To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (DVD, 2003)

Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze) Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) and Chi Chi Rodriguez (John Leguiazamo) as 3 drag queens head on on a road trip from NYC to Hollywood to compete in a Drag Queen of the year contest. Vida and Noxeema take Miss Chi Chi under their wings to help her become more than a boy in a dress. Their car breaks down in a small town where they spend the weekend. The 3 learn a lot about themselves and the locals learn a lot from the ladies. Being true to yourself comes through loud and clear. John Leguiazamo I think steals the show. Naive and unafraid. Patrick Swayze makes a beautiful elegant woman. Wesley Snipes is passable, but his muscles are a bit obvious.
We watched it as a family, including my 75 yr old parents,and my 13 yr old son. My mother could not believe Chi Chi was a man lol and thought Patrick Swayze carried the role as Vida very well. Loved Robin Williams, Stockard Channing, Blythe Danner...
We loved it and there are some good quotes to be had....
I am the Latina Marilyn Monore I got more legs than a bucket of chicken.
I feel like Miss Jayne Mansfield in this car.
Oooh, Jayne Mansfield. Not a good auto reference.
Your approval is not needed.
Approval neither desired nor required

Definately a fun movie, the costuming is great and even watching it 3 times there is no way John Leguiazamo is Chi Chi..amazing!!! He carried the part very well.

This movie is a vanilla version comedy about social violence towards gender difference, in the back ground; the gender violence society expresses against male women and female women, both. This movie gently links them together, appropriately so.

I suppose I'd have to say that Patrick Swayze is the star drag queen who is gorgeous dressed as a woman. He'd look good in anything (or nothing) I bet! Surprisingly, Wesley Snipes steps way out of his usual characters to play a totally not passing drag queen who is hysterically funny and bumbling, especially in high heels.

Stockard Channing also steps out of top leading and supporting lady character to be a miserable victim housewife of husband battery and assault. She and Swayze (who passes as a woman quite well) become close "girlfriends," and Swayze is the one who takes up for her when she is abused. It's really an all star cast with Stockard Channing, Blythe Danner, Melinda Dillon, Arliss Howard, Chris Penn, John Leguizamo, Patrick Swayze, & Wesley Snipes.

The forefront story is that three drag queens have set out from NY for Hollywood to do a beauty pageant. They become hopelessly stranding (like the 3 Australian drag queens in the more adult R-rated "Priscilla Queen of the Desert"). While they are awaiting their Cadillac convertible car parts, they show that gender difference doesn't make any difference, even in a small US Midwestern community because as humans, through compassion, understanding, and courage we have much more in common being human than not.

If you're looking for a gender-bender comedy that is a little slap-stick, clean cut, and cute, this is the one.

I bought the movie "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar" last week. It's hilarious! Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo star as drag queens that are traveling from New York City to Hollywood for a drag queen beauty pageant in a 1967 Cadillac convertable. While traveling through the midwest, their car breaks down and a tow truck stops to help them. This strands them in the small town of Snydersville for the weekend, so, the three decide to make the best of their circumstances and encounter laugh after laugh when the local citizens start welcoming their style of glitz and glamour.

To Wong Foo never got the critical attention and the wide audience it deserved because it was seen more as camp, a portrayal of gay queens on a wild road trip across country. But it has gravitas, and a Message. When they're stranded in a no-count Nebraska burg without a traffic light, they quickly become involved in the people's lives as the car is being repaired. An abused wife is defended by a so-called panty-waist who delivered a 1-2 punch to the husband's jaw. The town's corporate depressed state was transformed into energy, beauty, fun, camaraderie, and teamwork by the insight, the stereotypical sense of art and interior decorating, the compassion and unconditional love of these fellows en route to a drag beauty contest on the West coast. Its primary message is that Resurrection to New Life/Transformation from Caterpillar to Butterfly, is often accomplished by those on the edges of society. I was reminded of Jesus, who accomplished the same, tho scripture tells us he was "despised, rejected, and acquainted with grief." He surrounded himself, and spent most of the tme we are told about, with folks on the margins of society for a variety of reasons. Their pain, used for good, gave them a quick awareness of the suffering of others, and the energy to work to alleviate it. This is meant to be the work of the Church, denominationalism aside; instead it came from these men who found almost no welcome, including for one, at the front door of his parents' home. This film provides ample opportunity for responses ranging from good chuckles to belly laughs, from anger at injustice out of control to tears at the beauty which embraces the residents of this drab community as they are embraced by the love of strangers. It's a film full of lessons for those who watch it with an ear and an eye for something other than a parade of flamboyant behavior and outrageous attire. Underneath the fun and the laughs, apart from the the stereotypes, there is a story which has profound lessons for and challenges to the behavior of us all, gay or straight. Try it; you'll like it, you'll be moved, and you'll have some marvelous laughs along the way. What more could you ask?

First of all, my daughter decided that I should buy it, and of course I said yes.
I never knew Patrick Swayze could be such a beautiful woman and never in my wildest dreams thought I would see Wesley Snipes in a dress. This movie makes you laugh, cry and proud to be a woman. "The girls" go on a trip to a drag queen beauty pagent and take an unplanned detour to a small sleepy town where they bring attitude, manners and fun to all of its citizens.
This is a must-see for everyone. Although rated PG-13, my 9 year old daughter loves it. Only one very short scene of spousal abuse, and the fact that the men are dressed like women, would be the only things parents should be concerned about.