Hurricane Bianca

First I have to say we LOVE Bianca! She's simply in a class of her own and one of the most profound talents of our age. As soon as the movie was available on iTunes we bought it and nestled in for a romp of bawdy, offensive comedy. Thrilling at the thought that the movie would finally propel this amazing entertainer forward.

Hmm, well I'll explain the five stars. The movie was tame. Those who love Bianca for her dry humour and scathing wit will, I feel, be a little disappointed. The script is not as you'd expect and the funniest moments are shown in the trailers. So for a thrill ride of offensive one liners you'd have to look elsewhere.

However when you look at it as a low budget first movie, then it is awesome! So here lies the problem. Not what you expect but still very watchable. The criticism of ray as himself are pointless. That's the point of the movie. To expose the prejudice against us gays by the establishment. If Ray had been a wisecracking, bitter queen there would be no need for Bianca to rise from pits of hell.

Willam was not able to keep up with Shangela who proved herself to be a great actor /actress. Unfortunately Willam was uncomfortable to watch. Compared to his stage persona (which is inspirational) his role was more bleh than wow.

All in all, expect little and you'll receive a lot. Expect a Bianca bitch fest and you'll be left unsatisfied. This is a great movie and I'll watch it again and again. It's subtle and tells a good story ... And it tells it well. That's the surprise!

To be honest the biggest fail is the script and the soundtrack. The incidental effects and music drown out much of the dialogue and that was a devastating shame.

When all is said and done though, I'll be first in the queue for the sequel!

The premise: a meek substitute teacher with biting wit named Richard leaves behind his life in New York, consisting of drag queen besties and failing careers in both comedy and education, for a permanent science teaching position at a high school in a super conservative small town in Texas, only to be fired within a week when the principal finds out he is gay. Knowing that Texas has laws in place that allow workplace discrimination against members of the LGBTQIA+ community and that a lawsuit would be unsuccessful as a result, Richard hits a bar outside of town where an angel of mercy, in the form of a trans woman named Karma, offers Richard a place to stay and takes him to a drag show that same night. There, Richard gets drunk, puts on campy drag makeup, hijacks the show by attacking the featured drag queen with insults and is ultimately a hit among the crowd. Thus, Bianca Del Rio is created and an elaborate prank commences. Disguised as Bianca, Richard is rehired at the high school and everyone there, staff and students, are none the wiser. Bianca catches the eye of a handsome but not too bright football coach, and, after receiving a nomination for a Teacher of the Year award, becomes targeted by a very jealous teacher and her family. Hijinks ensue.

If you are a fan of Bianca Del Rio, or just want to stay in one Saturday and take in a popcorn movie, this is a good film to watch. It's really important that you don't take the film too seriously, because it's camp to the core, played mainly for laughs with profanity and just a tiny bit of gross-out humor thrown in. The film plays more like a chain of situations (a couple of which are pretty implausible) illustrated through a raunchy cartoon than a movie with a message (the message is there, though). Many of the characters, in addition to several being needlessly cruel, are quite dim-witted and fall for the ruse immediately without ever bothering to do a background check on Bianca, though watching her consistently combat their stupidity with her trademark wit is pretty entertaining. That said, the movie doesn't serve as the biggest and best showcase for her talents (for that, you must take in a live show the next time she is in your town; I can tell you myself she is excellent live and even more consistently takes down her hecklers with her brand of biting humor), but fans will enjoy not only her in the starring role but also a slew of cameos from RuPaul's Drag Race alumni (Bianca herself won the sixth season), as well as RuPaul himself in an out-of-drag appearance.

In real life Roy Haylock is a drag queen who goes by the name of Bianca Del Rio. He stars in 'Hurricane Bianca' as Richard Martinez, a homosexual school teacher. When he is taken for a ride and his colleagues and students at the new school are nasty to him, Richard becomes Bianca Del Rio to get revenge.

'Hurricane Bianca' has a simple premise, but I thought it was well executed. Although mostly slapstick, some of the jokes and events in the movie were actually funny. I enjoyed Bianca Leigh as Karma Johnstone, who becomes Richard's mentor in a way. She was also the most fleshed out character with an interesting back story.

I also enjoyed Denton Blane Everett as Coach Chuck, a real stud-muffin who falls for Bianca! The 'romance' interest between Chuck and Bianca allowed for many hilarious - and awkward - moments.

The make-up is really well done, and is almost identical to Roy Haylock's real-life Bianca persona, so I won't be surprised if he did the make-up himself. I also liked the costumes. The film in general was predictable, but it was kinda fun seeing Richard get his revenge.

I think every drag fan will love "Hurricane Bianca", but also people who don't have that much to do with drag might like the movie. The first 20 minutes are a bit tough compared to the rest of the movie, but after that a firework of drag starts. Bianca is incredibly funny and evil. The film progresses quickly and the message of acceptance, friendship and solidarity should reach ever viewer. I found the ending to be a bit cheesy, but it does not detract from the whole work. Conclusion: The film is a good pastime for in between.

If you're in a tolerant state of mind, this movie is fun, fluffy and white.