Director: Ralph R. Clemente
Written by: R.P. Simms
Starring: Christopher Backus, Leigh Shannon, Rus Blackwell, Tom Nowicki
To be an entertainer, means to create an atmosphere of fun and amusement while releasing an inner passion. Drag Queens are often forgotten entertainers, hidden in gay bars and rare television series. Are they women? Are they men? Who are they behind the characters they portray? These individuals are entertainers…they are the life of the party, the pep in your step, and glam in glamorous. They are also some of the least appreciated and accepted entertainers that walk this earth.
THE MOVIE
Lidy is a blue collar mechanic, struggling to make money to fix his fiancé’s snag tooth and provide the future he had promised her. Charismatic, charming, and extremely caring Lidy is the ideal man, but after one eventful night at bachelor party and a chance run into the impeccable drag performer, Miss Sal, Lidy’s life would change forever. A new career in entertainment is discovered and it starts with the impersonation of Marlene Dietrich. Everything he has experienced in his life up to now has been a closed off, macho, blue collar life and with this new endeavor, he is sent on a spriritual and physical lesson of acceptance. This is My Fair Lidy!
(7/10)
THE VIDEO
Shown in Widescreen, the video was descent. It was definitely lacking in realness, for instance all the green screen shots like riding in a truck, distracted you for the occurrences in the scenes due to how poor visually it looked. It also did not appear that the scenes flowed very well together. It was jumping scene to scene and kind of distracted from the story a little bit.
(5/10)
THE AUDIO
In Stereo and Dolby Surround 5.1, the sound was the redeeming quality for me. I hate when you watch a movie and you get distracted by sounders overtaking the dialogue, I could hear every word be spoken and every punch being thrown. I will also say the music selection in the drag performances were very entertaining and not what I am typically use to when it comes to standard drag today. It was all very refreshing.
(8/10)
THE PACKAGING AND EXTRA FEATURES
The Packaging of this film was a standard DVD case and had no extra features. The cover is very attractive. It is Lidy with his gorgeous eyes, and then you see Marlene in the background and while she still looks like a man she steals your eyes to look at her.
(8/10)
OVERALL
I found this movie to be entertaining but I wish it could have been so much more then what it was. The story was there but it kind of got lost in the awkward transition from scene to scene. It feels like the director wanted this to be a campy type film, but hold a serious message of acceptance and empowerment. In doing this, I feel like you really cannot truly respect this lesson and take it seriously. I will say that the film takes place in and around the Orlando, Florida area and being a previous resident there; they did capture the realness of the gay night life and atmosphere. Miss Sal does speak “You have to be true to yourself,” and I think although the story was lacking in depth it did get this point across.
(7/10)