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2 people online in the last 15 minutes - 0 members, 0 anon and 2 guests. (Most ever was 137 at 14:07:44 Sun Nov 4 2007) |
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Jamie_Sands 14:08:30 Fri Jun 11 2004 Offline 6909 posts Red Speedo Inspector  Mood Now:  Post Mood:  Reply |
The Telegraph hated it, but it had kind (?) words for David:
"Enter the token straight guy, a surprisingly deft David Duchovny as Vardalos's confused love interest, keen to patch things up with his estranged bartender brother (Stephen Spinella). It's a terrible role, but Duchovny's quizzical discomfort at least provides some kind of respite from the screeching fag-haggery of his co-stars. (They clutch each other and wail so often that the movie ought to have been renamed "Shrill and Shriller".)" Go here to read the full review: Telegraph Review Jamie |
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Jamie_Sands 14:10:59 Fri Jun 11 2004 Offline 6909 posts Red Speedo Inspector Mood Now: Post Mood: Reply |
YIKES!
From: Ireland OnLine Vardalos in big fat drag 11/06/2004 - 10:19:53 Connie and Carla Director: Michael Lembeck Cast: Nia Vardalos, Toni Collette, David Duchovny Cert: 12. Don’t sneeze. This one’s so lightweight, it will blow away. Vardalos, who wrote and starred in the successful My Big Fat Greek Wedding, has clearly run out of original thought, as this weak effort borrows too heavily and obviously from a string of previous hits - Some Like It Hot, most obviously, but also Priscilla, Thelma and Louise, Victor/Victoria and Sister Act. Consider the plot. Two gals, Connie (Vardalos) and Carla (Collette, and what is such a fine actress thinking about … other than the money), witness a mob slaying and take off for Los Angeles, where they disguise themselves as a couple of guys pretending to be gals in a drag act. All goes well until a hetero hunk (Duchovny) turns up. It’s a passable, ill-constructed, tired rehash of several much better films. It has a couple of good-ish moments, and clearly Ms Vardalos has much lost ground to regain if she is not to be remembered as a one-hit wonder. Star Rating: 1/5 |
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Jamie_Sands 14:13:01 Fri Jun 11 2004 Offline 6909 posts Red Speedo Inspector Mood Now: Post Mood: Reply |
FROM: The Scotsman
Connie and Carla (12A) ** Rory Ford BLAME Euro 2004. How are football widows meant to occupy their precious recreational time when they can’t even get near the TV remote because their significant others are glued to that all-important Latvia v Czech Republic crunch match? Blame the current spate of effects- heavy blockbusters currently dominating the box office. What are people of more "mature" sensibilities supposed to go and see if they have no interest in freak weather conditions/Quidditch matches/ monster mashes/ overlong sword and sandal epics? Given the circumstances you can almost see the point of Connie And Carla. Almost. Here’s a film that’s cannily been released at a time when it can sweep up all the disaffected cinema punters looking for a good time. It has box office pedigree (writer and star Nia Vardalos scored a surprise hit last time out with My Big Fat Greek Wedding). It has a touch of class provided by co-star Toni Collette - currently enjoying a reappraisal due to her career-best turn in last week’s Japanese Story. It even boasts a supporting turn from David Duchovny, which should help answer all those nagging "where is he now?" questions the few remaining X-Files fans have been entertaining for the last couple of years. Oh yes - and it’s camper than Graham Norton headlining a musical remake of Carry On Camping. That should be everyone taken care of then. Except, no. Connie And Carla should be more appositely titled My Big Fat Disappointing Second Feature. It’s a reasonably good-humoured but desperately uninspired script from Vardalos that plunders far better movies for its set-up. Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. Small-town wannabes Connie (Vardalos) and Carla (Collette) are performing show tunes as a singing duo to bored uninterested audiences at Chicago airport when they inadvertently witness a mob hit. Fearing for their lives they go on the run. "We need to hide someplace where there are no dinner theatres. In fact, we need to hide someplace where there is no theatre period, no culture whatsoever," frets Connie. "Los Angeles!" counters Carla. So before you know it the two gal pals are taking bus tours of the stars’ homes in LA hoping to catch a glimpse of Debbie Reynolds’ house. They’re like two very camp gay men trapped in women’s bodies - which will prove to be useful later on. A brief stint working in a beauty salon allows Vardalos to make some lame gags about LA-LA Land’s body fascism, but satire isn’t the former stand-up’s strong point. Actually after watching this you’ll be left wondering what is. You can take the girls out of showbiz but you can’t take the biz out of the girls and their innate desire to perform leads them to pose as drag queens singing would be showstoppers at their local gay bar. Yes, it’s Some Like It Hot, but with a "clever" gender switcheroo. Except this is more like Some Like It Not Not content with having Billy Wilder spinning in his grave, Vardalos’ set-up means that Connie and Carla are women pretending to be men pretending to be women - just like Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria. There really isn’t anything original under the LA sun. Admittedly there’s nothing wrong with raiding old movies for