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RuPaul's "Starrbooty" Premieres to a Sold-Out Crowd at the Showcase Theater
Photo by Henry David for LAist.com
Any time the gay community pitches, LAist can't help but catch. As an aftershock of Outfest '07, RuPaul and film director Mike Ruiz had a special screening of Starrbooty at the Showcase in West LA this past Saturday night. The film is the brainchild of RuPaul herself; a raucous tribute to every great blaxploitation film ever made. Think Grindhouse but with full frontal nudity every 2 minutes?
Needless to say, Starrbooty is completely tasteless and therefore completely awesome. Not 30 seconds would pass where the crowd was not bowling over laughing. There was no shame. Ru and Ruiz clearly exercised almost no hesitation in throwing in every nasty yet hilarious joke -- this movie has no lines whatsoever that it could perceivably cross. As Ru said when introducing the film to the crowd: "This movie was made for all the conservatives and the politically correct liberals. If you get up and leave during the movie -- which you will -- then we've done our job."
Ru plays an undercover secret agent named Starrbooty who will do anything necessary to assume a fake identity on the beat ...anything. When she learns that her arch-rival Annaka Manners has kidnapped her only niece, she must go undercover posing as a prostitute in New York's meat packing district (no pun intended). Did I say posing? Fuck that -- I meant she literally lays her mouth and other orifices down on the line in the name of justice.
Her acting is genius; smart. Every line is delivered with the right amount of conviction and sass. Candis Cayne gives the other major performance in the film as the big bad Annaka Manners, providing all of the moves and nuances that any good archenemy carries:
The directing and editing are very noteworthy as well. Yes, the film is campy but that was only intentional. Noted artist Mike Ruiz has also done larger productions recently. He directed Kelly Rowland and Kristine W's latest music videos.
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You won't be finding this film in any type of theatrical release or local video store based on its sexual content alone, let alone the fact that Blockbuster would never put a transvestite-centric film on its shelves. But you will be able to get a copy of it soon through the website we are told.
G-Rated Trailer for Starrbooty:
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