Connie And Carla (2004)

44% of critics liked it
(120 reviews)
65% of users liked it
(12,477 ratings)

Actress and writer Nia Vardalos, who became an overnight sensation with My Big Fat Greek Wedding, returns to the big screen with this gender-bending comedy. Connie (Vardalos) and Carla (Toni Collette) are best friends who've shared the same dream ever since they were teenagers -- making a name for… More Actress and writer Nia Vardalos, who became an overnight sensation with My Big Fat Greek Wedding, returns to the big screen with this gender-bending comedy. Connie (Vardalos) and Carla (Toni Collette) are best friends who've shared the same dream ever since they were teenagers -- making a name for themselves in the musical theater. However, after years of treading water on Chicago's dinner theater circuit and playing bottom-of-the-barrel nightclubs, the two are facing middle age with minimal career success. One evening after a performance, Connie and Carla have the misfortune of witnessing the murder of nightclub owner Frank (Michael Roberds) by low-level Mafiosi; the gals are seen by the shooters, and they hit the road in fear for their lives. Connie and Carla end up in Los Angeles, where they struggle to create new identities for themselves. After witnessing a drag review at a nightclub, they realize that even they have more talent than most of the men performing that evening, and they decide to pose as female impersonators in hopes of landing a gig. Connie and Carla's new act is an immediate hit, and soon they're the toast of L.A.'s gay community. But the women discover it's difficult to keep on fooling people into believing they're men, and things become even more complicated when the Mobsters discover that Connie and Carla are in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Connie finds herself falling for Jeff (David Duchovny), a regular guy looking for his cross-dressing brother who can't understand why he's developing a crush on a drag queen. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 38 min.
Directed By: Michael Lembeck
Written By: Nia Vardalos
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Comedy

In Theaters: Apr 16, 2004 Wide
On DVD: Aug 17, 2004
Studio: Universal Pictures

Critic Reviews

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
... just awful.
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
Isn't really a movie but a blatant girls' night out vehicle.
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post
It may not be subtle, but, like drag itself, Connie and Carla affords a few corny, if artless, pleasures.
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star
Connie And Carla never manages to rise above the airport-lounge aesthetic of its title characters.
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
Someone should tell Vardalos this is well-trod territory.
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
Entertaining and very funny.
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
The plot is nothing new; not much here for teens.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
For audiences who adored "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," Nia Vardalos' follow up movie (she wrote both scripts) will come as a big fat letdown.
Lisa Ann Cockrel, Christianity Today
The movie does offer some genuine guffaws as it trips over itself to be all things to all people.
Widgett Walls, Needcoffee.com
It really wants you to like it, but it just tries too hard and is way too freakishly cute to be watchable.
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
muitos espectadores talvez julguem melhor economizar o dinheiro do ingresso do cinema, utilizando-o para comprar o CD do filme.
David Noh, Film Journal International
Vardalos is a much better actress than she is a writer, and the patchy script has a desperate, thrown-together feeling to it, as if she had to scramble to come up with something after Wedding's gargantuan success.
Harry Guerin, RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
Some like it lukewarm? Well, they're welcome to it.
Anna Smith, Empire Magazine
A good-natured but self-indulgent camp comedy lacking in originality, character and comic timing.
James Christopher, Times [UK]
Full marks for trying a radical change of direction, and nul points for inflicting the ghastly mess on us
Jake Euker, F5 (Wichita, KS)
There's some fun to be had here, but not quite enough, and the film is burdened by its tired message that drag queens are human beings too.
Nev Pierce, BBC
Plays like a bargain basement Some Like It Hot.

