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"Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
(Reviewed June 5, 2001)
-
Halfway through 2001, this is only the second "A" rating I've given to any movie this year. (The first went to "Memento.") This funny, strange, trashy, bizarre and sometimes even honest-to-God moving version of director/star/screenwriter John Cameron Mitchell's play is a one-of-a-kind tour de force. The humor is often very black, and many of the songs (by Stephen Trask) are so true to 1970s glam rock that they could have been plucked from a great lost Bowie album. Expect to see quote-whore critics saying things like: "What you would get if John Waters and Andy Warhol had made `Spinal Tap.'"
Basically, what we're talking about here is your basic story of a frustrated, resentful, transexual East German would-be pop star on a tour circuit of Sizzler-type restaurants, shadowing the mega-selling superstar who may or may not have stolen Hedwig's songs. There's animation, audience participation, great over-the-top acting that stays just on the good side of ultra-camp, and terrific music. Most important, the script and lyrics are so damned well-written and clever that you get the rare, wonderful sensation that the writers actually cared about their work. (Try to find another movie that gives you the same feeling this year besides "Memento." Rotsa ruck!)
I'll be going back to see "Hedwig" again, and actually SPENDING MONEY the next time for the privilege. Is there any higher praise that a cheapskate, cheap-shots-flinging critic such as Yours Truly could give? I think not!
Back Row Grade: A (GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!)
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