Sordid Lives

Rating:
Summary: THE NEXT BIG CULT HIT
Review: This is my new favorite movie. For those who enjoy comedy off the beaten path, this is for you. Rocky Horror move over, there's a new film in town and it's called "Sordid Lives."

Rating:
Summary: "It all tracks back"
Review: This is easily one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. This is the ONLY movie I have been able to watch more than once a week. My only fear is that viewers who are not from the south may have a harder time apprecitaing the humor.

The story centers around a rather peculiar set of characters nearing the funeral of a friend, adulteress and family member who died in a rather peculiar way. There's the sister of the deceased who's trying to quit smoking, the daughters who couldn't be more polar opposites, the son who is in a mental institution to be de-homosexualized (the indelible Leslie Jordan - most recently seen as Beverly Lesley on "Will & Grace"), and the grandson performing gay theatre in LA as he mines his attempts to come-out to his family.

Olivia-Newton John is a "prison trash" friend of the deceased who mostly serves as a chorus for the movie. I found her songs an unlikely balance to the histrionics usually on display. They are heartfelt and simple. Like these characters. Like all our sordid lives.

Delta Burke is the wife of the man who sleeps with and accidentally kills the deceased as a result of his wooden legs. In her first scene, her mascara is running, she's crying and threatening to sell all of her cheating husband's things at a yard sale. I instantly knew I'd like this movie.

There is not much moralizing, but I found it was easy to come away from this movie with a surprising fondness for how manipulative, conniving, dishonest, hopeful, sad, and deserving these characters could be all at once. And, I always appreciate a movie that gives me reasons to understand why people act the way they do, why they say the things they do and how it is not so far from who I am. Though the movie is marketed as a "dark comedy about white trash," I think its most endearing aspect is how much this "element" of society is not so different than any other, but maybe slightly funnier :)

Rating:
Summary: Steel Magnolias meets To Wong Foo on acid
Review: Although this film is basically a retread of similarly-styled Southern-fried comedy/dramas (Crimes of the Heart, Steel Magnolias), it gets a "10" in my book for sheer outrageousness. Think "Steel Magnolias" meets "To Wong Foo" with those characters acting as if they just came down from a bad acid trip in a trailer park, and you'll possess an accurate picture of "Sordid Lives".

The seemingly farcial plot centers around the death of a Texas matriarch, who dies in a seedy motel room after tripping over the wooden legs of a married lover and suffering a subdural hematoma...I kid you not. This is merely the impetus for an endless parade of esoteric eccentrics including: a transvestite uncle with an affinty for Tammy Wynette, his unethical shrink who hopes her homosexual aversion therapy will result in book deals and Oprah appearances, a nymphomaniacal daughter, a closeted gay son, a scorned wife determined to re-enact "Thelma and Louise" while stoned on Valium, and the deceased matriarch's sister who just gave up cigarettes and sorely regrets it.

You get the idea.

Although the film has something to say about tolerance and acceptance, it's presented with such overwrought urgency and over-the-top direction that it borders on parody. While hysterically funny, these scenes are oddly juxtaposed with more serious ones in which the dead matriarch's grandson speaks to an unseen therapist. The abrupt change in tone between satire and drama results in a wildy uneven film.

"Sordid" really succeeds in the scenes between "Brother-Man" and the truly demented Dr. Eve. It's here that all the deranged lunacy is more carefully balanced with poignance and truth. If the writer had merely focused on this and done it as a "short", it would have been brilliant.

However, if you're open-minded and looking for 85+ minutes to kill, I urge to check out "Sordid Lives". Your own life won't seem quite so bad afterward.

Rating:
Summary: ah huh
Review: I discovered this movie in Palm Springs where it has been running for a couple of years and has developed a cult following. Yes, it's low budget, and what the hell is Olivia Newton John doing in it? But, it is laugh out loud outrageous, and my Texas husband says it's "a pretty durn accurate slice of a little bit o heaven". The hunky narrator character could have been left on the cutting room floor as the movie almost skids to a stop whenever he is on camera. However, Leslie Jordan (Beverly Leslie on TV's Will & Grace) gives a simply amazing performance that will knock your wig off! This movie gets better with repeated viewings.

Rating:
Summary: What A Funny Movie
Review: This is one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. I don't get very excited about movies, especially not enough to write a review about one but a friend brought over this movie and I had to get on line and purchase one for myself. I've told all my friends they must see it. The characters are all so great. I will enjoy this movie several more times!!!

Rating:
Summary: Completely Unwatchable
Review: About halfway through this movie I was torn:
Push the STOP button on the remote.
OR
Hurl a brick into my television set.
Since I wasn't in the mood to go out an buy a new television set, I chose to push Stop. This "movie" is SO incredibly BAD and UNWATCHABLE that I can't even begin to dissect it. Just do yourself a favor and don't waste even one second of your precious life on this excrementally horrid... thing. If someone gives it to you as a gift, just use the DVD as a drink coaster or pretty frisbee.

Rating:
Summary: Texas (not as in Bible)
Review: being a resident of Texas and having lived in Lubbock and Abilene I realize how realistic this movie is. this is true Texas. pleae listen to every dialogue and you laugh your ... off. The screen, play, photography, casting, costume everything is almost perfect. Please listen to the accents and see how it is different from the LA accent. you should not miss this movie and will love it.

Rating:
Summary: minnesotakeith
Review: They was robbed! This is a classic and deserved all the attention and award nominations that they gave "Fargo" a few years ago. Being a Minnesotan I accepted "Fargo" for its embellished (exaggerated) picture of us. "Sordid Lives" is similar in its presentation of Texas poor-white-trash and does it so fabulously! The story and characters are almost believable and the acting is superb - Olivia Newton John included. I'm talking Academy Award nomination caliber performances! It's a super fun wild ride - I never tire of watching it. Portions of the plot , as well as some of the language, may not appeal to the unenlightened, humor-challeged conservative though.

Rating:
Summary: Watch it for Brother Boy and Olivia
Review: A film by Del Shores featuring Olivia Newton-John and Delta Burke.
Basically Del gets it right about returning home to the comical lifestyles of your relatives. The houses are right, the decor and accents are perfect.
Delta Burke seems to fall into her role naturally, being southern herself. I am not sure why Olivia is here, but it is nice to see her.
I couldn't get past the fact that the film looks so cheap. I realize it is an independent film. But OY, it looks like a camcorder was used to film it.
The scenes with Brother Boy were hilarious, saved the film, and even drew a chuckle out of me. His "de-homosexualization" therapy was hilarious. That is the only strong point here.

Rating:
Summary: Sordid Lives deserves a rating of 5 rubber band snaps ! LOL
Review: What a wonderful movie. I have seen it 5 times & will see it again on Nov 8, 2003, in Palm Springs, CA, for the 2nd anniversary of its showing at the Camelot Theatre in Palm Springs, with many cast members present. I recently purchased the DVD so I could see extra scenes - though the best way to see the film is in a real theatre, because the audience reaction is like a second sound track. Not watching the movie again is like quitting smoking, so I give it 5 bubber band wrist snaps!