Read all 17 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Alice S

Hi-freakin-larious! And who doesn't love a cameo appearance by Debbie Reynolds?
Daniel P

Borrowing liberally from Sister Act, Victor/Victoria, Some Like It Hot and Thelma & Louise amongst others, Connie And Carla was a lot better, in my opinion of course, than the extremely… More
Borrowing liberally from Sister Act, Victor/Victoria, Some Like It Hot and Thelma & Louise amongst others, Connie And Carla was a lot better, in my opinion of course, than the extremely bad press it got in the UK suggested. Two friends trying to make it big, but failing, with their cabaret act (they play to a disinterested crowd of jet-lagged individuals at airport lounges), witness a murder, and are discovered doing so, by members of a local mob. Fearing for their lives, they flee to Los Angeles where they find success with their act by posing as drag queens (which makes them women posing as men dressed as women) at a dwindling gay bar. Inevitably, one of their pair becomes romantically interested in a straight guy, and with their act becoming more successful they risk having their secrets found out and the mob catching up with them. Things start to fall apart a bit around the time of the cameo appearance of a certain someone (whose shtick was served much better in smaller doses in episodes of Will & Grace), and it seems like the story has nowhere else to go. The film ends predictably amid much talk of the meaning of being true to oneself, but the happy ending isn't oversold. Toni Collette is good in pretty much everything she does, and I have to admit that I've probably added an extra half star because of her presence and her fantastic ad-libs. Nia Vardalos is also less punchable here than she was in My Big Fat Greek Weeding, and David Duchovny thankfully keeps it low key as the love interest. The laughs are hit and miss at times, but as a whole the film is worth a watch and passes the time quite nicely.
William G

A weird kind of tolerable.
Sylvester K

I don't know what to say here, it's not awfully bad or superbly good. I like the story but the acting is so bad, not from Nia or Toni off course. It's campy fun but too campy.
Robert F

Maybe I'm enough of a sucker for Toni Collette or maybe it was my forgiving approach to the concept, but it provided me enough chuckles to call it entertainment.
Ina S

Delicously campy fun. Predictable yes, but also good-hearted and highly entertaining. Toni Collette and Nia Vardalos are highly convincing drag queens in their hilarious, over-the-top performance.
Leo L

Love this movie. Very funny!
FanGirl B

A fun flim.

Read all 8 featured audience ratings

Cast

            Nia Vardalos as Connie

            Toni Collette as Carla

            David Duchovny as Jeff

            Stephen Spinella as Robert/Peaches

            Alec Mapa as Lee/N'Cream

            Christopher Logan as Brian/Banana

            Robert Kaiser as Paul

            Ian Gomez as Stanley

            Nick Sandow as Al

            Dash Mihok as Mikey

            Robert John Burke as Rudy

            Boris McGiver as Tibor

            Mike Roberds as Frank

            Babs Chula as Carla's Mom

            Linda Darlow as Connie's Mom

            Veena Sood as Mrs. Morse

            Gary Jones as Bartender

            Don Ackerman as Super Fey Guy

            Fred Keating as Man in Airport

            Adam Harrington as Cute Guy

            Kristi Angus as Woman in Crowd

            Nicola Crosbie as Reporter

            Guy Fauchon as Another Super Fey Guy

            Danielle Woodman as Young Connie

            Morris Bart & Kimberly C. Anderson as Man in Airport

            Charles Payne as Hollywood Policeman

            Kristina Copeland as Botox Woman

            Fiona Hogan as Natasha

            Krista Rae as Mary

            D. Neil Mark as Crooked Cop

            June B. Wilde as Woman in Airport

            Carl McDonald as Dressing Room Guy

            Brittney Wilson as Young Carla

            Douglas Baird as Cameraman

            Paddy Ma as Groove Thing Queen

            Ryf Van Rij as Cute Guy

            Jay Williams as Groove Thing Queen

            Todd Oberg as Groove Thing Queen

            Chelah Horsdal as Botox's Friend

            Elaine Kliner as Snoring Woman in Airport

            Douglas McLeod as Bass Player

            Stephen Cottrill as Guitar Player

            Lloyd Nicholson as Pianist

            Gordon Roberts as Drummer

            Chris Logan
            
See full cast

Photos

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