Hurricane Bianca (2016) User Reviews

I can't make up my mind

[stieffguy · 5/10 · 26 September 2016]

First I have to say we LOVE Bianca! She's simply in a class of her own and one of the most profound talents of our age. As soon as the movie was available on iTunes we bought it and nestled in for a romp of bawdy, offensive comedy. Thrilling at the thought that the movie would finally propel this amazing entertainer forward.

Hmm, well I'll explain the five stars. The movie was tame. Those who love Bianca for her dry humour and scathing wit will, I feel, be a little disappointed. The script is not as you'd expect and the funniest moments are shown in the trailers. So for a thrill ride of offensive one liners you'd have to look elsewhere.

However when you look at it as a low budget first movie, then it is awesome! So here lies the problem. Not what you expect but still very watchable. The criticism of ray as himself are pointless. That's the point of the movie. To expose the prejudice against us gays by the establishment. If Ray had been a wisecracking, bitter queen there would be no need for Bianca to rise from pits of hell.

Willam was not able to keep up with Shangela who proved herself to be a great actor /actress. Unfortunately Willam was uncomfortable to watch. Compared to his stage persona (which is inspirational) his role was more bleh than wow.

All in all, expect little and you'll receive a lot. Expect a Bianca bitch fest and you'll be left unsatisfied. This is a great movie and I'll watch it again and again. It's subtle and tells a good story ... And it tells it well. That's the surprise!

To be honest the biggest fail is the script and the soundtrack. The incidental effects and music drown out much of the dialogue and that was a devastating shame.

When all is said and done though, I'll be first in the queue for the sequel!

Suspension of disbelief is important for this film

[vintagevani · 7/10 · 3 December 2022]

The premise: a meek substitute teacher with biting wit named Richard leaves behind his life in New York, consisting of drag queen besties and failing careers in both comedy and education, for a permanent science teaching position at a high school in a super conservative small town in Texas, only to be fired within a week when the principal finds out he is gay. Knowing that Texas has laws in place that allow workplace discrimination against members of the LGBTQIA+ community and that a lawsuit would be unsuccessful as a result, Richard hits a bar outside of town where an angel of mercy, in the form of a trans woman named Karma, offers Richard a place to stay and takes him to a drag show that same night. There, Richard gets drunk, puts on campy drag makeup, hijacks the show by attacking the featured drag queen with insults and is ultimately a hit among the crowd. Thus, Bianca Del Rio is created and an elaborate prank commences. Disguised as Bianca, Richard is rehired at the high school and everyone there, staff and students, are none the wiser. Bianca catches the eye of a handsome but not too bright football coach, and, after receiving a nomination for a Teacher of the Year award, becomes targeted by a very jealous teacher and her family. Hijinks ensue.

If you are a fan of Bianca Del Rio, or just want to stay in one Saturday and take in a popcorn movie, this is a good film to watch. It's really important that you don't take the film too seriously, because it's camp to the core, played mainly for laughs with profanity and just a tiny bit of gross-out humor thrown in. The film plays more like a chain of situations (a couple of which are pretty implausible) illustrated through a raunchy cartoon than a movie with a message (the message is there, though). Many of the characters, in addition to several being needlessly cruel, are quite dim-witted and fall for the ruse immediately without ever bothering to do a background check on Bianca, though watching her consistently combat their stupidity with her trademark wit is pretty entertaining. That said, the movie doesn't serve as the biggest and best showcase for her talents (for that, you must take in a live show the next time she is in your town; I can tell you myself she is excellent live and even more consistently takes down her hecklers with her brand of biting humor), but fans will enjoy not only her in the starring role but also a slew of cameos from RuPaul's Drag Race alumni (Bianca herself won the sixth season), as well as RuPaul himself in an out-of-drag appearance.

Fun and worth a look

[sergius1970 · 7/10 · 11 June 2019]

If you're in a tolerant state of mind, this movie is fun, fluffy and white.

A half cooked meal

[worlddominationwillbemine · 6/10 · 21 March 2018]

This movie has some amazing elements that could make it a 9/10. It has Bianca Del Rio, Rupaul, Shanglela and so many more people who are more than entertaining to watch but some scenes fail to capture the essence of humour one might have hoped for.

