobby Ray. Sure, he's 17, but I'm saying like it's not like um I don't think Chi Chi was like in her 20s. I think she was like 18.
SPEAKER_03Oh, so you're thinking 18, 19? Yeah. All right, I think that's what she was supposed to do. Yeah. Okay, fine.
SPEAKER_05But no, that that whole storyline was um it was very interesting to me, and I was really glad when Vita dealt with it, because at first I'm like, so I'm like, okay, can't people tell or can't people not tell? Like that the drag, you know, and Dollard couldn't tell, but was her name Carol? Like she could tell, uh, Virgil's wife, right? I think it was Carol's her name. Um she could tell, but I guess this dudes couldn't tell or something because we're dumb and we just freaking tink with our dicks or something. But is that what the movie was trying to say? Because Bobby Ray had no idea. So I'm like, alright, so Bobby Ray doesn't know that Chi Chi is a man in drag. So like, I'm like, what is Chi Chi doing here? Like, you just gonna be like surprise, like when you know what I mean? Yeah, I don't know. So Vita pulled him up and was like, or pulled her up and was like, listen, we like there's a code that you you can't do what you're doing. Like this boy doesn't know he doesn't know you, he doesn't know what's going on. So I found that very interesting because I was I was just curious like how this was gonna play out. And then they settled it off screen. Like, what the fuck is that?
SPEAKER_03I I must I I swear, uh shit, I swear he uh Chi Chi did tell not tell him that she was in drag, but just tell him like, hey, I you know, I'm not a one woman kind of person or I'm not a one man kind of person. Like I, you know, she kept she kept mentioning that, you know, you screw one out, you screw another one back in. I have so much men, blah, blah, blah. Um I don't think she told him because when the cop was shouting it over the foghorn, um Bobby Ray was like, wait, man in drag. So like I don't think he knew. He was what a way to find out, by the way. Like, Jesus Christ. You're like, wait, am I gay now?
SPEAKER_05So, hey, listen, right? That's that's that's crazy. But so here's something else on Chi Chi that I saw. Um, because it was interesting to me when you said that there was the conflict was between Swayze and and Leguzama because he wasn't taking it seriously. But that's not that's contrary to what I read, that Legozama was taking it very seriously. I mean, you even said so where he was like immersing himself in that culture and that world and everything. But I also came across that he was playing Chi Chi as a transgender. And that that uh was supposed to be I guess how Chi Chi was supposed to be viewed in a movie, and I think they're doing a remake or they're doing a play, I think, or like uh a play, something of it, and he's saying, like, like, or I think he was just saying, like, if this movie was to be recast today, it would be cast with a transgender person, the role of Chi Chi. So I know I was like, that's interesting. I didn't get that because apparently Chi Chi is a transgender icon, is what I saw online. I don't know any transgenders to ask them if that's the case, but that's what I read online that Chi Chi is considered a transgender icon. So I did not view, but I mean, I don't know how I would pick that up, but I was I don't know. Sounds like you didn't pick that up either. That Chi Chi may have been coded as transgender. So that was interesting.
SPEAKER_03No, no, no, no. I thought they were all I thought she was a drag queen, just like um Vita and Noxima. Um, but yeah, I guess i okay. So I guess we if you add that element, then what she was trying to do, if she was trying to be like more accepted as a transgender woman um versus a drag queen, which is just you know, you don't you could be anybody in drag, really um then that. But yeah, I don't I didn't pick up on that. I thought that she was just um just you know trying to get accepted to the world. Yeah, trying to try to get good at it, yeah. Um and then at the same time, they're also preparing for the strawberry shortcake. Um is it strawberry shortcake or strawberry?
SPEAKER_05Uh strawberry social.
SPEAKER_03So strawberry social, sorry. Strawberry social. Which actually is that sound pretty good. I hate strawberries. I don't know why. Do you really? Oh wow. I do because they're the like to me, they're the most like they're the biggest liars.
SPEAKER_02Like strawberries do not taste like strawberry flavored things, and it just pisses me off.
