"Connie and Carla" is a delightful light comedy. It describes two young women in a dinner club in O'Hare airport in Chicago. They witness a murder of their manager, and escape to Los Angeles to avoid their own executions. Connie is played by Nia Vardalo of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" fame. She gives a pithy performance and one is drawn to her likable character. Toni Collette as Carla also gives a warm performance. Together they portray drag queens in their quest for remaining undiscovered. There is a delightful array of "drag queens" in the chorus line that punctuates this well organized film. In addition, there is a charming surprise performance by Debbie Reynolds toward the end. I can recommend this film as a very light way to spend ones cinematic experience. It is not great, but it is lots of fun.

Nia Vardalos' career has been an enigma. She's done some amazingly funny and wonderful films...such as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and it's underrated sequel "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2". Yet, she's also been in some real stinkers...such as the TV series based on these films as well as "Connie and Carla"...a bad reworking of the plot from "Some Like It Hot". I just cannot understand this...so much talent yet occasionally some really bad career choices.

When "Connie and Carla" began, I found myself wanting to turn off the DVD....it started that poorly. You see Connie and Carla performing show tunes together....both as kids as well as bad lounge act at the airport. They are so bad that it takes you out of the story...because no duo that bad could ever find work! Then, shortly after, some goons come into the joint and soon end up shooting the boss. Now get this....Connie and Carla SEE this happen and they are in hiding. Obviously the goons are bad and will kill them if they know they are witnessing the murder. So what do the ladies do? They scream hysterically and run away in a manner LESS subtle than the Three Stooges running from crooks!

What follows is essentially an updated gender-bending (in a reverse way) take off on "Some LIike It Hot". The pair hide in Los Angeles and get jobs in a gay bar doing a drag act...though they play women pretending to be men who are pretending to be women. Some might find this a funny modern take on the story...some folks (probably many LGBT as well as very conservative folks) might find it a bit offensive. To me, I didn't totally hate it...but it felt very contrived an offered zero improvement over the original source material. Overall, a bad film because it SHOULD have been so much better given the actresses involved....bad because it was so incredibly unsubtle and, at times, stupid.

Connie (Nia Vardalos) and Carla (Toni Collette) are life long friends who're following lives in show business no matter how pathetic. When they witness a mob hit, they run away to LA. They fall in as drag queens working in a night club. Jeff (David Duchovny) is a neighbor who falls for Connie but gets confused about her/his cross dressing.

From the first moments when the kid versions of Connie and Carla are doing Oklahoma, I have the same reaction as those kids in the cafeteria. They annoyed me. The Victor Victoria idea has its moments but it doesn't last. It never rise to the level of an actual laugh. Although poking at Connie's boobs comes close to a laugh. And awkward Jeff is very cute. I think the problem has to be the lack of a comedian in the three leads. The timing and the pacing is off. They're relatively likable actors. The romance comes a bit late, and the comedy isn't built to have big laughs.