I'm not sure what I was expecting when I watched this movie. Being from Baltimore, I knew vaguely about John Water and Divine, and really almost nothing about drag queens, so I viewed I Am Divine as a complete outsider. This documentary could have gone wrong in so many ways, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a sensitive and respectful documentary about a legendary figure.As far as biographical documentaries go, I Am Divine was pretty standard, starting at the beginning of Divine/Glenn Milstead's life and concluding at its end. There usage of archival footage of Divine both in and out of costume was excellent, while the interviews of his close friends and family were very thorough. I found that the talking heads, rather than being too distracting, served to really painted a comprehensive picture of who Divine was. Though the documentary did touch on the issues that Divine faced throughout his life, such as his initial financial struggles, I would have liked to see the movie address them with more depth. However, on the other hand, I think that it's pretty understandable because I Am Divine was clearly meant to be a celebration of an influential figure's life.I'm glad that I watched this movie. I learned quite a lot about someone who turned out to be enormously influential. Divine had huge hand in shaping current-day drag culture from the prim, debonair queens of the 50s-60s to the loud and colorful drag performers we are familiar with today. I would have loved to see them explore Divine's contemporary impact more in the movie, but alas. I Am Divine could have so easily veered into something that was offensive and mocking, but it stayed so respectful to Divine and who he was as a person. Watch this movie!!

Personally - I think that a sleazy, low-life slob like drag queen, Glen Milstead, aka. "Divine" (whose biggest claim to fame was that he/she actually had the sickening audacity to eat a real dog turd on screen in the movie Pink Flamingos), hardly deserves having a documentary made about his/her sordid, little career as an ugly, gluttonous actor/actress who starred in shabby, self-indulgent, wannabe cult films.For the most part - This decidedly dead-end documentary (about a 350 lb, horror-show hippo) scraped the absolute bottom of the barrel in its pathetic attempt to be a cheery, little piece of informative and enlightening entertainment.To be honest - I really don't know why the heck I even bothered, in the first place, to watch this heap of crap about the "Queen of Filth" - 'Cause now that I have, I totally regret that I did.

Now, I would never, ever say that Harris Glenn Milstead (aka. Divine) was my kind of people - But after watching this bio-documentary, I was relieved to find out that there was more to this particular character besides being an outrageous, 350 lb., drag queen who once actually ate a real dog turd (on screen) as an obvious ploy to gain worldwide, cult-status recognition.In "I Am Divine" - It sure seemed to me that just about everyone (and their dog) who ever met Divine came out of the closet to gush over him and paint an almost unrealistic picture of this entertainer who (though he had a real foul mouth) was, in reality, as adorable (and harmless) as a Care Bear.To say that Milstead (born 1945) played the Divine character to the absolute hilt would be a total understatement. But one could easily tell that as he matured into his 30's, the thrill of constantly reinventing this in-your-face persona clearly began to wane.I think it's the ultimate irony-of-ironies that, as an actor, Glenn really only played the role of a man once in his lifetime (as Hilly Blue in 1985's Trouble In Mind). And when he finally did achieve respectability as an actor, he up and died, at 42, from a massive heart attack.All-in-all - I'd say that under all of that mascara and over-the-top behaviour, Glenn Milstead was probably an alright guy with irritating idiosyncrasies just like everyone else.

What an amazing movie. It far exceeded my expectations and didn't descend into sentimentality. The film explores the highs and lows of one of the top icons of America's underbelly. Divine and John Waters met as teenagers and soon started making cult classics including Pink Flamingos and Mondo Trasho. As Divine -- sorry. spoiler alert -- died he was on the cusp of hitting the big-time. My only niggle about this laugh- out loud feel-good documentary was how much of the film focused on his eating. We know he was fat and we know he died of a heart attack ahead of his time. Sometimes though the film veered off the celebration of a man who was a beacon for all outsiders and an under-rated actor and verged on ridiculing its subject. Despite that, this is a great film. It had the audience entranced and laughing from the start it was informative for all but the most dedicated Divine devotee. I'm ready to pre order the DVD now.