SPEAKER_05That's not a strawberries foul. That's freaking mankind engineering strawberry into some monstrosity.
SPEAKER_02When I buy into a strawberry, I'm expecting a fruit roll-up and there's no fucking fruit roll-up to be had. And that pisses me off every fucking time. I hate strawberries for that reason, bro. It's nowhere near. Listen, listen, man. I don't know what to tell you. All right, that's sad. I'm expecting a fucking fruit roll-up and I'm just getting like water.
SPEAKER_05I'm like, what the fuck is this? No, man. Strawberries have flavor. Like, you're talking about watermelons. Like, ugh.
SPEAKER_03Watermelons are trash too, but either way, I'm just strawberries pissed me off.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03Anyway.
SPEAKER_05I'm seeing no melon over here.
SPEAKER_03I see.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, yeah. So they're so they're preparing for the strawberry social thing, which I guess is a yearly thing they do. Um, again, with a mixture of the uh with uh the uh drag queens that are currently on site here. Um everyone's feeling them. It feels like everyone's coming out of the shell. The the older woman. I like this. I really like the scene between the older woman and um Noxema.
SPEAKER_05I did too.
SPEAKER_03Um yeah, it was very sweet and very like and it I kind of showed like you never know um what a person is, you know, know uh what a person knows or what they've experienced, you know. Um and the I guess the blend of people coming from different um cultures, just being able to like the same thing like we do here. I mean, we come from the same cultures, so it don't really count. But you know, if we were like strangers, we're like, yeah, we're strangers or we come from different cultures, but we really love movies and we could talk about them. And you know, they had that that that um that uh cornerstone of things they could talk about with the different actors and actresses from Hollywood. Who knows? That woman might have been like some kind of like famous Hollywood or actress from you know the 30s or 20s or something, and you know, she just randomly moved home when she was done. Who the hell knows, you know? So um so I thought that was pretty cool. Um and it kind of showed Noxima because she was kind of like the resident, I don't want to say resident bitch, but kind of kind of like fuck all this shit. But then she kind of like switched up a little and kind of softened up. So I kind of like that um her character arc. I mean, it wasn't like aggressive, but it had enough that I was like, oh okay, okay, I like that. I had to ask you. So uh you're gonna hate me, but either way I'm gonna ask.
SPEAKER_02What would what's your drag queen name gonna be?
SPEAKER_05Oh my gosh. I what the fuck? How am I supposed to do that? Is there like a rule or no, like what is there like like the street I'm fucking born on or something? How do you do that?
SPEAKER_02Like what Yeah, you know it. You know what it is. It's supposed to be like your first street and your first pet or something like that.
SPEAKER_05Can you give me the parameters and then I'll answer the question? Your name is Anya Opal. Anya opal?
SPEAKER_03That's actually not bad.
SPEAKER_04That's kind of hard. Alright.
SPEAKER_02I'm glad it was worth it. Because I was getting so pissed off. That's not bad. I might have to cut out the blanks, but I'm gonna leave that in.
SPEAKER_05Anya opal. Okay. Holy shit. I'm liking that one. Oh I'm gonna email this to you. It's a share your results. I want you to have this forever.
SPEAKER_02Awesome.
SPEAKER_05Wow. All right. We're not doing it over for me because that was way too much.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Alright, so uh so we get to the end here. We got um, you know, the final scene. Um
Final Countdown
SPEAKER_03Vita finally beat the shit out of um out of um what's her name? Chris?