With much better direction, this movie could be a huge success because the story line and characters, even the acting of most actors was actually pretty good. It leaves you with unfulfilled expectations which are mostly due to direction and montage.

I am giving it a 6/10 because apart from these two big flaws was fun to watch.

Watchable, just.

[sandrat-87730 · 3/10 · 5 December 2016]

I was very excited when I learned that Hurricane Bianca was being released. I think that Bianca del Rio is one of the funniest performers around, so I had high expectations. Her stand-up quick wit is second to none.

The basic premise of the film is a down-on-his-luck teacher from NYC, Richard, (who is gay) goes to Texas to teach. He is fired for being gay, and seeks his revenge by returning in drag to teach as 'Bianca del Rio'. Along the way he tries to help re-unite a transgender friend with her estranged family, protect a bullied gay student.

It is an interesting idea which could have worked. The film is, unfortunately, a real let down. The characters are two dimensional and unrealistic - they are caricatures. The script is poorly written, with the 'laughs' few and far between. It is just too amateur and is like 90 minutes of one of the Rupaul challenge telenovelas.

Haylock as 'Richard' is uncomfortable, and the character is such a weakling that it is not enjoyable to watch. Rachel Dratch as the bigoted deputy principal is fantastic, but even she's not enough to save the film. Willam is by far the most annoying character - whenever he's on screen, he just sucks the energy. I like Willam's beat down videos on Youtube, but he was miscast in this role. Shangela, on the other hand, is fantastic, and brings much needed energy and comedy to the film.

Plain and simple and entertaining.

[paulclaassen · 6/10 · 14 May 2024]

In real life Roy Haylock is a drag queen who goes by the name of Bianca Del Rio. He stars in 'Hurricane Bianca' as Richard Martinez, a homosexual school teacher. When he is taken for a ride and his colleagues and students at the new school are nasty to him, Richard becomes Bianca Del Rio to get revenge.

'Hurricane Bianca' has a simple premise, but I thought it was well executed. Although mostly slapstick, some of the jokes and events in the movie were actually funny. I enjoyed Bianca Leigh as Karma Johnstone, who becomes Richard's mentor in a way. She was also the most fleshed out character with an interesting back story.

I also enjoyed Denton Blane Everett as Coach Chuck, a real stud-muffin who falls for Bianca! The 'romance' interest between Chuck and Bianca allowed for many hilarious - and awkward - moments.

The make-up is really well done, and is almost identical to Roy Haylock's real-life Bianca persona, so I won't be surprised if he did the make-up himself. I also liked the costumes. The film in general was predictable, but it was kinda fun seeing Richard get his revenge.

Hurricane Bianca is a confusing waste of potential

[jayjaymadigan · 4/10 · 4 September 2019]

I'm a big fan of Drag Race and Bianca Del Rio was a personal favourite of mine so naturally I was excited to watch a feature length movie featuring her in a lead role, sadly it didn't deliver to the potential it had as a comedy or a movie in general.

Without diving too much into the plot (or lack thereof) Hurricane Bianca jumps mindlessly from scene to scene without any real consistency and the movie generally seems to serve no real purpose until the last 10 minutes with a well meaning message thst most people will miss as they will more than likely stop watching before this point.

Another issue is the production values, no a film doesn't need Disney money to be considered a good film, on the contrary some of the best pictures you will ever see are ones you won't see advertised on the television but everything about this film screamed "on the cheap" and the over the top hammy acting didn't help at all,and the less aid about the soap opera style stock music they used for dramatic effect the better.

If you're looking for Lgbt films with an uplifting message and good comedy then I'd reccomend To Wong Foo, Love Simon of Beautiful Thing, but even the most hardcore Bianca / Drag Race fans will struggle to find any redeeming qualities in this film minus a few amusing one liners.

4/10 - hard pass.

High camp fun

[scott_fraser_morrison · 9/10 · 6 February 2017]

If you like a film with a makeover, a sassy drag queen who plots to overthrow the hierarchy, and a bit part from Ru Paul then this is the film for you.