ideas - as long as you’re going to put a fresh spin on them - and at least write some new gags. Vardalos has none. In lieu of a script, the movie pads out its running time with endless sequences of Connie and Carla performing their musical medleys to increasingly adoring audiences. The first one is moderately amusing and establishes C and C as also-rans living out their dream - by the time you get to the fifth you’ll be begging for mercy. Director Michael Lembeck is a TV graduate whose only previous feature was the straight to video sequel The Santa Clause 2. He seems more than a little lost on the big screen, unwilling - or perhaps unable - to do more than flatly film Vardalos’s tired script. There’s little doubt that this is Vardalos’ project all the way. Collette (who is by far the better actress) is likeable and passably funny as Carla but she is sidelined and made up to look absolutely hideous in her guise as a drag queen. Vardalos, in marked contrast, is glammed up. Hmmmm. Every time the movie threatens to capture your interest Vardalos’ ego gets in the way. A sub-plot concerning fellow drag queen Robert (Stephen Spinnelli) being reunited with his estranged straight brother, Jeff (Duchovny) who’s about to get married almost drags the movie back into the land of the living. Spinnelli plays it - no pun intended - straight and with a quiet dignity while Duchovny similarly looks like a recognisably human being among a collection of shrill stereotypes. You may guess that this sibling relationship is headed for love, hugs and acceptance, but then when a movie is this mishandled you’ll take any hint of genuine sentiment over another tiresome musical medley anyday. However, Vardalos’ vanity muscles in on the reconciliation and poor old Spooky Mulder ends up playing her obligatory love interest. Yes, she’s torn between posing as a drag queen and telling him she’s really a woman (Victor/Victoria). Yes, she plants a kiss on him in reverse gender guise (Some Like It Hot). No, Duchovny doesn’t slap his/her face - shame. Not to put too fine a point on it, Vardalos is one of the most annoying actresses in Christendom - strident, charmless and unfunny. She makes a fatally weak focus for the movie and is deeply unconvincing as a romantic lead both due to her unlikeable presence and - not to be ungallant about this - prominent proboscis. It takes a frankly unmanageable leap of faith to buy that Duchovny (no slouch in the schnozz stakes himself) would ever be attracted to Vardalos even if she weren’t posing as a drag queen. Similarly the "comic" villains who are after C and C are too buffoonish to provide any sense of a real threat (or, God knows, momentum) to the story. All that is left is a series of patronising platitudes about the value of tolerance, which may well fall on stony ground because the movie itself is frequently intolerable. A Big Fat Ego Trip, in fact. Cultivating an interest in football never seemed quite so appealing. http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=661602004 |
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Jamie_Sands 14:18:38 Fri Jun 11 2004 Offline 6909 posts Red Speedo Inspector Mood Now: Post Mood: Reply |
They call him...."the charismatic David Duchovny". FROM: Channel 4 News (UK) CONNIE AND CARLA FILM REVIEW Nia Vardalos follows up My Big Fat Greek Wedding with a broad comedy about two showbiz wannabes who hide out from the mob by posing as drag queens. Also starring Toni Collette Like a burly man in high-heeled shoes, gender-bending comedy Connie And Carla is attention-grabbing, however it's too often awkward and clumsy. Writer and star Nia Vardalos may have scored 'Big Fat' box office receipts with her Greek Wedding, but while that was a breath of fresh air, this tale of women pretending to be men pretending to be women reeks of desperation. Vardalos is Connie, one half of a cut-price cabaret act who entertains notions of stardom. Unfortunately her stage partner and bosom pal, Carla (Collette), is primarily focused on her romance with hometown hick Mikey (Mihok). It's only when they witness a mob killing that the duo are forced to broaden their horizons and skip town for Los Angeles. Once there, Connie and Carla reinvent themselves, mostly involving foot-high wigs and inch-deep make-up, and together they become Hollywood's hottest drag act. It's simply fabulous darling, except they're in danger of blowing their cover. Furthermore, masquerading as a gay man in a glittery gown threatens to seriously scupper Connie's chances with local heartthrob Jeff, played by the charismatic David Duchovny. It could be Some Like It Hot meets The Adventures Of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, instead Connie And Carla is lacking in refinement - and not just in the wardrobe department. Every twist of the plot feels like a turn of the wringer, culminating in a finale that's in such a hurry to tie up the loose ends, it trips up and falls flat on its face. Toni Collette delivers the only sincere performance while many of the major players are treated as caricatures. Positioned centre stage, Vardalos appears insecure, consistently overselling her lines. There are some genuine laughs to be had, like Jeff's reaction to being kissed by Connie while still believing her to be a man, and hitman Tibor (McGiver) getting swept up in a singalong. Unfortunately, the occasional bit of sparkle just isn't enough to keep this show from veering off the road. http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=131270 |
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