You have to like a movie
that opens with Olivia Newton-John singing a country tune with the lines, "Who's
to judge who's a saint and who's a sinner? ... Who's to say who you can love and
who you cain't?" A film festival favorite, Sordid Lives centers
around the funeral preparations for Peggy (Gloria LeRoy), a woman who died by
tripping over her lover's (Beau Bridges, Common
Ground, Losing Chase, The Hotel
New Hampshire) wooden legs and hitting her head on the sink in a seedy motel.
The truth comes out about the real lives of a big-haired Texas family, including
Peggy's straightlaced daughter Latrelle (Bonnie Bedelia, "The Division"),
who desperately wants to keep all of the skeletons in the closet. Unfortunately
for her, her son Ty (Kirk Geiger) is gay, as is Brother Boy (Leslie Jordan), her
brother who is a Tammy Wynette impersonator and has been institutionalized for
20 years in a "de-homosexualization" program. Both will be out at the
funeral. It's a white trash comedy that is just hilarious. Beth Grant, playing
Peggy's sister Sissy, in particular is laugh out loud funny, as is Delta Burke
as her neighbor Noleta. The film's message comes down to accepting who you are,
allowing your family members to do their own thing, and reserving judgment on
others. As she sings a song at the funeral, Peggy's best friend Bitsy Mae
(Newton-John), a tattooed, ex-con country singer, reveals that she was also Peggy's
lover! |