We watched this on a Saturday night and its perfect mindless fun. The plot is ridiculously wafer thin but that's part of the charm. Yes its clichéd and it won't win any Oscars but give it a watch.

Ignore the haters who say the acting is bad and this is unwatchable, if you like Bianco Del Rio then you'll enjoy this film. Don't expect Citizen Kane.

Its worth it for the denouement alone.

Godawful Film With Terrible Acting and Writing

[management-11992 · 1/10 · 4 October 2016]

Bless Bianca del Rio, because she is a funny, talented drag queen.

Unfortunately doing drag, and even comedy on stage, does not equate to being a good actor. "Hurricane Bianca" is so poorly conceived, written and acted that it's painful. It's painful to watch talented people, including such comedic geniuses as Rachel Dratch, slug through this boringly unfunny piece of crap.

The premise is pretty basic: a gay man, desperate for better income, moves to Texas to teach science. He is fired for being gay, and comes back to the school in drag pretending to be a real woman to teach them all a lesson.

None of the characters have ANY dimension. They are all caricatures at best, just one note repeated over and over again. Most are boring tropes that would be more in place in a 90's gay-themed movie, but we've come so far that seeing these people now is trite. The fact is you end up not caring about anybody because of how broadly they are written.

And for what *is* written, the dialog is SO terrible that you'll wince. On top of that, half of the time it makes no sense. One moment Bianca is at a bar complaining that she can't order booze because it's a dry county, so another character takes her to a gay bar nearby to get drinks. In the very next scene, at the new bar, the woman orders them shots and Bianca says "Oh no, I can't drink. Bad things happen when I drink." You were JUST at another bar ordering a vodka tonic and bitching they didn't have it, queen! Make up your freaking mind!!!

It's these kind of schizophrenic discrepancies that make the movie so terrible. No one in the movie has any really defined personality traits. The rednecks are all terrible bigots, and the New York liberals are all heroic and compassionate. They speak in one-liners.

The worst part is that Bianca is just a terrible actor. The thing about broad comedy is that you still have to be real. If your actions, your performance, doesn't feel real then it stops being funny.

This movie is a must skip for every possible reason.

Timely, hilarious, Picturesque

[t_mmy · 10/10 · 28 September 2016]

Hurricane Bianca is a timely, well written and directed comedy production that both explores and envisions the world in which society and our leading character is 'trans'forming in the modern era. Without delving too much into the plot (the narrative follows the traditional hero's journey of our protagonist teacher Richard who is looking to find his place in romance, work and sense of self), everything in this production was well executed - from the script, to the direction, the acting, editing, music, costume design and cinematography.

The jokes were precisely on point, and what every audience member has been waiting for -witty without being crass, tasteful and topical. But more than anything, it is the themes and the outcome of the film which make this production a 10/10. Depicting the plight many members of the LGBTQI community feel and experience has and is complicated to represent to superficially. Usually LGBTQI films are geared towards one of two target markets - the gay or the straight - each having their own set of media conventions in which the narrative is able to be told. But Hurricane Bianca moves beyond the narrow conventions of one sort or the other, catering beyond the constricted, in a beautifully feminine production, without being obnoxiously or expectedly feminist.

Hurricane Bianca doesn't stop there. The film both employs and transcends the clichés of your typical American comedy flick in a way that captivates your attention - despite any prethought you may have had about this generally shallow genre. However using stereotypes was at an advantage to this universal flick, which both holds and is a mirror of life in the 21st century outside of this viewing space. At an 84 minute runtime, hero's arc narrative, its collection of disposable and stereotypical characters, the film uses conventions of the familiar to comfort the audience who is about to confront topics which have been all too easy to brush under the carpet. In a world where same sex marriage divides our social structure based on tradition, definition, morals and values this film gives us all a friendly reminder that hey, slow down, these are issues are actually faced by our communities today, and look what happens when we a)forget prejudice, b) take a chance and trust people in society, c) allow ourselves to be who we really want and ought to be and d)for just a moment or 84, live in a world where this is not the ideal, but the norm.