SPEAKER_05Virgil. No, wait, Virgil, shit. Yeah, Virgil.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, Virgil, Virgil. Finally beats the Virgil because Virgil likes to hit women. Don't hit women is bad on you, um, which he deserves. So he finally got what he deserved. Like everybody else got what they deserve except for the cop. Um, the cop shows up at the at the at the freaking town yelling that he knows their drag queens here and he's uh not leaving until you know they're in his possession. I guess he wants to collect them. He did have a shotgun. Like, I'm like, this man is a terrorist. I don't know why they didn't call the police because menace to society. He's a terrorist like terrorist at that point. Got a shotgun and a foghorn just just going. Like, okay, man. The town people all come around and say, I'm the drag queen. No, I'm the drag queen. He's like, What? No, you're not the drag queen. Like, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Oh my god. That trope has been in so many movies, like that. The no, it's me. No, it's me. It's like, all right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, what if he just killed me? I'm the daddy. No, I'm the daddy. You're like, what the fuck?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Anyway. So, yeah, so he doesn't get what he wants. He pretty much gets laughed out of the fucking town, which is what he deserved, but he shouldn't get bit beaten, to be honest, for all the crimes he committed at that point. Um, but you know, he just gets to go home and solve, I guess, and I would assume become a murderer because there's nothing else for him to do at that point. Um, but yeah, I think the main themes here are, you know, they have accept they found acceptance not only among themselves, you know, Chi Chi with them, but also the townspeople, the small townspeople where people where they were thinking that they'd be um you know, ostracized and attacked and harassed, you know, from day one, they you know, a couple people said, Hey, yeah, I knew that you were a uh you know, a drag queen. You have a big old Adam's apple, but yeah, they're like, Yeah, like women don't have Adam apple. Even though they do, it's just not as pregnant.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but um, yeah. Um she did uh she did have a nice line that I liked. She said, um, she was like, oh, you knew. She's like, I know I'm very fortunate to have a lady friend who happens to have an Adam's apple. I was like, oh.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then You know what almost I forgot to mention, you know what took me out uh when they were arguing and um Vita stepped forward and her wig gets snatched? I was dying. I rolled on my bed. I was fucking dying. First of all, how did it get snatched that hard? It felt like it got snatched from the ground because it went.
SPEAKER_05What did it? It wasn't just a it was just a little light like a chandelier, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was just like a little, like a little like lamp thing hanging down.
SPEAKER_05Yanked. Jesus. Yeah, that was nice.
SPEAKER_02They yanked that shit from the ground and it was like aggressive as hell.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that that that was pretty well. And so I kind of expected, I was like, oh shit. Is he about to go fight Virgil with his wig off, you know, with her wig off? Like, and now the wig was magically back on perfectly too.
SPEAKER_00With that shit back on, he's like, excuse me.
SPEAKER_05Nah, man. So your friend's getting her ass whooped, your wig comes off. You're gonna stop to put your wig back on before going to help her? You're not gonna just keep going.
SPEAKER_03I mean, they were still trying to like keep up the, you know, they were still trying to keep up that there were there were women and not black queen. Oxima was like, mind your business. Oxima wasn't gonna do shit. Oxima was like, yo, it was like, yo, she's getting beaten. She's like, yeah, I know. And I was like, damn, like, Jesus Christ. There's three of y'all against him. Like, I think you'll be alright. She was like, shit, that ain't got nothing to do with me. That's crazy. Um, so we have acceptance, they found a little bit of a family, which, yeah, they need to help out Chi G because she's on the streets. She she's happy about motels that let her keep the mint even though she didn't stay the whole night. Like, I mean, yeah, she she's on the streets. Um, there's some empowerment between not just themselves, but um, you know, the townspeople, the women there, um, you know, them just being themselves.
SPEAKER_05And that was one of the nicest parts about it. Um when just all the the town, the ladies in the town just kind of come into life and socializing in a different way, and and um the glow-ups they all had. That that was actually pretty nice. I I did enjoy that whole bonding scene and everything.
SPEAKER_03You any final thoughts?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so I know I said I was weirded out at the very beginning, and there was much trepidation coming into the movie, and it washed away as I was watching.
