Tammy's Always Dying

"Tammy's Always Dying" was an emotional rollercoaster you don't want to get off of. It shows how a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship can go from nurturing...to chaotic...to frustrating...to sympathetic...to resentful...and back to nurturing all in a short period of time. It's a reminder that family can be frustrating; that addiction can cause havoc; that mental health is one of the toughest enemies we face; but that there is still human connection underneath it all.

Tammy's got a serious drinking problem which leads to her frequently going to the same bridge and threatening to jump off. Her daughter is always having to find her and literally talk her down. This one is a good movie which shows the difficulty of the daughter's life; her having to deal with her mother, having sex with a guy (who we find out is having her as a side girl to the mother of his children) and in between, trying to pretend she is someone else or somewhere else. I would recommend this if you are a fan of I, Tonya because it is a very similar style of comedy but this is more dramatic than that. Give it a shot!

The second film directed by Amy Jo Johnson certainly was an enjoyable experience. The film tackles a very serious subject of addiction, suicide and death through illness. The Canada scenery was beautiful and the way things looked were fantastic. I certainly can feel for the character of Catherine as she is the main protagonist trying not have a breakdown dealing with her mother, Tammy.

While I enjoyed the film, Drama is not usually my genre of choice so the pacing of the film felt slow to me at times. Having watched the film through a screener link where I couldn't maximize the window or remove the time bar so I didn't feel like I was watching the runtime tick down, watching some of the scenes where there was no interaction or dialogue made me feeling like the film was longer than the 90 minutes advertised.

Besides the pacing (in my opinion because I am more used to action, thriller and horror genres), I did enjoy the blend of humor with the serious subject matter as well as the casting choices of Felicity Huffman and Anastasia Phillips as the mother/daughter duo.

I look forward to seeing it again through iTunes and hopefully get it to change my rating to a 10 just because I do find Amy Jo to be a fantastic director.

Wasn't really expecting much out of this movie and got a little more then I bargained for. Felicity Huffman and the rest of the cast acted well and kept me interested. From a guys point of view you can't really call this movie a chick flick - give it a shot.

This movie had an honest feel to it. It reminded me of the 1970 Canadian classic, Goin' Down the Road with it's stark characterizations. We all know these people. The storytelling was delivered open-faced with no surprises. It was refreshingly non-pretentious. Felicity Huffman, and Anastasia Phillips played their parts straight out, and were very believable, with veteran Clark Johnson acting as foil for both women.

If you're looking for a simple drama without mind bending twists to it, this won't disappoint.