[Movies] Go Go Crazy (2011)

I'd like to think that I have a healthy appreciation for camp. This comes from the fact that I'm both gay and quite majorly into musical theater. Okay, those two things certainly have major areas of overlap, but that's my life.

I recently decided to properly catalog all the LGBT-themed movies that I had downloaded over the years in order to get a better idea of what I had to work with. I have a bit of a compulsion when it comes to acquiring these types of movies in the hopes of finding time to watch them and then eventually review them. LGBT movies are still a bit of a struggling movie genre and they can use all the support that they can get.

But not all movies are created equal and there's a lot of weird stuff out there. Go Go Crazy may be classified in that manner given its attempts to be a campy romp but in the end it fell a little short. They certainly had some ideas, but the end result was a bit of a mess. I'll explain further.


Synopsis: Go Go Crazy is a 2011 comedy movie written and directed by Fred M. Caruso. It's filmed using the mockumentary style initially, but it sort of loses its way.

Go Go Crazy is both the title of the movie and the title of the little go go boy competition being staged by a gay nightclub. The winner gets $1000 and a chance to perform at the club or a month. The competition has brought a wide variety of hopefuls along and we join the event just as they're narrowing things down to the final five. In true mockumentary fashion, we have little interviews with each of the finalists as we learn more about their lives and why they're competing.

The finalists are an odd bunch that include one who believes that this is somehow a ballet contest, a straight guy stuffing his underwear to appear bigger and a Broadway hopeful that believes this may be his ticket to fame and fortune. We get to watch their antics on and off the stage as they do everything that they can win. The competition itself is the drag queen Hedda Lettuce (Steven Polito) with a panel of judges that includes characters portrayed by impersonator Christina Bianco and porn star Jake Steel.

The mockumentary format wasn't a bad idea - it could have had a lot of potential in the long run. But beyond the initial interviews and home visits, it feels like the mockumentary format gets dropped during the competition itself and it's not clear that the cameras are visible to the contestants or not. Some of their efforts to sabotage one another are done with the camera cutting to zoomed-in shots and such, which might have made more sense with a gradual zoom-in instead of quick cuts. They only really remember the mockumentary format at the end when they wrap up the whole romp.

The contestants are all pretty bad actors, except maybe for Kiernon (Michael Cusumano) given he was pretty consistent in his portrayal of a foreign male ballet dancer. Plus he was like crazy flexible and had some legitimate ballet moves - I don't know his background all that well so maybe he is a dancer and I just don't know it.

I feel bad that Christina Bianco was involved in this production and wasn't able to show more of her range in terms of impersonations. Sure, she did the prerequisite Celine Dion numbers and a touch of Judy Garland, but that was it. Given her fame on the internet these days, we all know how crazy talented she is. To limit her to being a drunk wannabe celebrity figure the whole time was a waste of her talents.

I didn't realize there was a porn star involved in the movie until I started writing this review. In other words, I didn't really find anyone hot. But that's just a question of taste - I'm sure the guys have their respective markets.

Apart from the steady banter of Hedda Lettuce, there really wasn't all that much comedy in the movie to really make you laugh. It has some quirky moments that try to go full camp but instead it just feels ridiculous. Good camp is never easy to do - and movies like this help prove that fact.

Go Go Crazy was a decent enough movie, but perhaps my dislike for the movie may be a question of opinion or something. I just don't quite get the humor here and I only really enjoyed Hedda Lettuce. End of story. So for now, the movie can only really rate as 1.5 horrible go go boy dance routines that should have disqualified all of them out of a possible 5.