My momma really is the GOAT because half of these movies I’m writing about, she made me watch. To Wong Foo was one of those movies.
To Wong Foo is more than a movie about three men in dresses, three very masculine men (We’ll get to that in a second). It is a movie about acceptance. A movie about love and a movie about growth.
What shocked me the most about this movie is that the three leads of this movie were Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo. Three of the most manly men I can think of in the industry. I need to look into what made them each say yes to their roles. Leguizamo did an interview with Out Magazine about what he took from the role of Chi Chi Rodriguez. Check it out because what he says is really insightful.
The premise of the movie is these three drag queens, two of which have been friends for years, decide to take a cross-country trip from New York to Hollywood. They meet, what Noxema calls, a boy in a dress and decide, begrudgingly, to take her along with them. Along the way, she learns what it means to be a real drag queen. I think she learns what it means to carry the weight of the responsibility of not only being a drag queen but being a good person.
I appreciate the fact that I never heard the guys make fun of themselves for being in this movie. In fact, Leguizamo talks about the role often. He cherishes what he was able to do for the LGBT community at the time and for this new generation of fans.
I laughed hard at this movie and realized that these men didn’t look as bad as I would have imagined in dresses. And I know what someone is thinking. We do not need a sequel starring Ru’s girls. Leave this classic alone. It teaches all the new drag queens what it really means to be a true queen.
BLACK WATCH 