Sordid Lives

Starring: Beau Bridges, Beth Grant, Olivia Newton-John, Delta Burke, Bonnie Bedelia, Ann Walker Leslie Jordan, and Kirk Geiger.
Directed by:Del Shores
Rated: R

This is a DVD review

Sordid Lives is a rootin' tootin' hootenanny complete with transvestites, trashy debutantes and shit kickin' in-laws that make a Jerry Springer panel look like a church choir gathering.

Story goes Ty Williamson (Kirk Geiger) is at his twenty third shrink. He escaped…err… moved from the south to "find himself." Ty's a handsome gay male afraid to face his Southern judgmental family - especially his big-haired-bible-preachin'-all-concerned-with-what-other's think mother Latrelle (Bonnie Bedelia).

His high drama mother aside his extended family aren't exactly subscribing to The New Yorker themselves. They're all a tad white trashy — "tad" read: with exponents!

When his gallivanting grandmother dies thanks to a strange mishap involving a pair of wooden legs left lying around by her married lover G.W. (Beau Bridges) Ty must decide whether or not to head back face these whack jobs and maybe "come on out" to his family.

His dear old grandmother was a bit of a tart and took to sleeping with her daughter's best friend's husband and the ex-con guitar playin' hussy that's been hanging around down at Bubba's. Her perpetually dueling daughters are in a tizzy over the burial arrangements - well, whether "Momma" should be buried with her pricey (tack-o-rama weasel-like) fox wrap or not…while her younger sister, Sissy (Beth Grant aka "Ms. Scene Stealer Extraordinaire") has picked the wrong week to quit smoking and may just go homicidal on the world... while Ty's uncle, Brother Boy ( Leslie Jordan), is imprisoned in a sanitorium because of his "gayness." You're starting to side with Ty on the whole heading home thing.

Sordid Lives is a treasure because of director/writer Del Shores' characters and the wonderful cast that brought them indelibly to life. Especially Beth Grant as steady-as-she-goes Sissy. She was so "natural" she'll have you begging for mercy after about five minutes in; she's so funny as this Mt. Vesuvius-like "Sissy" you may need a respirator!

This is Del Shores' second feature and he again cast Beau Bridges, of the mega talented Bridges Dynasty of man kebabs. Here Beau plays a cheatin' manpig with double prostetic legs wollowing in self hate over his lover's deadly fall. Girly girl Olivia Newton-John shows up all rough and tumble as a drifter type. Bonnie Bedelia delivers one of the most diabolical lower middle class everyday Americans ever seen on film. Delta Burke and Ann Walker play gals just this side (by a mile or so) of classy that will have you hootin' hours past the end of the film. The mandatory "bar" regualrs portrayed by Sarah Hunley, Newell Alexander, and Earl H. Bullocks may just be card carrying Elk Club members! And in the middle of all the comedy is the effervescent "Brother Boy" flamboyantly portrayed wonderfully by deadpan expert Leslie Jordan. BB's has basically been locked up in a looney bin for over 20 years just because he prefers the smooth feel of silk and lace over fruit of the loom and Levis and happens to fancy himself a dead ringer for Tammy Winnette.

The subplot that slices in Ty and his "secret life" in the big city is pretty soap boxy if at times touching. Frankly the whole section of his world seemed as if it were edited into the wrong film;- production-wise and energy-wise.

Those ill placed blatant bits that beat the moral of "acceptance" aside, Sordid Lives is so rich and genuinely hilarious this film's worthy of immediate rental and even purchase of the DVD. Do yourself a favor and run out to the Blocken Video Emporium Depot and get this. It is roaringingly funny. A real hot-digity white trash extravaganza folks!

Snack recommendation: Fried Chicken and Jack Daniels

Blunt Aside: there's a mansteak scene involving a full nude play and I actually recognized one of the actors strutting about. He's a gorgeous talent named Armando Sancho Garza. Our next coffee date is going to be weird...now that I've seen his winky.

Official site