Sordid Lives (2000)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Great Film overall

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

SORDID LIVES opens with a singer at a microphone, a woman with bleached hair that shows black roots, several tattoos, and strategically placed chewing gum as she rehearses a profanity-laced juke joint song. She looked familiar--and when she sang her voice was even more so. Who on earth was she? My jaw dropped with a clatter. Oh My God. It can't be! But yes, it is. That really is Olivia Newton-John! Written by Del Shores, SORDID LIVES was a popular ticket and award-winning comedy on the Los Angeles stage, but when Shores sought a movie deal every studio turned him down flat. Shores persevered nonetheless, and the result was an awkwardly self-directed, extremely low budget movie filmed in high definition that had the look of a cheap 1960s soap opera. Surprisingly, though, these qualities actually suited the material: a torrid, vulgar, trashy, and unexpectedly spiritual tale of a small-town Texas funeral gone to pot in the most disastrous ways imaginable.The plot is difficult to describe, but it revolves around a "good Christian" grandmother who has died under unsavory circumstances: shacked up with a neighbor's husband in a cheap motel, she tripped over her lover's wooden legs and cracked her head on the bathroom sink! Now her lover G.W. (Beau Bridges) is getting drunk down at the bar while her daughters Latrelle and Lavonda (Bonnie Bedelia and Ann Walker) bicker with each other over the funeral arrangements--and whether or not Brother-Boy (Leslie Jordan) should be allowed to come to the funeral from the mental hospital where he has been locked up for twenty-three years because he thinks he's Tammy Wynette.The film is a hair slow to get underway, but once it does it goes off like a rocket. There's G.W.'s humiliated wife Noleta (Delta Burke), an aging barfly named Juanita (Sarah Hunley), the psychiatrist from hell (Rosemay Alexander), angst-ridden gay grandson Ty (Kurt Geiger), bar owner Wardell (Newell Alexander) and his half-wit brother Odell (Earl H. Bullock)--and the aforementioned ex-con and juke-joint singer Bitsy Mae (Newton-John.) And it is clear that each and every one of them are having a wonderful time tearing strips off the wickedly funny script, which offers one outrageous line and scene after another.For all the talent on display--Delta Burke, Kirk Geiger, and Bonnie Bedelia are particularly memorable--the big noise is actress Beth Grant, who is probably best known for her turn in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Cast here as Sissy, sister to the dead woman, she is everything that is appallingly funny: snapping a rubber band on her wrist because she's trying to quit smoking, fanning herself up the legs of her shorts, and trying to make peace in the family before everybody meets up at the church for funereal hysteria. Her performance is one-of-a-kind and knock-you-flat at the same time.The DVD comes with several extras, including cut scenes and an enjoyable audio commentary. I'm not all that fond of contemporary comedy--I usually find it both sterile and saccharine--but I tell you here and now: SORDID LIVES, for all its flaws, made me laugh until I cried.GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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.

Not only great acting, but hilarious. It is good to be able to laugh at ourselves. I found the characters lovable, real, and sometimes unreal. Focusing on the tragedy in life has its place to taking it seriously and to heart. While laughing at our self does not diminish or take the place of healing and helping one another, embracing who we are through the good and bad, healthy and unhealthy, is when we are truly embracing and accepting the humanness of our self and others. Life is imperfect and having a sense of humor about it while we try to grow to perfection is the right path for me. I love this movie! Thank you to the actors, producers, and directors for Sordid Lives.

I saw the movie with friends, and immediately went out the next day and bought it. I guess one would have to be raised in the South to appreciate the wonderful writing of Del Shores and his subtle (and not-so-subtle) references to deep-south living. Let's face it, if you live down here, the question is not which side of your family has the crazy people on it, it's which side has the *most* crazy people on it, and I can relate to nearly every character in the movie.And while it makes light of the goings-on of a white-trash family and how they come to terms with the death of their matriarch, the underlying story of Ty coming out to his family is simply precious. Anyone that is battling with the process of coming out and the right way and time to do it should definitely watch the film.