Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (1994)

Two professional drag queens (Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce) and a transsexual woman (Terence Stamp) travel on a rundown bus through the Australian outback to a casino resort where they are booked to perform their cabaret act. One of the sleeper hits of 1994, PRISCILLA is an outrageous if advisedly so comedy that flirts dangerously with stereotypes (and not just their gay characters) but still manages to be full of heart and affection toward its band of misfits. Stamp, Weaving and especially Pearce are totally convincing and bring both sass and poignancy to their roles. While we get bits and pieces of their musical act, there's only one full on production number CeCe Peniston's Finally and it's a knockout, so much so that one almost wishes director Stephan Elliott had made a full blown musical out of it (which it eventually was on Broadway). Tim Chappel's and Lizzy Gardiner's insanely fantastic and colorful costumes justifiably won an Oscar. One can nitpick but why bother? It's assets so far outweigh its liabilities that it would seem churlish. With Bill Hunter, Sarah Chadwick and Julia Cortez.