Starrbooty is a 2007 film written by and starring drag queen RuPaul. It is the fourth in a series of films starring the title character, a top secretgovernment agent and supermodel. The original three films were all made in the mid-1980s by RuPaul and his friends with a budget of around $100, and were sold out of shopping carts around gay bars in Atlanta, Georgia.
Plot
The film's plot combines several elements from these original films. Starrbooty is in the middle of a major karate fight when she receives a phone call informing her that her adopted niece Cornisha has been kidnapped. With the help of fellow crime fighter Agent Page Turner, Starrbooty learns that her nemesis Annaka Manners is using her billion-dollar cosmetics company as a front for kidnapping prostitutes and selling their organs on the black market. Starrbooty also discovers that Annaka is actually her long-lost sister, making Cornisha Annaka's daughter. Page and Starrbooty go undercover as prostitutes and in order to be convincing enough to infiltrate Annaka's inner sanctum, they go "all the way". When Starrbooty finally confronts Annaka she discovers that Cornisha was in on the plot all along, and has become Annaka's lover. Informing them that they are actually mother and daughter, Starrbooty reveals Annaka's plans to double-cross Cornisha by selling her clitoris to a wealthy socialite. A final showdown between Starrbooty and Annaka leaves Annaka dead, and they are able to salvage Cornisha's genitals by taking Annaka's. Thus everyone who deserves to lives happily ever after.
During production the film's working title was Starrbooty: Reloaded, but when screened at film festivals it was simply called Starrbooty. The DVD title is Starrbooty: The Movie. The film is an homage to blaxploitation and sexploitation films of the 1960s and 1970s. In an article for EdgePhiladelphia, RuPaul stated, "The goal was to make an exploitation film that was part Russ Meyer, part John Waters and part The Naked Gun." The film utilizes things like obvious vocal overdubbing, grainy footage and dramatic cuts to mimic these low-budget films of the past.
Screenings and reception
The film began screening at various gay and lesbian film festivals in July 2007. RuPaul presented the film in person at each screening, often with other cast members. Erik Schut of The Philly Film Guide said "Starrbooty is a fried, dyed and laid to the side-splitting kick-ass good time!" It was the only film at the Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Film Festival to be sold out at both screenings. The movie's supporting cast is primarily made up of pornographic film stars, both male and female. It is unrated, and though there is no explicit sex, it does feature several of its male stars frontally nude and erect, and at one point RuPaul is depicted graphically fondling a man's penis. Though this is primarily played for comic effect, it is a marked departure from the "Drag Queen Next Door" image RuPaul cultivated during the height of her fame. The film ends with an on-screen dedication to Jerry Falwell. The DVD was released October 30, 2007. There was no distribution deal reached, and thus it was released by RuPaul under the imprint "Starbooty, Inc."
