Let me first say that I thoroughly enjoyed this film today. Initially I was 2 minds about whether to watch this film or not in the film festival but since I had nothing better to do, I decided to go for it and I am o g;ad that I did. This movie had pretty much everything that I like: BBW, ghetto accent, black attitude and lots of mmm hmmm... The audience and also me were laughing so hard in some of the scenes, it was just he perfect way to end my day today. The film is all about African American ball culture to which I recently was introduced and it was exciting to get to know more about it through this film.
Set as a musical, film starts when a young man Brad is thrown out of his house by his mother soon after she discovers that he is gay. Not that there is any love between the mother and son anyway. Now living on the streets, he meets Carter in a pickpocket incident. SOmething about him attracts Brad who follows him to a club which turns out to be a ball club. Once there he is seduced by charming Princess who also introduces him to whats and hows of the ball culture and takes him back to the 'House of Eminence' lead by Queef Latina, the matriarch. The house which has not won a trophy in quite a few years is filled with people from the ball and who at some point or the other were disowned by the family. After a lot of initial hesitation, Queef finally warms upto Brad. Princess meanwhile is still seducing Brad who in turn is falling for Carter. There is a love triangle going on. Meanwhile Queef is waiting for her husband to return from jail. Jealousy soon follows and Princess and Brad leave the house to join rival gang but the death of one of the most loved members of the house in an accident finally brings them back together. Brad finally decides to find himself and participates in the ball with Queef finally bringing back that coveted trophy.
Although I am not a big fan of musicals, I loved this movie. There were so many hilarious dialogues like ' I am glistening' which means gay listening and 'You've been hanging around Tyler Perry's sets' when Brad talks about family and all. Every member of the cast has done a fantastic job in acting. Music and choreography is equally engaging. The film slows down n the latter [part of second half when it gets all serious but apart from that, the film was on a roll. Hilarious and poignant, it also gives a good message on social acceptance of the members of the LGBT community. The whole scene at the funeral between fundamentalists family and the LGBT group is pretty strong. Oh! And I got to see some pretty good vouging. What else can I ask for !!
It had its share of hiccups but I thoroughly enjoyed his joy ride. (7.5/10)
Comments
The actors did the best they could with an uninspired script and weak amateurish song writing. Poorly written, filmed, edited & directed. Was Newfest that desperate for submissions?