RuPaul Movies
Fusing tall, dark, and handsome with exaggerated femininity, the 6'7" celebrity drag queen RuPaul was born in San Diego, CA, as RuPaul Andre Charles. He attended Northside School for the Performing Arts but dropped out to get his GED and work for his brother-in-law's car lot. His first television appearance was in 1982 on the public access show "The American Music Show" as the leader of "RuPaul and the Uhauls." In the late '80s he and electroclash pioneer Larry Tee moved to N.Y.C. to hang out in dance clubs and make records. When he perfected his "black hooker drag" look, RuPaul was voted the Queen of Manhattan on the party scene and appeared in the B-52's music video for "Love Shack." During this time, he released his debut album on the Funtone label and continued his recording career on Tommy Boy Records. In 1994, he made his feature film debut in Spike Lee's Crooklyn as a woman with an amazing blonde afro. The next year saw lots of cameos in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, Smoke, Blue in the Face, and Wigstock: The Movie. He started getting actual roles with the TV movie A Mother's Prayer, the comedy Red Ribbon Blues, and both Brady Bunch movies. In 1996, he began hosting the dance-music morning show on WKTU with Seduction vocalist Michelle Visage. Soon, VH1 took notice and gave him his own series, the celebrity talk show and variety program The RuPaul Show. In the late '90s, he started appearing as a man under his full name RuPaul Charles. He played camp counselor Mike in But I'm a Cheerleader, Stockard Channing's friend Jimmy in the Lifetime movie The Truth About Jane, and guest-hosted the PBS series In the Life. He also briefly appeared in the crime comedy Who Is Cletis Tout? and narrated the documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye. In 2003, he began filming Rob Howard's Skin Walker. He went on to host the reality TV show RuPaul's Drag Race. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
This documentary takes a look at the phenomenon of crossdressing in film - an idea that consistently evokes strong reactions from audiences, and makes for bankable entertainment. Looking back on its playful history, the film features interviews with people like John Waters and Tim Curry. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
- 2008
- R
- Add Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild to Queue Add Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild to top of Queue
Four men go looking for love in all the wrong, right, and indeterminate places in this over-the-top sequel to Todd Stephens' comedy Another Gay Movie. Having lost their virginity and finished high school in the first movie, Andy (Jake Mosser), Griff (Aaron Michael Davies), Jarod (Jimmy Clabots), and Nico (Jonah Blechman, the only one of the four leads who reprises his role from the first film) are now college students who take some time off from their studies to attend a massive Gay Spring Break bash in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The partiers decide to make things more interesting by having a contest in which the guy who manages to have the most sex over the course of the week is the big winner. However, Griff and Jarod are now a couple and are trying to remain faithful to one another, Andy meets handsome Luis (Euriamis Losada) and is too smitten to feel comfortable playing the field, and Nico is too effeminate to appeal to the buff beach boys who've overrun the city. As the four friends try to find a way to bring home the prize, they're confronted by Jasper (Will Wikle), who won the trophy last year and is looking to repeat the feat with the help of his sidekicks Jasper (Brandon Lim) and Jasper (Isaac Webster). Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild also features cameo appearances from Scott Thompson, RuPaul, Perez Hilton, Lady Bunny, and Colton Ford. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jonah Blechman, Jake Mosser, (more)
- 2007
The most fabulous drag queen of them all turns up the kitsch for this over-the-top blaxploitation spoof. When supermodel/secret agent Starrbooty learns her niece has been kidnapped, she goes undercover as a streetwalker to rescue the girl and bring the perps to justice. The only problem is that Starrbooty is sure to blow her cover if she doesn't do absolutely everything that the other prostitutes do. On top of those stresses, our heroine then learns a secret about her past that rocks her ultra-high platform heels to their foundations. Silly and saucy no matter how dangerous the situation, Starrbooty is sure to high-kick her way into a happy ending. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
- Starring:
- RuPaul, Lahoma Van Zandt, (more)
