Stephan Elliott (EYE OF THE BEHOLDER) wrote and directed this tale of two drag queens and a transsexual that embark on a road trip to a remote resort town in the Australian desert on a bus christened Priscilla. When Anthony "Tick"/Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) is invited to perform in Alice Springs, he recruits flamboyant young stud Adam/Felicia (Guy Pearce) and the legendary, refined Bernadette (Terence Stamp) to join him. Mitzi, however, fails to disclose one important fact to his friends: his wife is the one who invited them to Alice Springs. With one big secret about to be revealed and another one up his sleeve, Mitzi is a little stressed.
With long hours on the road ahead of them, the trio lip-synchs campy songs on the bus, creates fabulous costumes, and meets a multitude of colorful characters along the way. They party with friendly aborigines, are confronted by judgmental townspeople who are averse to drag queens, and meet Bob (Bill Hunter), a warmhearted mechanic and drag fan who joins them for the last leg of their trip when their bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Fantastic costumes and fabulous makeup abound, and fine performances are delivered all around. But perhaps most important are the implicit messages that families come in all forms, that friends can make a family, and that love really knows no boundaries.
Review 1:
"...In this roaringly comic and powerfully affecting road movie, Terence Stamp gives one of the year's best performances..."
Source: Rolling Stone
p.97 08/25/1994
Review 2:
"[The film] still has exuberance to spare..." -- Grade: B+
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.67 06/15/2007
Review 3:
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] sparkly, sequined road movie..."
Source: Ultimate DVD
p.113 08/01/2007
Review 4:
"...The ultimate fish-out-of-water comedy..." - Recommended
Source: Premiere
p.147 04/01/1995
Review 5:
"...The outfits, extravagant confections of satin and lace, galvanise the film..."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.38 11/01/1994
Review 6:
"...An amazing star turn by Terence Stamp....Also excellent are Weaving...and Pearce..."
Source: Variety
05/09/1994
Review 7:
"...Stamp is wonderfully subtle as Bernadette -- a triumph of less being so much more." -- Rating: B+
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.71 03/31/1995
Review 8:
"...Enough to shake the kookaburras right out of the trees....[Old-fashioned] in its own outrageous, convention-flouting way..."
Source: New York Times
p.C12 08/10/1994
Review 9:
"...The film settles into the rhythms of many road pictures, with lot of drive-by scenery, soul-searching talks during camp outs on the road, and dicey encounters with the locals..."
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
p.51 08/26/1994