The story doesn't have much to offer save its one, recurring visual joke.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
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Reviews Counted:92
Fresh:86
Rotten:6
Average Rating:7.8/10
Consensus: Hedwig and the Angry Inch may very well be the next Rocky Horror midnight movie. It not only knows how to rock, but Hedwig's story has an emotional poignancy.
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Synopsis: John Cameron Mitchell is the creator of the off-Broadway hit HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, which he and composer-lyricist Stephen Trask have transformed into a funny, dramatic, and curiously poignant... John Cameron Mitchell is the creator of the off-Broadway hit HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, which he and composer-lyricist Stephen Trask have transformed into a funny, dramatic, and curiously poignant self-described "post-punk neo-glam musical" film, with extra songs and a new instrumental score. Hedwig (played by Mitchell) was born as Hansel in East Berlin. In his twenties, Hansel agrees to undergo a sex change in order to marry a U.S. soldier (Maurice Dean Wint) and escape to America. Unfortunately, the procedure fails, and Hedwig is left with nothing but a sexless "angry inch" between her legs. After being abandoned in a Kansas trailer park by her husband, Hedwig decides to make the most of her situation: She develops a taste for outrageous wigs and costumes, forms a band, and becomes a singer. Hedwig soon meets and falls in love with 17-year-old Tommy (Michael Pitt), who also harbors rock star aspirations, and makes him her musical protégé. But Tommy is the one who ends up stealing the superstardom that Hedwig worked for, after stealing Hedwig's songs and claiming them as his own. In order to expose him as a fraud, she embarks on a tour of strip mall restaurants, telling her story to the audience while trailing Tommy on his own tour across America. [More]
Starring: John Cameron Mitchell, Miriam Shor, Stephen Trask, Theodore Liscinski
Starring: John Cameron Mitchell, Miriam Shor, Stephen Trask, Theodore Liscinski, Rob Campbell, Michael Aronov, Andrea Martin, Alberta Watson, Michael Pitt, Star, Maurice Dean Wint, Ben Mayer-Goodman
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Screenwriter: John Cameron Mitchell
Producer: Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, Katie Roumel
Composer: Stephen Trask
Studio: Fine Line Features
Reviews for Hedwig and the Angry Inch
What Mitchell has to say about sexuality and love, equaling little more than feel-good sentiments about unity and duality, comes off as trite and inconsequential.
Is this a tour de force or what? As Hedwig would say, you do the math, honey.
Less an exploration of transsexuality than an inquiry into the nature of wholeness, "Hedwig" successfully transports the off-Broadway hit into the world of cinema.
"...tells this story smartly and expertly, but what makes it a masterpiece is... it's fun too."
Funny as hell, and Trask's tuneful music makes one want to rush out to get the CD.
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June 15, 2006:
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