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Date Posted: 13:34:07 04/12/04 Mon
Author: Islandgirl
Subject: Here's a review. . .
In reply to: SMH 's message, "I've seen a few previews" on 11:37:49 04/11/04 Sun

I got this off the AP Entertainment Wire. I actually saw a couple of different ones and they all seemed pretty much in agreement: that it's a so-so movie -- good for a few laughs, but not as charming as "Greek Wedding" -- but that the best thing about it, by far, is DD's performance. Those of us here already knew that would be the case, though, didn't we?
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bc-conniecarla-film(sh)
(Editors: A version is also moving on the Scripps-McClatchy Western Service wire.)
’Connie and Carla’ a funny knockoff of ’Some Like It Hot’
Scripps Howard News Service
Must credit Sacramento Bee
Embargoed for Friday release
By JOE BALTAKE
Sacramento Bee

The affable ‘‘Connie and Carla’’ is the latest remake of a remake. It’s a second- or third-generation ‘‘Some Like It Hot,’’ by way of ‘‘Victor/Victoria’’ and ‘‘Nuns on the Run.’’
But that’s OK. ‘‘Some Like It Hot’’ is a reliable template. I mean, a movie could do worse than steal from Billy Wilder, right? And there aren’t many original movies anymore. Most are derivative and familiar — so much so that when a truly original one comes along, it makes people nervous.
Well, rest assured. ‘‘Connie and Carla’’ will not make you nervous — except, perhaps, nervous with laughter. Written by Nia Vardalos, it is just about the complete opposite of her breakthrough hit, ‘‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’’ (2002), which was small, autobiographical and, for me, annoying. What we have here is a more generic, by-the-numbers comedy — as shallow, impersonal and surefire as one of the studio-factory films from the 1940s, ’50s or ’60s. It’s smoothly entertaining and very funny.
The movie’s connection to ‘‘Some Like It Hot’’ is immediate and obvious. Vardalos and Toni Collette play the title roles — Connie and Carla, respectively — two childhood friends who share an almost deranged passion for show tunes.
Connie and Carla never lost their shared obsession to be singing stars. They end up in a Chicago airport lounge entertaining people who can’t wait to get to Newark. And their boyfriends, Al (Nick Sandow) and Mikey (Dash Mihok), don’t help with their lack of support. But Connie and Carla are too deluded to face the bitter truth — that they’re flops.
These two badly need something to motivate them.
That something comes in the form of a drug deal involving their boss, Frank (Michael Roberds). Somehow, they end up with a batch of cocaine that Frank was holding — and that belongs to drug kingpin Rudy (Robert John Burke). Long story short, Connie and Carla witness a hit — just like Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon do in ‘‘Some Like It Hot’’ — an unfortunate fact of life that forces them to go undercover. Curtis and Lemmon dressed up as women and joined an all-girl band on its way to Florida. Here, the girls hightail it to Los Angeles and pretend to be gay cross-dressing entertainers. They’re so much better than the other drag queens — for reasons that are obvious — that they become a Los Angeles sensation.
David Duchovny, more or less, has the Marilyn Monroe part here, playing a guy who becomes friends with the disguised Connie, who, in turn, would like to get friendlier but doesn’t want to scare him off. Duchovny’s Jeff is the estranged brother of Robert (Stephen Spinella), one of Connie and Carla’s stage colleagues, and he comes together with Connie’s drag queen because he wants to patch things up with Robert and accept the fact that he’s gay. Connie is his guide.
It’s obvious where all of this is going, but getting there is half the fun because the cast is so ingratiating and because Vardalos and Collette play off each other so well.
‘‘Connie and Carla’’ isn’t a great movie, but it’s difficult to watch it and not get in a good — or better — mood. And keeping it from getting out of hand is Michael Lembeck’s low-keyed direction.
I liked that Lembeck let Connie and Carla have real talent. It would have been easier — and cheap — to make their act awful. But it isn’t. And under Lembeck’s direction, Vardalos is hugely likable, while Collette’s turn here recalls her engaging work in P.J. Hogan’s ‘‘Muriel’s Wedding’’ (1994). As for Duchovny, enough can’t be said of his laid-back performance. It’s crucial. Everyone else is so antic in this film that the calm Duchovny becomes an instant friend. He might be Hollywood’s most effortless actor.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)

AP-NY-04-12-04 1241EDT

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