Dirty Laundry

I saw this movie twice this morning, love it already. I love the story line and all the characters were in place. I think the writer/director Jamal did a wonderful job w. his first project out the running gate. I'm not impressed by much, but I do enjoy great films. Wish I had of supported this film on the big screen. (I didn't see any trailers on it) Jamal, be prepared for the haters to roll in...jealous because they don't have anything out there and you did it! It's what every household goes through. I know I did w. my family. As my own cheerleader, I left Mn. to pursue my dream as a filmmaker/writer in Hollywood. I had to do it. I to barely speak w. my family...(just my four kids) Sometimes people don't see your vision and their not supposed to. Your dreams and visions are your and no one else's. But if we don't get away to pursue our dreams you you will slowly die inside.

Sometimes we can be our own interruptions.

So I say to you, good job Jamal. I hope to meet you soon and work w. you in the near future.

AN MAYS

I caught this at a film festival, and I won't be surprised if it gets pulled the weekend after it opens in its limited release in New York and Los Angeles. It's just not watchable.

This is a disappointing sophomore attempt by Jamal, who resorts to the same old one-liners delivered by stereotypical characters - so wooden and absent of any development that the viewer never quite connects with any of them.

Loretta Devine is good - but not great. I've seen her in far better work. Her skills are out of place with the pedestrian acting capabilities of the rest of the cast and the "phone-it-in" direction.

The only thing worse than the terrible production values is the predictable story. I found myself looking at my watch half way through the film, hoping for the end after I finally realized I didn't care about the story, the characters, or the outcome of the plot. What a disappointment for the black LGBT community.

Save your money - my hunch is that this will be buried in the 99 cent give-away bin at local drugstores.

I agree Loretta Devine is a joy to watch. Even with the sub-par dialog she's given, she works wonders.

The plot is shopworn, but I wouldn't care if it were done cleverly. It isn't, but what really torpedoes this movie is the lackluster dialog, especially as the main character is supposed to represent a writer. I'm not speaking of those colorful explosions of verbosity that occasionally punch through--I'm speaking of all the exposition. All that dialog about who is where and why and how. It's as dull as donuts. The writer missed a lot of potential fun with words, I think.

I also think this film suffers from poor editing. There is a lot of slow cutting, probably for anticipated laughs, but the situations rarely generate the laughs to fill up the time. Not from me, anyway. Truly, I think cutting 15 or 20 minutes out of this film would help it a lot.

The performances are generally good, though I thought combining over-the-top caricatures with low-key realism made for a confusing mix. Pick a style and stick to it.

This was a good film - well acted, good cinematography, overall decent production values. Loretta Devine (sp?) as usual did an excellent job with the material..her voice and presence are so distinct she stands out in any film that she does. The direction was also solid and I enjoyed it. The storyline with the bisexual father was also something different so points to the director for originality. However, I thought the sister of Loretta's character (she's also a well known actress) was a bit over the top...and I'm sure the director wanted that but he should have massaged her performance a bit.

A good film indeed. This film was a good effort.

Patrick (Rockmond Dunbar) has created a whole new back-story after leaving his Southern family. Back home after being told to take a leave of absence by his boss, Sheldon (Rockmond Dunbar) finds he has a son and his family is jumping all over him for his Northern elitism.

Things get really interesting when Ryan (Joey Costello) shows up, and the family finds out why Sheldon is now Patrick. But, it is still the elitism that bothers them more than his sexual identity.

I was having computer problems and tuned into this while I tried to fix them. I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed Dunbar's performance. Costello was also good, and they both managed to help out members of the family, while they united with the family.

Loretta Devine was great as his momma, Terri J. Vaughn enjoyable as his sister, and Maurice Jamal did a really good job as his brother.

It was funny, sweet, and what I really imagine as an accurate portrayal of Black Southern life.