DVD
Upcoming Release Calendar
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Recent DVD/Video Releases
60
9
xx
Across the Hall
56
Adam
37
Amelia
73
Amreeka
35
Babysitters, The
70
Big Fan
57
Boys Are Back, The
81
Bright Star![]()
71
Bronson
60
Brothers at War
55
Brothers Bloom, The
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
64
Che
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
23
Couples Retreat
54
Dare
68
Departures
19
Downloading Nancy
55
Endgame
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
27
Gamer
50
Give Me Your Hand
46
Halloween II
73
House of the Devil, The
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
17
I Hate Valentine's Day
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
83
In the Loop![]()
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
41
Little Ashes
80
Lorna's Silence
33
Love Happens
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
xx
Ministers, The
67
Moon
59
More Than a Game
49
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
28
Pandorum
68
Paranormal Activity
85
Passing Strange![]()
63
Perfect Getaway, A
44
Peter and Vandy
54
Pontypool
35
Post Grad
30
Saw VI
79
Serious Man, A
36
Serious Moonlight
76
Soul Power
40
Spiral
39
St. Trinian's
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
47
Time Traveler's Wife
43
Tru Loved
61
Trucker
47
Weather Girl
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 2 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Art/Independent | Comedy | Foreign | Gay/Lesbian
Written by: Stephan Elliott
Directed by: Stephan Elliott
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 10, 1994
DVD: October 7, 1997
Running Time: 104 minutes, Color
Origin: Australia
Summary
RATING: R
Starring Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Bill Hunter
Mitzi, Felicia and Bernadette (Weaving, Pearce and Stamp) go to Alice Springs in their bus affectionately named Priscilla, to preform a drag show.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Easy Virtue Eye of the Beholder
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Good ain't the half of it in this case - it's funny, it's endearing, it's strangely touching. [19 Aug 1994]
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The generosity and gorgeousness with which Aussie writer-director Stephan Elliott (and costume designers Lizzy Gardiner and Tim Chappel) turn this most unlikely road picture into something arresting - if a tad sentimental - in its naive vision of a perfectly tolerant world.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Janet Maslin
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert presents a defiant culture clash in generous, warmly entertaining ways.
Read Full Review >Variety David Stratton
A cheerfully vulgar and bitchy, but essentially warmhearted, road movie with a difference, which boasts an amazing star turn by Terence Stamp as a transsexual, Stephan Elliott's second feature is a lot of fun.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Clifford Terry
On the whole, though, it is funny and compassionate, silly and sweet. [26 Aug 1994]
Portland Oregonian Henry Sheehan
Elliott has come up with an ebullient entertainment propelled by garishly jaunty musical numbers, adroitly handled comic banter and an optimistic faith in people's ability to roll with the punches. [26 Aug 1994]
TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)
The script is spiked with cheeky, occasionally hilarious encounters, like the trio's stroll through a lazy Outback town in flamboyant space-age drag, or Bernadette's deliciously unprintable riposte to a hostile woman in a bar.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is about the most fun you can have with three guys who like to dress up as women.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
In this roaringly comic and powerfully affecting road movie, Terence Stamp gives one of the year's best performances.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
This nicely made 1994 comedy-drama could be described as an Australian "Easy Rider," with Sydney drag queens instead of bikers and no apocalyptic ending.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
The comic pizazz and bawdy dazzle of this film's vision of gaudy drag performers trekking across the Australian outback certainly has a boisterous, addictive way about it. [10 Aug 1994]
Austin Chronicle Robert Faires
Where drag is concerned, though, the film does anything but drag; Elliott has no compunction about restraint, and Priscilla gushes with bitchy repartee, campy comedy, sappy Seventies pop (Abba! “Billy, Don't Be a Hero”! “Take a Letter, Maria”!), and production numbers so outrageous, they make the Divine Miss M's excess look like the efforts of a Baptist boys' camp.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It is done well, yet one is still surprised to find it done at all.
Read Full Review >Empire Angie Errigo
Those who find men in feathers inherently divine will have a high old time here, and there are enough hilarious cinematic moments for the gob-smacked rest.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Julie Salamon
Like the "girls," the movie is flamboyant in almost every respect - the costumes, the humor and the sentimentality. [1 Sep 1994]
Washington Post Rita Kempley
Writer-director Stephan Elliott is obviously fond of his characters, and this may account for the upbeat story line, but it blinds him to how very annoying two hours of dishing can be.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Howe
Obviously, Priscilla is a one-note pleasure: Bitches in the Desert! Queens in the Sand! Nancy boys do the Outback!
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Poor, no-respect ABBA gets tweaked repeatedly in this unexpectedly handsome widescreen import - though, in keeping with the movie's soft tone, the gooning isn't mean-spirited or even all that catty. [10 Aug 1994]
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Director Stephan Elliott too easily buys into the drag queens' conception of themselves as valiant pursuers of illusion, without ever questioning the value of the illusion being pursued.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
