Die, Mommie, Die!

Reviewers who complain that Charles Busch is not believable as a woman - comparing him unfavorably with Divine, et al - miss the point. Busch is in a class all his own, and comparing him to ANYBODY else limits the viewer's ability to enjoy what he offers.

He's not SUPPOSED to be a believable woman. He's like a precocious kid who loves to dress up and act like glamorous movie stars from the long-gone days when EVERYBODY overacted, when ALL stars were hams, before Marlon Brando changed the nature of screen acting forever.

Unless you can enter Busch's unique world on HIS terms, you won't like his movies. He's letting us watch him act out his glamorous fantasies, the same delightful fantasies he's been acting out since he was a child.

He's not a drag queen, he's not a female impersonator, he's not a cross-dresser or a transvestite. He is a MAN - but with the sweet, innocent, wide-eyed, starstruck heart of a little boy - who has a whole lot of fun dressing up like and acting like Bette Davis or Joan Crawford or Olivia de Havilland. He invites us to join in the game.

It's fun, unless you're trying to fit it into some mold it doesn't belong in.

If you don't get the campy fun in movies like PORTRAIT IN BLACK, DEAD RINGERS, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE, DIE DIE MY DARLING, STRAIGHTJACKET and SUNSET BOULEVARD, you probably won't get DIE MOMMIE DIE. If you do, you'll probably be howling like the audience I saw it with.

Although shot on an obviously ultra-low budget, MOMMIE still works on many levels. It's funny, campy, naughty, witty and Charles Busch shines in the role of Angela Arden, which he reprises from his own stage play. Thankfully, they didn't give the part to a woman, which is what ruined the tone of another Busch screen adaptation, PSYCHO BEACH PARTY. Busch is pitch-perfect as Angela and the fact the you never forget he is a man greatly helps bring out the campy tone of the story.

This is a must see for those who like to watch MOMMIE DEAREST every couple of years or so for a good laugh.

"Die, Mommie, Die" is a campy parody of the "woman's picture". Mostly a sendup of Joan Crawford but includes things from other movie queens by the new movie "queen". If you have not seen many of these films, you won't get a lot of the humor, including the over-complicated plot, special lighting, clothes, facial expressions, poses, names, etc. There is nudity, sexual material, vulgar language, etc. It is a hoot for adult audiences.

GRADE = "B"

I watched this as someone who knows and loves the styles of movie-making and acting that Busch and company are spoofing. Even so, I occasionally found the script it a little draggy, the photography a little dark and blocking a little static, but only occasionally. When it did work, which in my opinion was most of the time, it did so delightfully. Totally unpretentious, it doesn't make itself out to be anything other than it is. I give it an 8.

Beautiful, glamorous, fading singer Angela Arden (Charles Busch) is miserable. Her horrible husband is making life hell; her daughter Edith (Natasha Lyonne) loves daddy--too much; her son Lance (Stark Sands) is gay and into drugs; her lover Tony Parker (Jason Priestley) is sleeping with her and Edith and Lance....Angela suffers exquisitely.

A parody and a loving remake of the womens pictures made from the 40s up to the 60s. Busch (a man in drag) looks perfect and suffers constantly; the settings are beautiful; the dialogue high camp; everybody and everything looks picture pretty...even the flashes of (male) nudity and sleazier aspects are handled in a very "pretty" fashion. Also it includes some hilariously obvious back screening. This works beautifully because the whole cast plays it straight--there's no winking at the camera or overacting. Busch is just great in his role--he evokes Susan Hayward and Joan Crawford at their best. Lyonne and Sands are having a fun time as her seriously disturbed children--especially Sands. And who ever though Priestley could be such a great actor. He plays everything straight-faced beautifully. Also there are a TON of film references for film buffs.

My only complaint--and this is minor--is the color isn't as bright and strong as it should be. It seems kind of washed out.

That aside this is really a great film. A must for gay men and film buffs.