Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

bbewnylorac There are many outstanding features in Stephan Elliot's legendary examination of prejudice and triumph relating to Australia's queer community. Firstly, of course, those incredible costumes by Lizzie Gardiner and Tim Chappell - you can't take your eyes off them. The lush colour and attention to detail is astounding. Next, the stunning landscape (although stunning seems an understatement) of outback Australia, with the light and perspectives used to amazing effect in every scene. The acting, with Guy Pearce, Terence Stamp and Hugo Weaving in the main roles, is impeccable. All of them inhabit their characters to such an extent that you forget they're acting. Terence Stamp, in particular, struck me as just perfect for his role. His character, an older transsexual, is brittle, yet witty and resilient, and later on shows she is supportive and empathetic of her friends. Guy Pearce gives an astonishing physicality to his role - he is so immersed in his character that he doesn't have to impersonate anyone, his IS the camp, flamboyant muscled up young drag queen. The role when he/she confronts the violent thugs chasing her in Coober Pedy is outstanding - it manages to be funny, disturbing, offensive, shocking and confronting all at once. The film's script is sharp and entertaining, although sometimes there is too much dialogue. Sometimes scenes are more like a play and the actors fall to reciting their lines, albeit with great wit. It's a very Australian film. There are many people who are encountered along the way who accept the three main characters, love them and help them, but also a lot of senseless hostility, and the film lays out those issues effectively. The film also shows how there are many grey areas with the characters, for example Hugo Weaving's character has a wife and child, and is conflicted in many ways in his sexuality. He's still working out who he is. He feels guilty and uncertain. It's a great portrait that the scriptwriters paint in his case. The films is amazingly assured and accomplished. A real landmark of Australian cinema.

grantss Wonderful, hilarious, campy fun.Two drag queens, Felicia (played by Guy Pearce) and Mitzi (Hugo Weaving), and a transsexual, Bernadette (Terrence Stamp), leave Sydney for Alice Springs in order to play a series of shows. Their mode of transport - a bus, Priscilla. Their appearance in rural towns gets mixed reactions...Very funny movie. Dialogue is razor-sharp and wittily clever. The characters themselves provide much of the entertainment, especially the over-the-topness of Felicia.Some interesting themes too, especially of tolerance and intolerance, and not prejudging people. Much of our characters' help and support comes from unexpected sources...Great work by the three leads. Guy Pearce is great as the larger- than-life, bitchy Felicia. Terrence Stamp provides the gravitas as Bernadette. Mitzi is the most complex character and Hugo Weaving does a great job in the role.Good support from Bill Hunter as Bob.

SnoopyStyle Ralph Waite aka Bernadette Bassenger (Terence Stamp) suffered a friend's death and agrees to go with Tick Belrose aka Mitzi Del Bra (Hugo Weaving) to perform in Alice Springs, a desert resort town in the middle of Australia. Adam Whitely aka Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Guy Pearce) is eager to join and buys a touring bus christening her Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.This has some fun comedic touches. However the trick of this movie is that the guys don't play it too broadly. Stamp and Weaving are actually playing it reserved. They are more wore-down middle age men than flamboyant gays. Guy Pearce is the only one playing it somewhat broadly. The costumes are great ridiculousness. The movie is full of big laughs and also a touching character study.

Jason Shaw A relatively low budget Australian film about drag queens took the world by storm, almost caused a riot at the Cannes film festival and drove a million young queens to the dressing up box in the hunt for sequins, sparkles and pink flip-flops! The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of The Desert gave us such classic lines as, "Just what this country needs, another cock in a frock on a rock!" and "Listen here you mullet, why don't you just light your tampon and blow your box apart, it's the only bang you're ever going to get, sweetheart"It is without exception the best and arguably the most successful drag queen movie of all time, breaking box office records and capturing the top of the charts in numerous countries around the world. It was an Academy award winning extravaganza of glitter, glam and lip-syncing with the most outrageously camp costumes the world had seen outside Madame JoJo's or Funny Girls! Uproariously funny and yet deeply affecting it proved to be way more than just a camp outing of tried and tested queer humour. The late eighties was a bit of a coming of age time for Australia's gay population, especially Sydney, it really came alive and blossomed into one of the bigger gay populations in the world. Australia has a reputation for all the big butch manly men, which considering how the modern nation of Australia started, would seem pretty accurate, only it's not, it's completely different, ever so much more vibrant and colourful. It is that vibrancy, that colour and that hopefulness that is so perfectly depicted in Priscilla.Stephen Elliott, the director and writer, who incidentally has a small cameo in the movie as a cute door boy in Alice, says he saw drag shows in other places, like the US and England, which were essentially men in dresses lip-syncing to other peoples songs. In Australia they did the same, but took it in a completely new direction, it became a completely new strange variety of theatre, so much so that he even used to go to drag queen jelly wrestling, pushing the envelope to the maximum. It was this experience along with watching a drunken drag queen at the Sydney gay Mardi Gras, which gave birth to the movie idea, which took hardly any time at all to write. From the very opening you know this film has deep rooted soul, first shots of Hugo as Mitzi mouthing the words to the poignant Charlene song, 'I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me' give the impression of an emotively sad song, yet this is so rapidly defused by the appearance of a lethargic priest and Felicia nursing a baby rubber chicken. You have left in no doubt after that that is no ordinary Australian movie and the jokes and gags just tumble on from there in rapid succession. However it's not all giggles, there are some key moments of high emotion - seeing the graffiti sprayed on the side of the bus in pink paint the morning after shocks the trio along with the audience and strikes a chord with those of old enough to have lived through a time of such prejudice and discrimination and how true those word seem when they ring in our ears, that no matter how tough we think we are, such things still hurt.There are deeply moving scenes, such as the gay bashing of Felicia and the confrontation between Mitzi and his son in Alice, which really seem seep through the comedy to dance in your heart and make you fall in love with the film.  One of the key aspects of the movie is the superb casting; Terrence Stamp previously typecast as your typical British villain, took a risk on the role of Bernadette and knocked it out of the water in a downbeat, down trodden put upon yet completely resilient way. Hugo Weaving is the less visually striking member of the trio and the central character of Mitzi, who really is the lynch pin between the two worlds. The role of Felecia is taken by the simply stunning Guy Pearce who had literally just left long running soap Neighbours, in which he played goodie two shoes Mike and was an inspired choice and oh so pretty. Guy's superb performance takes the movie to new heights and is so good that the he has had trouble-convincing people he is actually straight in real life, even to this day. Bill Hunter a massive Australian character actor shines outstandingly as the gruff and butch Bob, the mechanic and unlikely love interest for one of the three. Priscilla is a beautiful magical combination of humour, catty bitchiness, kitsch costumes, stunning disco soundtrack and subtle sentiment with provocative thoughtful scenes and a delicate brush of honesty. Some jokes are obvious so too is the stereotypical veneer of the characters upon first glance, yet look a little deep as the film rolls on, you see more and more layers being unpeeled and exposed in a gently moving and comical way. It is one of the most enjoyable gay movies of all time; each subsequent viewing cements that sentiment further into fact. Read more and find out where this film made it in the Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time book, search on Amazon for Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time, or visit - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007FU7HPO