“You’ll never be normal, but you’re special.”

Outrageous! is a cult film that centres on the peculiar relationship between a Canadian drag queen, Robin Turner (Craig Russell) and Liza Connors (Hollis McLaren), a schizophrenic girl who releases herself from a mental hospital. Robin longs to take his drag act onto the stage but lacks the confidence. Liza has spent the last 8 years of her life locked up in a mental institution, and she now carries a little bag of pills that she’s supposed to take around the clock. Robin and Liza need each other, and this can be explained by their total acceptance of one another. They both need to take chances in life, but as Robin says, people treat “life as though it’s a can of Coke, and they’re afraid to drink it too fast.”

The plot isn’t the strong point of this film, but Craig Russell, actor and female impersonator displays amazing talent. He transforms into Mae West, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Carol Channing, Ella Fitzgerald, Bette Midler and Ethel Merman. Mainly the film resonates with a sweet quaintness of the by-gone 70s days. Nightclub audiences are packed with Village People clones, and check out those 70s platform shoes.

The film quality is not good, and there are many scenes in which the dialogue is completely out of sync with the actors. Still, if you’re willing to overlook these problems, Outrageous! is worth watching for its great one-liners alone.