Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Lee Eisenberg
Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews had been married for several years by the time that they made "Victor Victoria". It's entertaining enough. I especially liked the scenes in the hotel rooms, as well as Lesley Ann Warren's exaggerated performance as James Garner's moll.Being the sort of person that I am, what most caught my eye was the cast. Julie Andrews is of course best known as Mary Poppins, and Robert Preston is best known as the Music Man. But aside from those two and Garner - best known as Maverick - there's also Alex Karras (Mongo in "Blazing Saddles") and John Rhys-Davies (Sallah in the Indiana Jones movies and Gimli in the Lord of the Rings franchise). And all of this is under the direction of the man who gave us Inspector Clouseau!The movie is good for the stage performances. The funnier gender-bending movie from 1982 was "Tootsie", which had essentially the reverse plot. Still, this one's worth seeing. As to the issue of whether or not it stereotypes gays, it's hard to say.Mongo only pawn in game of life!
jacobs-greenwood
Directed, co-produced, with a screenplay co-written by Blake Edwards (for which he received his only Academy Award nomination), this hilarious Musical Comedy features Julie Andrews in the title role (both characters) as a woman, masquerading as a man pretending to be a woman (e.g. as a female impersonator). Sound confusing? It is. And, it is difficult to "see" Julie Andrews's character as a man in this one too. However, it doesn't detract from the incredibly clever script, nor the film's other terrific performances by James Garner, Robert Preston, and Lesley Anne Warren. Football player-turned actor Alex Karras, John Rhys-Davies, and Graham Stark (playing a waiter, naturally), among others, also appear.Preston plays Andrews's agent, who comes up with the idea (that of her pretending to be a man who's a female impersonator) to help his struggling client find work. Garner plays a man's man, a Chicago nightclub owner who's uncomfortable with his attraction to a man, the one Andrews is pretending to be. Warren plays Garner's bimbo blonde girlfriend who finds herself jealous of another, and a man at that (at least, Andrews pretending to be one)! Karras plays Garner's "heavy", or bodyguard if you will. Rhys-Davies plays a Paris impresario who's also not in on the secret of Victor's gender. Of course, there's lots of fodder for sexual innuendo, battle of the sexes, and other trans- gender humor.The film's Henry Mancini-Leslie Bricusse Score won an Oscar. Andrews's leading performance earned her the third, and last, Best Actress nomination (to date) in her outstanding career. Preston's gay agent earned him his only nomination (Supporting), as did Warren's performance (also Supporting). The film's Art Direction-Set Decoration and Costume Design were also nominated. #76 on AFI's 100 Funniest Movies list.
grantss
A female singer is struggling to find work. She hits on the plan of impersonating a male singer. While this might be good for her professionally, it complicates her personal life.Good, but not great. The problem is that director Blake Edwards can't commit to whether this is a comedy or a drama, so hedges his bets. The comedy mostly consists of one-liners, and in some ways diminishes the point the drama could have made. The drama had heaps of potential: the search for sexual identity, gay rights, women's rights, but it all seems skirted over. However, in the 80s these were quite topical, and issues worth raising.Still, reasonably entertaining and Julie Andrews gives a superb performance in the lead role.
MartinHafer
Julie Andrews plays an out of work starving artist. However, when she meets a gay man (Robert Preston), he convinces her to fake being a cross-dresser and then she'll hit it big. This turns out to be true but also creates serious problems in regard to her love life.I read through the many very positive reviews for "Victor Victoria" and felt a bit lost. In some ways I wondered exactly what they saw in this film. I mean that "Victor Victoria" was kind of cute and enjoyable--but not much more. Perhaps the earlier versions would might have been a bit better.Although the film is set in France in the 1930s, you might no know that by listening to everyone. James Garner, Julie Andrews and Robert Preston are the leads....and are not exactly French. No one sounded or looked French. I wonder what French folks think when they see films like this... Also, while I know that the film is about a cross-dressing cabaret singer, I STILL felt that there were too many musical numbers. They tended to slow the film down and deflected the comedy. However, overall it's still an enjoyable little comedy that is a bit better than a time-passer.I know I am the odd reviewer here, but I just didn't see this as a really funny film nor did it seem all that special--especially with it coming out the same time as a better cross-dressing film, "Tootsie".
