I'M THE ONE THAT I WANT (2000) ** Margaret Cho. (Dir: Lionel Coleman) Margaret Cho is another example of The American Dream gone askew. Cho, whose abrasively funny stand-up act is captured on film in concert in San Francisco, has a certain acquired taste not unlike Roseanne or even dare I say Richard Pryor in the sense that she has a lot on her mind and many may not want to hear it.
At least not when she's shrieking like a banshee.
Cho, as many know of her celebrity, became something of an overnight success with her short-lived ABC tv sitcom, 'All-American Girl', which was to stream line her Korean American heritage with her bone-cutting humor and humiliating takes on her own, somewhat more subservient family. Here in concert she tells with some heartbreaking moments of just what personal hell she had to submit to in her desire to be someone.
Executives of the network told her she had a too round face (subtle racism brewing), she was too fat, not Asian enough, too Asian (or as she so sardonically recalls her former manager saying 'they're not buying the Asian thing') and finally yanking the program from their line-up to ironically replace it with 'The Drew Carey Show' with its own rotund star (!) Cho barely survived her attempt to trim the fat (she lost a life-threatening 30 pounds in 2 weeks prior to the premiere of the show that shut down her kidneys and a hilarious meeting with a hosptial's scrub nurse) and subsequent purging by drinking and imbibing as well as being 'slutty' as she remits before an adoring audience.
Other topics discussed are her relationships with gay men ('I was raised by drag queens'), the difference in types of porn, sleeping around, strippers and her ever meaningful mother's funny answering machine advice messages ('Don't marry a white man!') However unlike the aforementioned Cho she doesn't use her blue material to her advantage and often comes across as a bitter, coarse woman but then again maybe that is her appeal. She deserves some recognition after all she went through and this performance solidifies her contendership. Take her opening and closing Joan Jett songs, 'Cherry Bomb' and 'Bad Reputation' and it pretty much sums up The Tao of Cho.
At least not when she's shrieking like a banshee.
Cho, as many know of her celebrity, became something of an overnight success with her short-lived ABC tv sitcom, 'All-American Girl', which was to stream line her Korean American heritage with her bone-cutting humor and humiliating takes on her own, somewhat more subservient family. Here in concert she tells with some heartbreaking moments of just what personal hell she had to submit to in her desire to be someone.
Executives of the network told her she had a too round face (subtle racism brewing), she was too fat, not Asian enough, too Asian (or as she so sardonically recalls her former manager saying 'they're not buying the Asian thing') and finally yanking the program from their line-up to ironically replace it with 'The Drew Carey Show' with its own rotund star (!) Cho barely survived her attempt to trim the fat (she lost a life-threatening 30 pounds in 2 weeks prior to the premiere of the show that shut down her kidneys and a hilarious meeting with a hosptial's scrub nurse) and subsequent purging by drinking and imbibing as well as being 'slutty' as she remits before an adoring audience.
Other topics discussed are her relationships with gay men ('I was raised by drag queens'), the difference in types of porn, sleeping around, strippers and her ever meaningful mother's funny answering machine advice messages ('Don't marry a white man!') However unlike the aforementioned Cho she doesn't use her blue material to her advantage and often comes across as a bitter, coarse woman but then again maybe that is her appeal. She deserves some recognition after all she went through and this performance solidifies her contendership. Take her opening and closing Joan Jett songs, 'Cherry Bomb' and 'Bad Reputation' and it pretty much sums up The Tao of Cho.