The Title Meaning And Deleted Context
SPEAKER_05Who the hell is Wang Fu? You know, and I don't know who the hell Julie Newmar was, or I didn't know who Julie Newmar was, like none of that shit meant anything to me. So it was very distracting to me because I'm like, I thought I was gonna figure out who Wang Fu was, uh then I found out that there was a scene explaining Um who Wang Fu was, and they cut it from the goddamn movie, and that pissed me off after the fact. But overall, um I had fun with the movie. I had fun with it. It was I was surprised at how well um those three leads were in the role and how seriously they took it. Uh, because this despite it being a uh a comedy, you can tell that they were taking it seriously. Like I mean, from the time Wesley Snipes did that giggle thing when when he became Noxema in the very beginning, it's like okay, you know, he's lost himself in the role. And Swayze, I see what they were what they were saying when they said that oh, they went with him because of that vulnerability. Because I I could see that where Vita is this strong, like like you said, motherly matriarch of the group, and then there were times where she's like uncertain or unsure of herself. It was well done, it was well acted. It was a fun movie. It was a fun movie.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um, yeah, I don't I don't know who I still don't know who to Wang Fu is. I assume I thought it was the name of the restaurant owner or something.
SPEAKER_05Um so the story is is that so there's an actual picture of that picture of Julie Newmar that had the that said to Wang Fu. So Wang Fu is is saying to this person, Wang Fu. Thanks for everything, Julie Newmar. Right. So that picture that that Vita took is a real picture that was in this restaurant. So that was the um inspiration for um what's his name? Douglas Carter Bean, who wrote the movie. And I guess the story was I think Wang Fu was like a uh bartender or something there, and Bean said that he changed it. He said it's meant to be a metaphor for God, and yeah. Uh, because you have to thank God for everything, you have to be grateful for life. You just have to stop where you are and say thank you for everything. So a scene was filmed where the characters provided a little more context, but it was deleted. So in the scene, Vita towards the end, Vita says, Cynics may say that Wang Fu is a Chinese cook or something, but I know better. I know Wang Fu to be God, however you perceive her to be, and Julie Numar knew this. Like that one fucking line, that scene would have helped me out. So I was really stressed out because I'm like, who the hell is Wang Fu? The movie ended. I'm like, did I miss a scene? Like, so that's pretty cool. That would have been interesting. I I don't understand why they cut it, but yeah, um, yeah. So that's what Hu Wang Fu is supposed to be.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I had no idea. I didn't know that. I I I know Julie Newmar, because you know that's Catwoman, and I know you know she was very popular actress in uh in the 60s, you know, you know, beautiful woman and stuff. So but I didn't know the Tu Wang Fu part and who the hell I was supposed to be. Um all right, folks. Well, uh yeah, I think that's it for uh Tu Wong Fu.
Ratings And Cultural Impact Debate
SPEAKER_03Thanks for everything. Let's uh get to um let's get to our scoring.
SPEAKER_05Time to rate. So for any newcomers. Time to rate we rate our movies based on five categories plot and writing, acting and casting, production cinematography, music and sound, and cultural impact. Everything is rated on a scale of one to ten. Jill, plot and writing, what you got?
SPEAKER_03For plot and writing, I got a solid, solid four.
SPEAKER_05Four. Nice. Okay. I gave it a five.
SPEAKER_03Oh.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay, well, whatever.
SPEAKER_05What do you have for acting and casting?
SPEAKER_03I gave acting and casting a solid eight. Eight out of ten. I thought those guys did a great job.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I did the same. We spoke a lot about how we felt about them. I have an eight as well. Um production, cinematography. What do you have for that? The visuals of the movie.
SPEAKER_03I have a nice number for that. I gave it a seven.
SPEAKER_05Okay. I gave it a five. What did you like about the production? The cinematography.
SPEAKER_03It's mostly the actual beginning scene. The beginning scene really drove that number. Other than that, it was kind of drab, but um, no, I really like the beginning scene a lot. So that one kind of carried for me.
