Freak Show
- Director: Trudie Styler
- Writer: Patrick J. Clifton; Beth Rigazio
- Producer: Drew Barrymore; Jeffrey Coulter
CGiii Comment
This will certainly polarise opinion...young Mr Lawther gives a [damn fine] credible performance...but, as a rich-kid with gender identity issues and a penchant for camping it up [at every conceivable opportunity]...the audience may not [or may] get entirely behind him...at first.
But...be patient, he does grow on you...amid the diamante and darkness. It's that...I'd-rather-be-sexually-confused-in-my-mansion-than-in-a-homeless-hostel kind-of-thing! Struggling heirs elicit little empathy! Mr Lawther does a remarkable job...in shifting that opinion!
Now, it has to be said...Bette Midler is tragically [and mind-bogglingly] under-used...she and Mr Lawther could have easily presented a little cabaret performance [in the mansion] for our delectation and titillation...alas, no...although the script was crying out for it!
The director, perhaps, was not entirely in-tune with the audience's thirst for the Divine. It's Bette Midler for Christ's sake...you got her...use her! She ain't cheap!
Freak Show embraces and celebrates individuality and diversity. Despite our 'quibbly moanings' about Bette, it's a great little film.
It delivers the finest of messages...live and let live...all the world's a stage...I am what I am...be what you wanna be!
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Being fabulous, no: being relentlessly fabulous is damn hard work. I should know. I’ve dedicated my life to the pursuit of it.’ Could Billy Bloom be like everyone else if he wanted to? It would certainly save him a whole lot of trouble. But he has absolutely no desire to be like them. When others call him theatrical, he takes it as a compliment; when his classmates feel provoked by his drive to be different, it only motivates him further. ‘The nail that sticks out gets hammered down’, his father warns him. That does not deter Billy from deciding to run for homecoming queen. Somewhere in-between David Bowie, Lady Gaga, Freddy Mercury and Oscar Wilde, in the transgressive space of pop culture and dressed up as a high school comedy with wit, heart and a dazzling cast, Freak Show is about the violence of conformity and the power of self-determination.
Cast & Characters
Abigail Breslin as Lynette;
AnnaSophia Robb as Blah Blah Blah;
Laverne Cox as Felicia Watts;
Bette Midler as Muv;
Willa Fitzgerald as Tiffany;
Alex Lawther as Billy Bloom;
Celia Weston as Florence;
Ian Nelson as Flip Kelly;
Mickey Sumner as Dr. Vickers;
Doris McCarthy as Tourist;
John McEnroe as Coach Carter;
Christopher Dylan White as Bernard;
Larry Pine as William;
Olli Haaskivi as Tour Guide