What a Drag

As appearing in today's issue of The New School Newspaper, Inprint:

Five Best...Drag Films

#5. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Those “sweet transvestites” get to have all the fun: watch Tim Curry in drag, see Susan Sarandon run around in her undergarments and, best of all, get musical performances from Meat Loaf. That is, until he dies.

#4. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

“Six inches forward and five inches back” essentially says it all.

#3. Killer Drag Queens on Dope (2003)

I rank this epic right up there (down there?) with Attack of the Killer Condoms. But for all the lame gay sex included in Killer Condoms, Drag Queens has the charm of the two main characters being named Coco and Ginger.

#2. Mulan (1998)

Disney has a long history of male figures dressing up as women (Little John in Robin Hood, for instance), but very seldom do they try women as men. With a little help from Eddie Murphy, the title character imitates a man to fight as a solider.

#1. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

The King and or Queen of the crop. That’s quite an accomplishment because people have found dressing in drag to be comedy gold for quite a long time. But the way Robin Williams delicately balances his hairy male self with his buxom female personality is totally Oscar-worthy. I mean, am I the only one who truly believes in Williams when he sings “Dude Looks Like a Lady” by Aerosmith?