SPEAKER_05Nice. Um, music and sound? What'd you have?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they didn't have a lot of I mean, there was some like I give it a five.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yeah. I did a five as well. Cultural impact. What you got?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I struggled with cultural impact a little bit. Same. I don't have a score. Yeah. I I have a score, but I'm I don't have an answer yet. I can have a number, but I don't like my number.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so let's talk through it, right? So for me, uh coming into it, my cultural impact, like I was gonna put like a one or a two, to be honest, you know, because like I said, I've never heard of this movie. And um it what I mean that was basically the whole thing. I mean, not saying that I know of all movies, right? But um it has some very famous people in it, you know, and it's just I didn't know a lot about it. So in doing my research, I'm seeing things like how this meant a lot to the LGBT community, and how trans people have uh C C is an icon, and you know all these things, like how it meant for that one sector. So that's like forcing me to like raise my score. I don't know how high to raise it, right? Because it's obvious to me that there is a um a group of people that value this movie very highly. So how do I rate how do we rate the movie based off of that? So that's that's what I'm having a hard time with. Is that the same for you or is there something else?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so it was actually the opposite, and I'm thinking of coming down. So because it's so because it's the first of its kind, I don't want to say the first of its kind, because there's there's clearly a movie right before it, and I'm sure there's several movies throughout the um throughout, you know, movie history, but it was the first movie with those three with major actors like that, and then the way they took the role on with it not being like a joke. I mean, it was a comedy, but they didn't take their role as a joke.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, so I I started out with like an eight, but then I'm thinking of like, yeah, it is a first of its kind, cool, but it's not a movie that's referenced or known very much. Like you said, you've never heard of it, not you haven't even heard of it. It'd been one thing if you heard it but you just never watched it, but you never even heard of it. I have, I don't know how the hell, my mom, probably. Um so I'm I'm aware of it, but yeah, I just it's not a movie you hear very often at all. Like so, so uh go ahead.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_05Well, um I'm gonna go with six. Oh, okay. So I overshot you because I I'm gonna go with a seven. Well, I'm I was between a six and a seven, to be honest. Don't say it. Okay. Um, you know, because I'm like, not because I'm not a part of that community doesn't mean that a movie isn't impactful, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So I'm gonna put a seven, I'm gonna put a seven. So, which is funny. So we both average out uh to a six overall for the movie.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and that's about how I feel about it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it wasn't like groundbreaking, except for like the beginning scene. Um, you know, it's pretty predictable, pretty like it was they're gonna win, everyone's gonna like them, and everyone's gonna come together. Like, yeah, okay, cool. Yeah, um, I'm gonna give it a higher score if they actually dug dove a little bit further into like the crap that was happening, like the attempted rapes, the attempted assaults, the like um dove in a little bit into that, and we got that kind of side. I probably would have given it a higher score, but they kind of just danced around in and it was just like, oh, okay, now we're picking strawberries. Like, oh, alright.
SPEAKER_05So and then the the the um the pretty woman Chi Chi, because she would turn around to win the whole thing at the end of the movie, which I'm like, she wasn't even entered in the fucking competition. She was just coming to hang out with y'all. So that was weird.
SPEAKER_03I guess they convinced her. I guess they convinced the people. I guess yeah, let her in.
SPEAKER_05No, she didn't clear, she did not make it in, she was supposed to clear regionals before she can make it to nationals.
SPEAKER_02So first of all, this is not the spelling bee, relax, okay. Okay, okay, okay. Relax.
SPEAKER_05Real quick before we go, I'm gonna speed through the test, so you're not the only one with the name. And my name does that count is Omari. Service says Marie Monroe. That's my name.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yours is better. Yeah, sorry, man. Okay, all right. Marie Munro is cool though.
SPEAKER_04Oh shit.
SPEAKER_05Oh my god. That'll do it for our Real Talk and Banter on Tu Wong Fu. Thanks to everything, Julie Newmar. To connect with us, to give us some feedback, or just say hello. Email us at real talkbanter at gmail.com. That's R-E-E-L banter at gmail.com. Thanks for listening.
SPEAKER_03And this is an Iopal. Wait, did I say right?
SPEAKER_05No, it's Anya Opal.
SPEAKER_03God.
SPEAKER_05Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_03I don't Anya Opal here telling you to drag on.
unknownI don't know.
SPEAKER_01I think I think I think we're falling, but I think we're gonna pop it. Drag on?
SPEAKER_05Alright, turn it on.