Connie and Carla (2004)

Pablo Picasso once stated: “Good artists borrow; great ones steal”. That is what actress, comedienne and writer Nia Vardalos must have thought whilst penning down the script for her latest. Now, it would go too far to claim she is actually stealing, but her screenplay for Connie and Carla is far from original. There are an incredible amount of references to all kinds of movies, and not just because all of those films deal with men in drag. Anyone remembers Some Like it Hot or Victor/Victoria? Add a dash of Cabaret and Tootsie and there you go: a ‘new’ film is born.

Connie and Carla (played by respectively Nia Vardalos and a truly witty Toni Collette) are a mediocre singing duo that don’t seem to get much further than performing for bored delayed passengers at the Chicago airport. When they are, by accident, witnesses to a liquidation, they decide to flee and end up in Hollywood. Trying to make ends meet, they decide to run a talent show… as men in drag. Finally gaining the success they longed for all their lives, their act becomes the hottest thing in town. There are but two complications: they are women and the criminals responsible for the liquidation are on the verge of locating Connie and Carla.

If you put aside the fact most of the screenplay is not astonishingly original, there are still some nice elements left. The casting of Vardalos, but especially Collette was a good decision. Collette demonstrated her amazing comedy talent in Muriel’s Wedding and lifts the movie, which would otherwise have been about as average as the portrayed singing duo, to a higher level. The interaction between Vardalos and Collette is what makes Connie and Carla worth a trip to the cinema (or the local videostore) anyway. It seems almost a cliché itself to mention the clichés as the weakest point of the film, but alas, that is where the issue lies. Vardalos in no way, reaches the level of the truly fabulous My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

In short: most elements of this film we’ve seen elsewhere and in a much better fashion. What makes this one psychologically manageble is the interaction between Vardalos and Collette.

Directed by: Michael Limbeck
Starring: Nia Vardalos (Connie), Toni Collette (Carla), David Duchovny (Jeff)
Runtime: 98′
Release dates: US: 16 April, UK: 11 June , The Netherlands: 9 December
Official Website

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