Men have Adam’s apples. Women do not. Congratulations, you think. Why even go to college if you already know so much? Well, I’m showing off my knowledge here to illustrate why the entire premise of “Connie and Carla” (Universal) is flawed. The film deals with two singing waitresses who successfully disguise themselves as drag queens to hide from a murderous drug dealer. As I watched, part of me kept asking, wouldn’t regular people – much less, experienced drag queens – notice Connie and Carla’s feminine throats? Is there some sort of Adam’s apple reducer drag queens use that would make this mistake logical? Am I quibbling over the plot logistics of a silly, gender-bending comedy? Huh.
The title imposters are stuck performing at a Chicago airport lounge when they witness a couple of mobsters make away with their boss. With the baddies hot on their trail, they head to Los Angeles and wind up becoming the main act at a struggling gay cabaret. Their seemingly brilliant lie gets a lot harder to maintain when Connie (Nia Vardalos of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” who also wrote the screenplay) falls for the bartender’s straitlaced brother (David Duchovny).
If you think you saw this movie before, and that it was called “Some Like it Hot,”you’re wrong; Vardalos and Toni Collette (as Carla) are much more attractive as cross-dressing men than Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis were as women. This, of course, was my problem with the movie. Beyond its confounded logic, however, “Connie and Carla” is a fun, goofy film, chock full of quirky humor and great Broadway tunes. The music alone is worth the price of admission – Vardalos and Collette are amazing vocalists – and with the exception of my beloved Agent Mulder, who seems blandly lost during his time onscreen, the actors all seem to be having a fantastic time. The only part where “Connie and Carla” truly grates is toward the end, when the tired, corny message starts to drive itself home in the most contrived manner possible. To leave with a positive opinion of the movie, maybe you should just politely excuse yourself before the last 10 minutes, humming “Let Me Entertain You” as you go.