Standup comedian turned director Chris Ver Weil makes his debut with this wild and woolly romantic comedy cum noir crime thriller. The film centers on Trevor Finch (Christian Slater), a master counterfeiter and career con who learns that he has a price on his head from mob hitman Critical Jim (Tim Allen). The reason turns out to be a wacky case of mistaken identity -- Finch has assumed the name Cletis Tout, a sleazy, long-dead French muckraker with, it turns out, a criminal history himself. Rewind to 1977, when Micah (Richard Dreyfuss) pulls off a massive diamond heist and buries his booty in a field with the help of his young daughter Tess. Five presidential administrations later, Micah and his cellmate Finch bust out of prison, only to learn from the now-grown Tess (Portia de Rossi) that the diamonds are behind the walls of another newly built prison. Meanwhile, sparks begin to fly between Tess and Finch. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christian Slater, Tim Allen, (more)
- 2001
A teenager going through the typical traumas of adolescence has to confront an especially big hurdle in this made-for-TV drama. Jane (Ellen Muth) is a seemingly typical 15-year-old high school student; she's popular at school, does well in her classes, and has a good relationship with her parents, Janice (Stockard Channing) and Robert (James Naughton). Despite all this, Jane has always felt as if she's different in some way from the other kids at school, though she's not sure how. When Taylor (Alicia Lagano) moves into town and transfers into the same school as Jane, the two girls become fast friends. Before long, Jane and Taylor are inseparable, and Jane senses this is not an ordinary friendship; one night, Jane kisses Taylor, and Jane finally comes to the realization that she's attracted to women and has fallen in love with Taylor. While Jane and Taylor are happy together, Jane now faces the responsibility of telling her family that she's a lesbian, and her parents are not readily accepting of this news. The Truth About Jane features RuPaul in a rare dramatic role as Jimmy, a close friend of Janice who is also a gay man. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stockard Channing, Ellen Muth, (more)
RuPaul narrates this affectionate look at everyone's favorite televangelist/living cosmetic display: Tammy Faye Bakker. The eldest of eight children in rural Minnesota, Tammy Faye married Jim Bakker in 1960, and soon they found a following on the gospel circuit. This eventually led to a gig on Christian media mogul Pat Robertson's first television shows, including the ever-popular 700 Club. Perhaps jealous of their rising profile, Robertson soon usurped the show for himself. The Bakkers went on to co-found the Trinity Broadcasting Network, until that too was wrestled away from them by investors. Riding a tide of religious fundamentalism, the Bakkers reached their gaudy heights with the PTL Network and the spinoff Christian theme park Heritage USA. Then the roof caved in. Jim was forced to pay hush money to future Playboy centerfold model Jessica Hahn and then was submitted to rival Jerry Falwell's hostile take-over of the network. Soon Jim was in jail for fraud, and Tammy was at Betty Ford for addiction to prescription drugs. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tammy Faye Messner
In this satire, parents who are worried that their children might not be walking the straight and narrow path discover a rehabilitation camp designed to curb alternative lifestyles. Megan (Natasha Lyonne), a high school student and member of the cheerleading squad, seems like an ordinary enough teenage girl, but her habit of honestly expressing herself and lack of romantic enthusiasm for her boyfriend convince her very repressed parents, Peter (Bud Cort) and Nancy (Mink Stole), that Megan is becoming a lesbian. So Megan is shipped off to True Directions, a camp for gay and gay-leaning teens, where Mary Brown (Cathy Moriarty) attempts to deprogram kids with homosexual tendencies. The first step in the process is to get each teen to admit to their homosexuality, which Megan is loath to do, since she doesn't believe she's a lesbian -- or at least she didn't think so before she met her new friend Graham (Clea DuVall), who seems quite sure that she likes girls. Meanwhile, Mary's son Rock (Eddie Cibrian) may be exempt from the camp's activities, but he turns more than a few heads among True Directions' male inmates. Noted female impersonator RuPaul appears as a camp guide, and Julie Delpy has a cameo as a "lipstick lesbian." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Natasha Lyonne, Cathy Moriarty, (more)
- 1998
