Cross-dressing as box-office draw

Cross-dressing had always been part of the movies – yes, even in local films, with Dolphy probably having donned the most number of women’s dresses.

In Hollywood, two films about cross-dressing stand out: Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot where Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis pose as members of an all-girl band to escape the underworld after having witnessed a murder. This film has actually become even more important because it also stars Marilyn Monroe as the band’s lead singer.

Then, there’s Sidney Pollack’s Tootsie, where Dustin Hoffmann stars as an actor out of work and has to pretend to be female in order to land an acting job that is actually rended for a woman.

The latest Hollywood film on cross-dressing is the currently showing Sorority Boys, which is doing brisk business in local movie theaters.

Released by Touchstone Pictures, Sorority Boys stars Barry Watson as Dave, Michael Rosenbaum as Adam and Harland Williams as Doofer. All three are fraternity members who have to go into hiding after getting falsely accused of embezzling the group’s funds. The only way to get their one piece of evidence – actually a videotape – to prove their innocence is to stay on campus and pretend to be coeds. Quite conveniently for them, they find their sanctuary in a sorority house where the residents are mostly female outcasts. No, there are no supermodel types in this sorority group. Okay, there’s one tall girl there, but she is actually more of a giant. Then, there’s this other girl who has so much hair in her body, she actually grows a mustache.

But our three male leads have no other choice, but to stay in this sorority home and pretend to be women. Dave therefore becomes Daisy, Adam becomes Adina and Doofer becomes Roberta.

Living in this sorority house actually makes them discover a lot of lessons in life – mainly about how these not-so-beautiful or glamorous women in this world are so unjustly treated by standards set by society. They actually experience this unjust treatment themselves because they, too (being so odd-looking in their dresses) get mocked by the boys on campus.

In the end, they of course prove their innocence and are welcomed back into the fraternity. More importantly, they come out of the whole experience with a better understanding of women – regardless of looks, size or shape.

Initially, I thought this movie was just some second or even third-rate production. Well, it is – in some aspects – second rate, especially if you consider its basically bad camerawork and unimaginative production design. Even its storyline is hopelessly shallow. And then, there is the film’s sorry-looking layout in papers that looks like a loose page in a badly put-together scrapbook.

Sorority Boys, however, manages to weave into its rather threadbare story some really hilarious comic scenes that are guaranteed to entertain viewers. In most parts, it comes out like American Pie – but minus the polish. The humor, in fact, is like an American version of the old Bad Bananas (you know, Christopher de Leon, the late Jay Ilagan, etc.) at their best.

Even the toilet humor (which seems mandatory in most teen flicks) is kept to a minimum and not at all revolting. (It is basically just about hair strands caught in the lavatory drain).

The most engaging part of the film, of course, is when the nasty boys and girls get their comeuppance after making life miserable for the outcast sorority members and the three cross-dressing male leads. Yes, you will actually cheer for the not-so-glamorous girls (I’m being politically-correct here – see) – especially in the all-female touch football game leading to the film’s climax.

At the end of the film, the more perceptive and sensitive viewer – just like the three male leads – may learn a thing or two about not instantly judging a woman based on her looks. This movie, will also teach prospective moviegoers and even film reviewers not to judge a film by its layout.