Vegas in space

Well, not surprisingly, this movie was a smash hit in gay/drag circles throughout the U.S., maybe even the world. All I know is that it sucks. It's intentionally bad, but bad nonetheless, and so, it being my sworn, solemn duty to watch the worst crap I can, I watched it. Futuristic cities made out of fingernail polish bottles. Earthquakes caused by violently shaking the camera, which appears to be handheld. Men inexplicably change into women for no other apparent reason than to just do it. No real reason for it written into the plot. It's as though it's a must-do thing before you beam down to a planet, change your sex. Who knew. All this, thrown in there with intensely gaudy sets, neon everything, and a bit of drag psychedelia too, this movie is good for just about anyone, gay, straight, drag, whatever, who loves bad movies. My friend has had his copy that he rented for almost 2 years. He doesn't like it, he just wants to keep people from destroying themselves through watching it. (I think he secretly enjoys the movie and that's why he's had it for so long) That, and it's funny to keep a movie you rented for 2 years, evading various court summons and arrest warrants.

You know that a film is not meant to be taken seriously when the cast list includes names like Doris Fish, Miss X and Jennifer Blowdryer. This no budget opus, shot in somebody's apartment with a hand held camera, is clearly meant to be a goof. A gay/camp/drag homage to Ed Wood, and to ALL bad grade Z sci-fi films, it was clearly made by people who think they're really clever. They are not.

The film tries so hard to be campy and bad that it succeeds beyond it's wildest dreams. Every single double entendre falls flat, as do all the other jokes, which seemed childish and forced. What makes Ed Wood films so charming now was Wood's total sincerity in his work, and the fact that he had NO IDEA that he was making bad films.

Vegas In Space was made by trendy hipsters who think their inside jokes and deliberately cheap production values are the last word in chic, downtown humor. That they are so impressed with their own fabulousness is painfully obvious and annoying.

I first saw this on USA Nite Flight years ago. I never expected to find it on DVD (a Troma Release) at Best Buy!!!!

Yes, all the actors are men in drag (right?) and it's silly silly fun. Hey, how many movies have u seen made in someone's apartment? How many movies have you seen using make-up and nail polish bottles to resemble a minature cityscape? (please recall that Star Trek (original tv show) used European Salt and Pepper shakers as medical gear!)

This movie is silly bad and was made over 7 or 8 years. It's FUN.

So put in your fave wig and enjoy.

Comes with 3 silly Troma Trailers and some other funny extras.

There are basically two types of b-movies. Some of the aforementioned film you never want to see in life...EVER! Then there are the rare exceptions, the ones that are so bad they're actually entertaining. "Vegas In Space" fits into the latter category. Sure, the effects aren't exactly CGI-produced, and the dialogue isn't really Oscar-worthy, but who cares? It is a fun little movie that I would like to see over and over again. It has that "Barbarella"-"Valley of the Dolls" vibe to this film, which I absolutely love. It doesn't try to change the world or solve any problems; it just tells you sit down, relax, and look fabulous doing it.

To save the universe? Would you change sex? Alright, I give, but that's what the tag line says, so I'm just going along with what marketing offers.

Being that Troma distributes the film, you know it's going to take a turn for the low-budget, bizarre screaming for play on MST3K. And if the show was still around, I'm sure they would have eventually covered it.

So a crew of effemminitely burly "dudes" (as they refer to themselves quite often - yet I don't refer to myself as a "dude" or even girls as "chicks" - must be an '80's California thing) change into women to stop some sort of naughtiness about jewel thievery on a pleasure planet. So it's a plausible (if goofy) concept to get to the planet, and all of the men on the ship seem perfectly fine with becoming women, so I take it this is a pretty easygoing crew of galaxy savers.

And yet, when they get there, the more they stay, the crew seems less and less interested in saving the universe than they do in exchanging fashion tips. And while this may be all well and good for some, even in their new forms, I would think that saving the planet from destruction would be just a little more important than a song and dance number.

I never expected this to be a serious film (I don't think the filmmakers did, either), and given that they apparently did this all in one apartment is pretty impressive. And there are a few funny one-liners scattered throughout the film. But I think this was a film meant to highlight the leading actor/actresses more than anything else. It just seemed to run more and more out of steam by the time the movie was over, and the chase scenes... well, they were definitely there.

So as a "cheesy movie", it excels. It would be great to have a group of friends over and poke fun at it (even if the end scenes start to drag, and why does the crew never mention anything about an option to return to their original selves?). Otherwise, this is a film that has to be taken with a grain of salt. Or something.