Pageant: Film Fest Review

Pageant was my favorite film of the 13 I saw at the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival. The concept is pretty straightforward: it's a documentary following several contestants in the Miss Gay America Pageant. Men dressed fairly convincingly (well, reasonably convincingly) as women, and camping it up Miss America style. It was a blast.

We get to watch a fairly diverse cast of men, some who hold down normal jobs, some who are professional drag performers, as they prep for the biggest event the drag scene has to offer. We meet their families (and in some cases, kids) get their thoughts on the drag movement, and hear what drag means to them.

Which is all well and good, but the real draw is the performances. Miss Gay America doesn't have a swimsuit competition, but it does have evening gowns, individual talent and performance sections, plus the "interview as a man" section. All were a blast. It was a good enough time that I'd consider driving down to Memphis to watch this live some year. Several performances had the crowd in the theater roaring and clapping at the video projector, something you don't expect at most film fest showings.

Unlike a lot of the other documentaries at the festival, this wasn't an "important" movie. But it's easily the most fun I've had in a theater in a long time. This will probably get picked up for distribution or cable sometime in 2009, and it's worth going out of your way for.

Here's the trailer: http://www.pageantmovie.com/viewtrailer.htm