Ruadhan McElroy Maybe I'm just too strange myself to really need Cho's constant message of self-love and self-empowerment, but I tired of it quickly as an adult, yet still harbour this quasi-nostalgic fondness that I had for Cho in my teens, even though I now find her incredibly boring, at best and, as an effete gay man of FTM history, I more often find her disgustingly offensive and hackneyed in her potential for appeal. She's best when she's lampooning the "child of immigrants" experience, even as one who was raised by non-assimilating English immigrant/Blitz-refugee grandparents, on some level I can relate to the ineffable strangeness of being reared in such close proximity with "the old country" and find it funny when it is; even so, she's been telling that joke, and all her others, for twenty years, and she seldom expands on it any more than she ever has.I can see what Cho was trying to do here. At the heart of this film, she's clearly attempting to unite her message of self-love with the low-budget camp and highly exaggerated character of a classic John Waters film from the 1970s. In that sense, I can respect her goals, but the Waters classics had something, likely many things that this film seriously lacks. One of those things is the on-screen sincerity of the characters and the chemistry they have with other characters. For as ridiculous as Waters characters like dawn Davenport, Aunt Ida, Crackers, Connie & Raymond Marbles and all the others are, every single actor in those films managed to put every fibre of their essence into those characters to make you believe them, and you simply don't get that in BAM-BAM & CELESTE, except perhaps with Hendrix. Furthermore, your classic John Waters character is less a one-sided stereotype and more something so bizarre its out of a fairy-tale. Cho's goth-punk Celeste is pretty much the stereotype of the self-hating fat girl who falls into that scene to distract from her own self-perceived ugliness. Daniels' effete and promiscuous gay boy is the same vapid, shallow caricature that you'd expect. The stereotyped "Midwesterners" they encounter on the road-trip are less like any "Midwesterner stereotypes" I've actually met (what with living here for twenty years) and more like what somebody from one of the coasts might imagine, making it possibly the most offensive aspect of the entire thing.Furthermore, Cho's message of self-love and implications of freak solidarity is completely lost when the once punky girl who justifiably hated everybody in that tiny town doesn't decide she's beautiful until she's transformed into something worlds more normal. The message that becomes clear is "you can't believe you're beautiful until everybody else believes you are".I really wanted to like this, really wanted to believe that there was something else decent to come out of Cho since Notorious and before she decided to stop being an ally to the TS/TG in the GBLT community, but I guess my nostalgia is either simply doomed to be disappointed, or simply was unfounded in the first place. This isn't the worst film ever, but it's certainly unfunny and generally forgettable if not for every offense to the community she so desperately wants to stand in solidarity with.

Jim Burt Anyone who hates this just doesn't get the concept of camp and parody. Like hello ... it's comedy, not Henry VIII, OK? Good grins all around. Good comedy often gets its message across though exaggeration. This movie is a good example of that. The homophobes and bigots are caricatures, not characters, and it works. Likewise, the romantic interest is exaggerated through its apparent superficiality. That's the point. This isn't about character development. It's about focusing the viewer on how they perceive the people around them, and pointing out the superficiality of their perceptions of others. In that, it succeeds. Though the ending was almost trite, they saved it in the end. Definitely worth a watch, and good messages all around.