Hurricane Bianca is a masterful, well crafted and beautifully presented depiction of the human struggle of self and sexual acceptance that all audience members are able to relate to, and reflect upon. With an all star cast of Drag royalty, this film lifts the bar in professionalism, witticism and exposition of the struggle that is very, very real.

Love Bianca, didn't like this film--sequel is better!

[Hallelujah289 · 4/10 · 11 December 2019]

I'm a Bianca del Rio fan. That being said, this movie fell short for me. It had problems with pacing, was pretty cliche, and was sometimes mean without being funny. First two is pretty forgivable for a probably low budget, campy movie, but the last part is what sunk this film for me. I like Bianca's meanness, but the story involved snot nosed high schoolers, and as Bianca plays a teacher, some meanness is merited, but I think there's a fine line that was crossed too much.

I think the sequel is much funnier because it doesn't involve the classroom so much, and the outlandish scenarios suit Bianca's jabs better.

I am sure there is a niche audience out there for a movie such a this...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 14 June 2018]

I was not sure what to expect from this movie. I happened to find it by sheer random luck, and I wasn't familiar with it at all prior to finding it. While the synopsis wasn't overly enticing, I still decided to watch the movie, because you do happen to stumble upon a gem every now and again.

The story in this movie was adequate, although rather predictable. Was it entertaining? Sure. Just don't get your expectations turned up too high, because this movie doesn't deliver anything outstanding in any particular way or sense.

The acting in "Hurricane Bianca" was actually okay, and people were doing fair jobs with their given characters.

Personally, I don't understand the need that these men in drag have of putting on way too much make-up. It just looks downright ridiculous. And I can't even begin to fathom what is the reason for this, nor do I feel the urge or need to actually find out.

A very politically correct movie if there ever was one. I feel like "Hurricane Bianca" caters to a very specific niche in the audience, and I can't claim to be part of that niche, because I was not overly impressed or entertained with the outcome of this movie.

Where's the Hurricane??

[maggiespencer-41166 · 4/10 · 25 February 2021]

I waited the whole movie for a hurricane. Ru paul promised a hurricane with 75 mph winds and it never came! All we got was one hilarious line about a cat and a bunch of self grandising nonsense from one of my favorite drag queens who was only in like half the movie. Who cares about richard?!

Ultimate showcase of Bianca's talent

[florisklaver76 · 10/10 · 25 September 2016]

I have to give this a ten, if only for the message it sends into the world about accepting people that are different. Besides that message it is also a fun movie to watch, Bianca del Rio is very convincing in her roll as the gay teacher, Richard Martinez, and we all know her for doing Bianca in a brilliant way. It is the contrast between these two characters that makes it great, where Richard is polite and introvert, Bianca is a total bitch and doesn't hold back for no one.

In the end this film does what it is supposed to do, even though it is not a high budget Hollywood movie. It gives you that feeling that you get after watching a good movie that keeps you thinking about it and the message it sends out. Definitely go and see this if you are a fan of insult comedy.

You will mostly hear biased opinions on this film

[megaruda · 8/10 · 4 December 2017]

Technically speaking, the movie is amateurish, it is mostly noticeable at the start of the film, Alan Cumming almost feel out of context since he is a great actor, but as the movie keeps going, it simply keeps getting better and better, all the plot points tie up in the end, so the weakness of the script at the beginning as well as the film school shots, eventually turn into something good and then great, I do not know why or how this happened, but this is a film that improves as it goes just as much as its lead character. Overall it was a feel good, great movie, with a useful social commentary and with memorable supporting characters.

A fun movie with a good message

[mxmtsk · 8/10 · 12 October 2017]

I think every drag fan will love "Hurricane Bianca", but also people who don't have that much to do with drag might like the movie. The first 20 minutes are a bit tough compared to the rest of the movie, but after that a firework of drag starts. Bianca is incredibly funny and evil. The film progresses quickly and the message of acceptance, friendship and solidarity should reach ever viewer. I found the ending to be a bit cheesy, but it does not detract from the whole work. Conclusion: The film is a good pastime for in between.

