Bam Bam and Celeste

Toronto International Film Festival Program Guide
2005

Bam Bam and Celeste
Lorene Machado
USA, 2005 English
85 minutes Colour/HDCAM
Production Company: SALTY Features/ Cho Taussig Productions/Nuit Blanche Productions
Executive Producer: Michael Hakan, Julie Huntsinger
Producer: Eva Kolodner, Yael Melamede, Karen Taussig, Margaret Cho
Screenplay: Margaret Cho
Cinematographer: Matthew Clark
Editor: Philip Harrison
Production Designer: John Chichester
Sound: Jerry Ross, George Berndt
Music: Pat Irwin
Principal Cast: Margaret Cho, Bruce Daniels, Alan Cumming, John Cho, Elaine Hendrix, Jane Lynch Production: SALTY Features

Uproarious comic genius Margaret Cho is a revolutionary figure in American entertainment. Her self-proclaimed “fag-hag” status and her gently confrontational, self-mocking racial humour have chan ged the language of stand-up—not least regarding those comedy club put-down staples, gays and Asians—forever. And she has hand-delivered this seismic shift wrapped in an overall message of personal liberation and unironic self-respect that makes her a major force for good in this world.

In Bam Bam and Celeste, Cho gets to invest everything that makes her great in a madcap road movie that features all of her favourite targets and loves: freaky sex, growing up a loser, TV in every form and, of course, her glorious mother, full of kooky wisdom and breathtaking malapropisms that leave you laughing for days.

Cho is Celeste, an overweight, Korean, former goth punk, while her longtime friend and collaborator Bruce Daniels plays Bam Bam, an African American stylist. They are both thirty-three years old and stuck in a dreary Midwestern city where they have been teased and beaten up since high school. It seems like the only person who loves them is Mommy (Cho, of course), Celeste’s mother, known for her big sweaters and bizarre advice.

Salvation for the pair comes in the form of a reality TV makeover show looking for a challenge. Their trip to New York to volunteer themselves is fraught with peril—they are saved from thugs by, ahem, a rugged outdoorswoman (Jane Lynch from Christopher Guest’s Best in Show) and insulted by a racist gas station attendant. Finally, with much encouragement from the show’s precious booking assistant (Alan Cumming), they arrive in New York. Fate—in the form of a showdown at the beauty salon owned by their high school nemeses—tries to rip them apart just before their big triumph, but Mommy saves the day in the nick of time.

Having this much fun almost makes you feel guilty, except that Cho and company set such a gloriously eccentric example, you can’t help but want to join them on this uplifting and sidesplitting journey.
—Noah Cowan