Diana Ross hosts this four-hour TV special tracing the rise of Berry Gordy's Detroit-based Motown record label during the '60s. Clips were compiled from a variety of sources, including such TV shows as Teen Town, Where the Action Is and It's What's Happening Baby. The history covers the label's leading acts (Temptations, Supremes, Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Martha and the Vandellas, Mary Wells, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye) and explores the talents who created the Motown style -- songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland and Norman Whitfield, choreographer Cholly Atkins, finishing-school director Maxine Powell, arranger Maurice King, and the rhythm section (pianist Earl van Dyke, drummer Ben Benjamin, and bassist James Jamerson). With background on Gordy, the story moves forward into Motown's film/TV production, the solo career of Diana Ross, the Commodores, Teena Marie, Rick James, and many others. Interviews include Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Branford Marsalis, Clive Davis, Jesse Jackson, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, George Schlatter, Julian Bond, Diahann Carroll, RuPaul, and Rod Stewart. The special premiered as a two-parter (February 15th and 19th, 1998) on ABC. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, (more)
Though serving a prison sentence for using his computer to embezzle from an international corporation, Dodge (Stephen Baldwin) still thinks of himself as an ordinary criminal. His fellow convict, Piper (Lawrence Fishburne), whose basic decency leads him to protect Dodge from an assault by another prisoner, thinks the same. Neither Piper nor Dodge particularly like each other; matters are not improved when they are chained together. When a prison riot transforms into a break-out opportunity, they get to know one another better on the run, and neither is any too thrilled about it. The action soon grows fast and furious when they realize that they are not only on the run from the usual police authorities, but from several different kinds of police and a gang of mobsters, whom Dodge has unknowingly endangered. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laurence Fishburne, Stephen Baldwin, (more)
- 1995
- PG13
The Brady Bunch Movie pays tribute to the 1970s TV show while poking gentle fun at it. The Brady family, led by father Mike (Gary Cole), still live in their suburban, split-level home and are still throwbacks to the era that spawned them. Eternally perky wife Carol (Shelley Long) is the perfect homemaker, while the kids' behavior is as wholesome as their loud, time-warp pastel clothes. Meanwhile, the greedy, selfish modern era swirls dangerously around them, embodied in next-door neighbor and real estate agent Ditmeyer (Michael McKean), who wants to buy the Bradys' property and turn the neighborhood into a giant mall. But no amount of money or prodding can persuade the Bradys to give up their home. Director Betty Thomas contrasts the overlit sitcom look of the Brady house interiors (faithfully recreated from the series) with real locations and natural grit for the modern L.A. scenes. The result is a satire that deftly spoofs the idea of staying true to old-fashioned values without ever passing judgment on those values. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Shelley Long, Gary Cole, (more)
- 1995
- PG13
Based on a true story, this emotional made-for-television drama is aimed at heightening public awareness of the tragedy for children with HIV-positive parents. Linda Hamilton was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance as widow Rosemary Holmstrom, a single mother who is battling the AIDS virus. As she struggles to deal with her disease, she is also faced with the grim reality of making arrangements for the future care of her son (Noah Fleiss). Gender-bending singer RuPaul makes an appearance as a helpful HIV-positive social worker. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
Director Wayne Wang and screenwriter Paul Auster had enough storylines and characters left over from their charming comedy Smoke to make another film, so they shot Blue In The Face immediately after Smoke was completed. The film once again centers on the Brooklyn Cigar Store and manager Auggie (Harvey Keitel), although most of the other characters are different. The store owner's frustrated wife Dot (Roseanne) is one of them, and one of the plotlines follows her attempts to seduce Auggie. Madonna, Michael J. Fox, Lily Tomlin, and Lou Reed (as himself) also put in appearances. Blue In The Face was shot without a complete script and presents a unique combination of distinctive performances, oddball characters, improvisations, and raffish scenes. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Lou Reed, (more)