Hurricane Bianca

[JoBloTheMovieCritic · 8/10 · 31 October 2019]

8/10 - terrible production quality and some uniquely horrible acting, but you can't help but love this laugh-out-loud story that you will not want to end

Try to survive the first 23 Minutes... after that it's going to be ~ FAB ~ U ~ LOUS ~ !

[RiaHelen · 8/10 · 6 September 2017]

Well whoever decided on the screenplay...

I didn't know Bianca before that, but I knew RuPauls Drag Race. So idk what they did with the first ~20 minutes of the film, they shouldve cut that part short to like 5 minutes.

Bianca del Rio is the full 110 % bitches, but you just notice how uncomfortable she is without her drag. She's just born to sissy. And she is perfect with that.

After 23 Minutes the whole movie turns and becomes awesome and fabulous.

Don't take everything so seriously.

[dancingphalanges-49395 · 10/10 · 4 May 2018]

Just some really good drag fun and laughs! A feel good film. I dig it.

Very entertaining

[klwertley · 9/10 · 19 August 2019]

I'll be honest, I will watch anything that has Bianca Del Rio's name attached to it, and this movie didn't disappoint. She was charming as "Richard" and fabulous (as always) as Bianca. I also love the fact that some of my other favorites, like Shangela and Alyssa Edwards, was a bonus. The movie was very cute and had a very good message, at its heart.

Loved it. Well done.

[trudyldonnelly · 10/10 · 16 October 2016]

For the budget, it was well done. I've seen other low budget movies, that looked like they were entirely filmed in a dim basement. This was so much better.

Acting was a little off, from some of the actors, not naming names, but then, I've never acted, so no idea how hard it is to do. LOL!

Loved that it featured RuPaul, and some of the other beautiful Queens from RPDR.

Loved the story-line. A few oh oh and aw moments. But loads of laughs.

Hilarious. Loved it start to finish. If a fan of RPDR and the amazingly funny Bianca, well worth a watch. Hopefully Bianca will reappear in another, definitely will watch. Not disappointed at all. :) Go on stop reading, and go get it now!

Fabbo!

[davidhinecpa · 8/10 · 12 January 2017]

Hurricane Bianca is a rare gem of a movie; I had no idea what to expect and thrilled to see some familiar faces from RPDR. Yes, the movie was cheap and cheerful; but don't overthink it and it was a lot of rollicking fun. You had the good guys, bad guys, heroes and all order of movie characters.

Bianca was the star who shone brightest. As well she should.

The script was cheesy and screen play and "effects" delightfully amateurish; but that wasn't the point. There was something compelling about Hurricane Bianca and her story that kept us watching (well past my bedtime).

The humour was dry and (thankfully) avoided gutter innuendo sometimes incorporated in drag queen comedy. Bianca as the teacher was just terrific.

Definitely not for people who take themselves too seriously.

Ravingly fab!

[carbot · 9/10 · 29 September 2016]

As Pulp Fiction was to ripping off other films. As Halloween gave birth the the slasher movie genre. As Star Wars created a new sub-genre to science fiction movies. As Night of the Living Dead redefined what zombie movies would become. As American Graffiti was to the Rock and Roll teenager, and how Blair Witch project put the reality TV movie genre on the map, so Hurricane Bianca just created her very own!!!! Excellent Humor pushes the societal boundaries we judge by and Hurricane Bianca challenges us to look past what we are expected to think, as we do we discover more about ourselves. Absolute pleasure to watch!!!

Witty Bianca at her best!

[toyotamanus · 9/10 · 13 August 2018]

My review is a little biased because I've been seeing Bianca drag shows for almost 20 years.

The movie has some bad acting and the plot is pretty shallow, but this movie is made mainly for the comedic value. Bianca (once she appears) plays her usual self as a sharp tongued, doesn't give a crap, type of girl and let's everyone have it.

Watch for a couple of laughs at the very least.

I loved this!

[wannasmokebefore · 10/10 · 7 August 2019]

I really loved this it's now one of my favorite comedies it was so funny and inspiring! Bianca del Rio has always been one of my favorite drag queens. Those who didn't like this just don't know how to have fun!