beatnickblanket Margaret Cho's first narrative feature "Bam Bam & Celeste" famously went through many hurdles to finally reach the public. First they went through a battle to get funding to even have the movie produced. Then, once produced, critical reception was horrible, and it took them 2 years to get distribution on DVD. Now that the final product is readily available one can see why the movie had such hurdles.It certainly isn't for want of effort and genuine interest on the part of those involved. If there is one thing the movie has going for it it is that the cast and writers genuinely believe in their story and their characters, and the charisma carries the film during those times when it isn't a total, emotionless stinker.The film stars Cho as Celeste, an Asian-American punk rocker fag hag living in small town America with her extremely effeminate African-American friend Bam-Bam. The first five minutes of the film show the two in all of their awkwardness as they are soundly rejected by their classmates (including Elaine Hendrix, who played a similar role in the brilliant "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion"). When not being subjected to constant overt racism, homophobia and physical violence, the duo dreams of becoming stylists and moving away.We then jump ahead many years to see the two as adults, living essentially the same lives as before. Their racist and hateful bullies, however, have gone on to be hugely successful NYC stylists who are frequent participants on a reality T.V. show about makeovers. The two are afforded the chance to go to Manhattan to square off against their former rivals, and see it as their chance to finally live the lives they dreamed of.The results are predictable: they encounter rednecks and homophobes during their brief car trip, get to New York, have a fight, make-up, go on TV and make a statement about individuality and beauty. It's nothing we haven't seen before and there isn't a single surprise throughout.When I watched the film I couldn't help but think "These people could do better." Margaret Cho has spent the last seven years building a following of misfits and socially shunned minorities who look to her as a beacon of outspoken rebellion. Her messages of equality for all and beauty in all people permeate her one woman shows and books, so it makes sense that those messages would be translated into a movie she wrote.Unfortunately it is glaringly obvious that Cho simply couldn't find a way to put these ideals into character form, and the result is a bunch of bumbling stereotypes who have – if possible – fewer than one dimension each. The gay characters are REALLY GAY! The racist characters are SUPER RACIST! There is no room for ambiguity when painting with such broad strokes, and as such the cast is left with little more to do than fill in the chalk outline Cho's characters present.Cho as Celeste is the least interesting of the characters; a woman so convinced of her own hideousness that she has long since stop believing she could find love or happiness. She starts the film apologizing to a racist who throws a milkshake at her head and calls her a Ch*nk, but by the end of the film is confronting her childhood bullies screaming "I am beautiful!" The problem is that very little has actually happened on screen to make us understand what finally unlocked the warrior woman within. It may be the thinly outlined romance Celeste has with Eugene (Alan Cumming), a nerd who is a PA on the reality show and whom she has coincidentally been flirting with on the internet. Unfortunately the two have absolutely zero on screen chemistry, and I can't envision that their relationship would consist of anything more than them fawning over one another while hating themselves.If Cho's performance is boring, Bruce Daniels as Bam Bam is painful. Bam Bam talks in a squeaky, high pitched Michael Jackson voice that Daniels never commits to enough to make it believable. His character is meek throughout, and we're supposed to accept that his femininity and meagerness are admirable, beautiful qualities, but this same character is painted as one who has unashamed, indiscriminate sex. It's a gag about gay men that Cho has joked about on stage, and maybe it's even true, but when Celeste and Bam Bam have their big blow out over Bam Bam's putting sex before friendship, you can't help but think she's totally right.Perhaps the worst part of the film is the characterization of the uber stylists, headed by Hendrix, as overtly and blatantly hyper-racists bordering on KKK caliber hatred. This is highlighted by an exchange during which the words N*gger and Negro are tossed around so cavalierly by these characters that it's impossible to understand why any talented black stylist would ever agree to be treated that way to begin with. (And how would such an unabashedly racist person ever rise to fame anyhow? Even Mel Gibson hid his bigotry for 25 years.) It's these overly broad characters that bog the film down in emotionless mire. It's not that I don't relate to feeling discriminated against and the desire to break free from an unhappy life; it's just that I don't care if THESE characters do it, because I don't know anything about them other than that they are minorities, and that certain other people have made them feel bad about themselves.Celeste's final speech after the makeover competition is reminiscent of many Cho has closer her one woman shows with: all about self-acceptance and how we're all beautiful in our own way. Unfortunately the sentiment is squashed since her character has just been turned from a goth chick into a glam babe with straightened hair and a sleek cocktail dress.

thirtysense Horribly directed. I'm going to assume that this is why Margaret looked like she couldn't act her way out of a paper bag but even the director couldn't ruin her turns as her mother, which were the film's highlights.Who told Daniels to talk like that? He had to raise his voice so people would believe he was a fag? Oh please. It's kind of insulting if you think about it.I was really looking forward to Margaret's first narrative film but was so disappointed. I've read her books and have seen most of the concert films. I find it hard to believe she actually thought this was funny but supposedly, she wrote the script. Perhaps she should stick to stand up.