A Brooklyn cigar shop is the setting for this drama from director Wayne Wang that interweaves the stories of several characters that have fractured family relationships in common. Harvey Keitel is Auggie Wren, poetic owner of the Brooklyn Cigar Company, a store that he considers the center of the world -- a place where all of humanity eventually parades through. One of his regular customers is Paul Benjamin (William Hurt), a writer and a broken shell of a man whose pregnant wife was shot and killed near the store. When Paul's life is saved one day by a young black man named Rashid (Harold Perrineau, Jr., the writer and his rescuer strike up a friendship and begin searching for Rashid's long-lost father (Forest Whitaker). At the store, Auggie is surprised by the appearance of Ruby (Stockard Channing), an ex-girlfriend who informs him that her pregnant, drug-addicted daughter Felicity (Ashley Judd) may also be his -- and is in dire need of help. Screenwriter Paul Auster based the script for Smoke on a 1990 short story he wrote for "The New York Times." He also wrote and directed the film's sequel (of sorts), Blue in the Face (1995). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Harvey Keitel, (more)
- 1995
- PG13
- Add To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar to Queue Add To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar to top of Queue
Patrick Swayze plays Vida Boheme, a classy and long-reigning drag queen. With his understudy Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes), Vida wins a New York drag stage contest and an all-expenses-paid trip to Hollywood. But when Miss Chi Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo) cries at having lost the contest, soft-hearted Vida cashes in the airline tickets so the three of them can take a car out West. The film becomes a strange sort of buddy road movie, with the three cross-dressers traveling across the American heartland in a shiny yellow Cadillac. First they tangle with Sheriff Dollard (Chris Penn). He stops them for a minor traffic violation, puts the moves on Vida, and Vida knocks him out, so they flee. Later, they are stranded by car problems in a small town in Nebraska. Renting a room in a hotel, they put some life into the town and its annual strawberry festival. They provide a mousy local woman, Carol Ann (Stockard Channing), with new role models of assertiveness. They also insist on chivalrous treatment from the local good old boys and give lessons on courting to a teenage girl. This film was released on the heels of the more outrageous Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which featured Terence Stamp as a drag queen. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, (more)
- 1995
- NR
Three HIV positive robbers play PC Robin Hoods when they begin stealing a high-priced drug and sharing it with their afflicted, impoverished peers and AIDS centers. The drug, manufactured by Apothecary Industries, is said to stave off the development of AIDS in HIV patients and could be effective for up to ten years. This comedy chronicles their adventures. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Mercurio, Debi Mazar, (more)
Come to the land of a thousand Lizas (and Barbaras, Judys, and Marilyn Monroes) in this gay and colorful documentary that chronicles the great spectacle of New York's annual festival of drag queens. The event has been taking place every Labor day in Manhattan for thirty years. Over 20,000 people regularly attend. As the name implies, Wigstock features thousands of carefully coiffed wigs designed to resemble the hair of drag queen faves. Also included are many gorgeous costumes, and of course, performances. The camera also takes the viewer backstage to watch while performers rehearse their campy acts. Featured entertainers include Alexis Arquette, Jackie Beat, RuPaul, Mistress Formika and Lypsinka. Musical entertainment is provided by the group Deeelite, and Crystal Waters. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Spike Lee and his siblings Cinque Lee and Joie Lee co-wrote this nostalgic but unglamorized look at a family growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s, inspired by their own childhood. Woody Carmichael (Delroy Lindo) is a jazz musician whose career is in a slump; he once made a good living as a session musician, but he has moved away from it to devote himself to more serious music, a choice that has not worked out well from a financial standpoint. His wife Carolyn (Alfre Woodard) works as a school teacher to keep food on the table. The Carmichaels have five children, a bright and introspective daughter named Troy (Zelda Harris) and four sons with a habit of causing trouble, and they all share an apartment in a brownstone in Brooklyn. Crooklyn follows the Carmichaels as the kids learn the funny and painful lessons of growing up, Mom and Dad balance their love for each other against the financial and personal difficulties of the creative life, and they all try to get along with the often eccentric neighbors on their block. Crooklyn's soundtrack is enlivened by classic 70s R&B hits, including selections by Sly and the Family Stone, The Jackson Five, Curtis Mayfield, The Staple Singers, and The Chambers Brothers. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alfre Woodard, Delroy Lindo, (more)
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