How sad is this?

Good concept, poorly executed.

best movie i've ever seen.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Margaret Cho is a gifted comedian and in this misguided film, there are hysterically funny moments. Margaret plays the titular Celeste like a true manic-depressive. She can be sunny and upbeat one second, and then suicidal the next. The plot, such as it is, follows her and her best friend "Bam Bam" (Bruce Daniels) (and very unclear why he was called that) as they make their way from the hellish small town they've been imprisoned in their whole lives to NYC, where they have managed to land a spot on a make-over show, which is judged by none other than their high school bullies, i.e. the beautiful blonde white people who will get everything in life. En route to NYC, they have off-beat road adventures which involve wonderful cameos by Wilson Cruz and Jane Lynch. Kathy Najimy makes a funny pit-stop and John Cho also has a wonderful supporting part as the cruel and judgmental host of the makeover TV show. But as funny as Margaret and the other characters were, I thought Elaine Hendrix as Jackie, the most obnoxious of the high school bullies, stole the show when she went "black" on Bruce Daniels. It was a scene-stealer. Margaret also does double duty as her own mother, and while she does it beautifully and convincingly, she should have limited it to very short bits. She does one extended bit near the end, trying to talk some sense into Celeste's head and although it was well done, the character's heavy (and authentic) accent almost wiped out the purpose of the speech (to get her daughter to understand the value of love). Ultimately, the film fails... and I hate to say this, because there was a lot of love put into this project... but... after all Celeste goes through, when she apparently comes to the realization that she is "beautiful" as she is, the truth is: she did not need a "make-over" (which, sorry, was a half-assed attempt to make Margaret look glamorous). Celeste is stuck somewhere in the 80s with her spiky haircut, her heavy make-up and her Cindy Lauper hand-me-down dresses. But that's who she was... and, after all the hell she goes through in this movie, the real punch should have been, "I don't need a make-over. I am beautiful the way I am." If she had done that, it would have made this film a lot more powerful. Margaret is definitely talented and funny and the supporting cast did a great job, but sadly the film fails because it is actually not true to itself. But for a quick, easy view and some hearty laughs, it's worth a one-time popcorn night.

Maybe I'm just too strange myself to really need Cho's constant message of self-love and self-empowerment, but I tired of it quickly as an adult, yet still harbour this quasi-nostalgic fondness that I had for Cho in my teens, even though I now find her incredibly boring, at best and, as an effete gay man of FTM history, I more often find her disgustingly offensive and hackneyed in her potential for appeal. She's best when she's lampooning the "child of immigrants" experience, even as one who was raised by non-assimilating English immigrant/Blitz-refugee grandparents, on some level I can relate to the ineffable strangeness of being reared in such close proximity with "the old country" and find it funny when it is; even so, she's been telling that joke, and all her others, for twenty years, and she seldom expands on it any more than she ever has.I can see what Cho was trying to do here. At the heart of this film, she's clearly attempting to unite her message of self-love with the low-budget camp and highly exaggerated character of a classic John Waters film from the 1970s. In that sense, I can respect her goals, but the Waters classics had something, likely many things that this film seriously lacks. One of those things is the on-screen sincerity of the characters and the chemistry they have with other characters. For as ridiculous as Waters characters like dawn Davenport, Aunt Ida, Crackers, Connie & Raymond Marbles and all the others are, every single actor in those films managed to put every fibre of their essence into those characters to make you believe them, and you simply don't get that in BAM-BAM & CELESTE, except perhaps with Hendrix. Furthermore, your classic John Waters character is less a one-sided stereotype and more something so bizarre its out of a fairy-tale. Cho's goth-punk Celeste is pretty much the stereotype of the self-hating fat girl who falls into that scene to distract from her own self-perceived ugliness. Daniels' effete and promiscuous gay boy is the same vapid, shallow caricature that you'd expect. The stereotyped "Midwesterners" they encounter on the road-trip are less like any "Midwesterner stereotypes" I've actually met (what with living here for twenty years) and more like what somebody from one of the coasts might imagine, making it possibly the most offensive aspect of the entire thing.Furthermore, Cho's message of self-love and implications of freak solidarity is completely lost when the once punky girl who justifiably hated everybody in that tiny town doesn't decide she's beautiful until she's transformed into something worlds more normal. The message that becomes clear is "you can't believe you're beautiful until everybody else believes you are".I really wanted to like this, really wanted to believe that there was something else decent to come out of Cho since Notorious and before she decided to stop being an ally to the TS/TG in the GBLT community, but I guess my nostalgia is either simply doomed to be disappointed, or simply was unfounded in the first place. This isn't the worst film ever, but it's certainly unfunny and generally forgettable if not for every offense to the community she so desperately wants to stand in solidarity with.

I LOVE this edgy flick and I'm here to tell you Celeste & Bambam is gonna be a CULT Classic. YOU HAVEN'T SEEN A FILM LIKE THIS BEFORE! The kinda wild combo of a funky Korean-American girl, Celeste Chun (MARGARET CHO) and hip, gay Black American guy, Bambam (BRUCE DANIELS) teams up to escape "in your face" white racism in the U.S. Midwest. While they work their way cross-country to overcome their past, Celeste tells Bambam "Someday people are gonna wanna hear what WE have to say!" Right on, Celeste! Then there's Margaret's spot-on interpretation of a goofy yet loving Mom, also played by HERSELF. "Who is this?" Mommy asks Celeste on the phone, "I'm sorry, I have to ask everyone for security reasons." There's so much going on in this film and there are more memorable lines & quirky characters. Brit actor ALAN CUMMING plays nice guy Eugene: "High school is the natural habitat of dictators," while JOHN CHO (Harold of "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle") plays the host of a TV show called "TRADING FACES." I love JANE LYNCH, too, as "Darlene Dawson" - "Just a leeettle bit'a in-breedin'. Just-a touch." And later to Celeste: "I think you're even more beautiful-er in the mornin'." Darlene's the white "lesbian Lone Ranger" with a sweet heart of gold. Later Celeste has a run-in at a gas station where she tells off a racist store attendant calling her ALL kinds of names. "If you're gonna be racist, get a 'neo-Nazi to English' dictionary!" You go, Celeste! I'm not giving away anymore, but mark my words: CELESTE & BAMBAM IS a whole new Cult Classic. If you can handle it check out this flick. Thanks Margaret and Bruce!!

Anyone who hates this just doesn't get the concept of camp and parody. Like hello ... it's comedy, not Henry VIII, OK? Good grins all around. Good comedy often gets its message across though exaggeration. This movie is a good example of that. The homophobes and bigots are caricatures, not characters, and it works. Likewise, the romantic interest is exaggerated through its apparent superficiality. That's the point. This isn't about character development. It's about focusing the viewer on how they perceive the people around them, and pointing out the superficiality of their perceptions of others. In that, it succeeds. Though the ending was almost trite, they saved it in the end. Definitely worth a watch, and good messages all around.