Bruno & Earlene Go To Vegas

Synopsis:

Headstrong Earlene makes a discovery that she is totally unprepared for. Acting on impulses, she leaves everything behind and heads to LA. The perfect distraction comes along in the shape of the mysterious Bruno, a wandering intersex teenager she meets at Venice Beach. The two loners become fast friends, but when Earlene becomes embroiled in one of Bruno’s home rental scams, whilst simultaneously discovering just what lengths he will go to to score some cash, she takes the youth under her wing and drives off into the desert. Along the way they meet a sexually confused carjacker, a pair of Scottish ex-strippers, a tap-dancing drag queen and many more like-minded runaways – who are all looking for a way out in the world.

Quick Thoughts:

“Bruno and Earlene Go To Vegas” is a modernised retelling of “Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert”, mixed in with a dash of “Thelma & Louise”. But hidden within the adventure are some darker secrets that are slowly teased before being revealed and nearly ruining everything for both Bruno and Earlene. There’s also no question – this is a queer film! And perhaps more exciting is that Bruno identifies as intersex, and gives a pretty good description of why he (based of how Bruno identifies in the film) is who he is. The best part, Earlene doesn’t care. Nor does anyone else they run into along their adventure. Oh, and let’s not forget the sexy questioning eye-candy of Billy who finds his own sexual identity with one of the sexy ex-strippers! Yup – this is definitely a queer film!

But is it actually a queer western film? I’m honestly not sure.. While IMDb has accepted the Western tag despite their rather rigid criteria, the film is modern; it doesn’t feel like the classic wild west you would expect from a Western. It’s almost more an Adventure film (which is is also listed as). Underneath there is certainly the vibe of a Western film. You have guns, running from the police, getting lost in the desert, etc. I can see how it’s a Western, yet I also can question if it really is a Western. What are your thoughts? Either way – don’t overlook “Bruno and Earlene Go To Vegas!”