Sordid Lives (2000)

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

An old womans (Peggy Hickey) death in a small Texas town sets off a firestorm within the family. Her sister Sissy Hickey (Beth Grant) tries to calm down Peggy's children--uptight Latrelle (a wonderful Bonnie Bedelia) and sassy Lavonda (Ann Walker). Also Latrelle wants her gay son Ty (Kirk Geiger) to come to Texas for the funeral...but he's out in LA and never told anyone he's gay and is sick of keeping it a secret. Then there's Peggy's son Brother Boy (Leslie Jordan) was has been institutionalized because he's gay. THEN there's G.W. (Beau Bridges) who was cheating on his wife Noleta (Delta Burke) with Peggy and feels guilty about her death.This played all summer long back in 2002 in Provincetown MA (a small town with a large gay population during the summer). I never saw it there but got it on DVD the next year at the urging of some friends. THEN it just sat on my shelf for ten years till I watched it last night. My friends kept saying it's an unheralded masterpiece. You know what? They're wrong. It's really not that good. It DOES have some funny parts and the acting was great all around especially by Bedelia, Burke and Geiger (who it seems has quit show business--this was his last film to date). There's also a scene with Geiger and several totally nude men which some people may enjoy. Olivia Newton-John pops up also singing a few songs (especially the title song which is great). But, I found this more caustic and vicious than funny. The constant screaming and yelling got annoying and the treatment of Brother Boy at the institution was just horrific. Also the eccentric residents of a small Texas town are easy targets and have been done many times before. Maybe if I saw it with an audience it would work better (it was a big hit in PTown and Palm Springs) but, as it is, I was not impressed. A 6 all the way.

Rather than being plot driven as in most films, "Sordid Lives" is character driven. Some ten to twelve main characters who live, or have lived, in a small town in West Texas chat, argue, hug, gossip, lament, reflect on, laugh at, debate, divulge, confer, confide in, and generally shoot the breeze, as they go about their drab existence, in preparation for a funeral. Adapted from a stage play, this film comedy is, not surprisingly, heavy on dialogue. The characters have their own unique quirks and personality idiosyncrasies, and are interesting for the most part.Sissy (Beth Grant) is an older, fussy woman who stings herself with a rubber band on her arm, as a way to quit smoking. Latrelle (Bonnie Bedelia) and LaVonda (Ann Walker) are Sissy's two nieces who argue with each other about everything. Then you've got Noleta (Delta Burke), a tacky trailer park type married to G.W. (Beau Bridges), a man whose two wooden legs caused the death of Sissy's sister. Then there's Brother Boy (Leslie Jordan), Latrelle and LaVonda's brother, who is confined to an institution because he is a flaming transvestite who dresses like Tammy Wynette. Brother Boy is a hoot in that bizarre outfit, and with that deadpan expression and slow Texas nasal twang. To complicate matters, Latrelle's son Ty (Kirk Geiger), is a gay actor who is trying to recover from his boyhood in provincial West Texas.I liked the first half of the film better than the second half, which trends in the direction of plot absurdity, as two characters enter a bar with guns, and one character threatens to set fire to himself.With its absence of background music, its exaggerated acting (over the top at times), its indoor sets, and absence of scene transitions at times, "Sordid Lives" feels very much like a TV sitcom. The costumes are colorful and charmingly tacky. Cinematography is conventional. Olivia Newton-John sings a couple of gospel hymns. But I could have wished for more country/western music.If the film has one overall weakness I would say that it is its flamboyance. Characters, dialogue, acting and plot tend to be overstated; there's almost no subtlety. It's like they were trying a little too hard.Still, the down-home humor renders lots of laughs for viewers. And underneath all the hubbub, these characters have genuine heart and soul. "Sordid Lives", ultimately, is a film whose theme is love and acceptance.

Del Shores directed and wrote this adaptation of his own play about how an elderly woman's (comical) accidental death causes her family and friends to rue her passing while digging up ancient misgivings. Low-budget film played the Palm Springs movie circuit for months but didn't hit many other towns; easy to see why, it's rather like an R-rated sitcom lost on the big screen. While Shores isn't exactly erratic as a director, he's possibly too flexible with his material and his group of actors, and the movie sometimes resembles nothing more than a stunt. There's not much plot (it's just an exercise in showcasing the worst possible sides of humanity for a dirty laugh), yet some good things do come out of this. Leslie Jordan pulls off a difficult transvestite role with un-self-conscious relish; not played for pitiable sympathy or all-out laughs, Jordan's Tammy Wynette-worshipping drag queen amiably walks a fine line--it's a portrayal dead-on in its accuracy, and Jordan is never a pain like the other characters. Delta Burke and Bonnie Bedelia visibly strain to punch up their scenes, while Olivia Newton-John opens the picture with a rousing song but is given nothing else important to do. Too many of the gags are recycled, rehashed and rerun, and the jokes tend to stem from various humiliations. Strictly as a curiosity, the movie certainly lives up to its oddball reputation, and there are some outré laughs for those in the proper spirit. ** from ****

Add this to the required viewing list for all homosexuals. Grab your 3 closest male girlfriends, a bottle of tequila, and start memorizing the lines. Surely there is a drinking game involving this movie.This movie is slightly scary if you are from Texas because you will know people like the ones in this movie, or even worse, you will be related to them. You can see these hairdos every year at the Texas State Fair.My favorite line: Can you see my pussy now!!!!!A wonderfully funny camp classic!