Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

johnstonjames i really don't think you have to be queer to like this comedy. i mean you do have to be "queer", but in the oddball sense not in the gay sense. i mostly have known more straight people in my life than gay people, and i definitely know that a lot of those straight persons had a sense of irony and liked off the wall things.and this film is pretty off the wall. and it's also pretty gay. unlike his more repugnant counter part John Waters, Charles Busch definitely promotes gay lifestyle and a gay agenda. as long as you're cool with it, you probably won't mind. although a lot of this movie feels imitative of John Waters, John Waters films are not necessarily openly gay. movies like 'Crybaby' and 'Hairspray' actually center around straight characters and heterosexual lifestyle and relationships. no John Waters films are actually gay thinking or about being gay. John waters is actually more perverse than gay, and i'm sure a good many in the gay community wouldn't necessarily want perversity associated with being gay. Charles Busch's brand of filmmaking seems almost tailored for the Logo channel (which is incidentally, for those who don't know, literally a network aimed at a gay audience).even though Charles Busch aims at a mostly gay audience with gay themes, he's so incredibly funny and imaginative that it crosses over into mainstream comedy and entertainment. what adult couldn't appreciate the mature audacity of Busch's humour.Busch is also not just a funny actor, but seriously a good actor in general. it's pretty good drag too. i find myself willing to suspend a certain amount of disbelief for Busch's attire and appearance as a woman. even Busch's voice sounds like a woman who's chords have been tarnished by years of cigarette abuse. Charles Busch's women are convincing enough and oddly a little attractive. he also carries out his performance with a interesting amount of conviction and sincerity. well after all he is representing his own material.this film is also efficient and competent in all departments. acting, writing, costume and production design as well as photography. and it's very adept at humour. especially where "mommie" sings a round of songs at the piano during a funeral reception.even if you're homophobic (who isn't these days), you should probably lighten up enough to appreciate good comedy. comics from Uncle Milty to the guys from 'Saturday Night Live' have often dressed in drag. this is a really funny film and shouldn't be discriminated against for it's outrageousness.do i think drag dressing is outrageous weirdness? well i'd be lying if i said i didn't think so. it kinda freaks me out and gets me uptight and kinda strung out. but that's part of the fun. outrageous ideas are often adventurous, daring and often take precedent. and there's nothing here too hard to handle except maybe a "doggie style" sex scene with "mommie" and two twins. which actually just made me laugh.like 'Rocky Horror', this movie requires you too relax your mores somewhat to accept it. and that's a good thing. i don't think that there is really anyone out there that really wants to be a uptight prude, and Charles Busch and his devious imagination can help.

rosscinema After noticing that the star of this film is a drag queen than you start to wonder what else this story has to offer and that's where the main problem of this satiric effort lies. Story is set in the 1960's (I think so, anyway) where we see a faded former singing star named Angela Arden (Charles Busch) and she wants to divorce her husband Sol Sussman (Philip Baker Hall) who's a has-been Hollywood producer. Their children are virginal Edith (Natasha Lyonne) who loves her father but hates her mother and homosexual pothead Lance (Stark Sands) who has the opposite feelings towards his parents.*****SPOILER ALERT***** Sol won't give Angela a divorce so she decides to kill him by dipping a suppository in arsenic and inserting it! Sol dies and the authorities consider it just a heart attack but Edith and Lance start to think that their mother was up to it. The local gigolo Tony Parker (Jason Priestley) is bisexual and has slept with both Edith and Lance and he starts to investigate the death of Sol but when the maid Bootsie Carp (Frances Conroy) pops up dead than it seems just a matter of time to find proof that Angela is behind things. After drugging Angela with LSD she admits not only to Sol's death but also the circumstances involving her twin sister Barbara.This is directed by Mark Rucker who makes his debut and though he has to somehow get around the minuscule budget the films weakness has nothing to do with the production values. The script is a campy send-up of the older melodrama's from both the 50's and 60's and as I watched this several films came to mind like "Peyton Place", "Valley of the Dolls", "Sunset Boulevard", "Straight Jacket", and many of Douglas Sirk's efforts. The main joke in the film is Busch in drag resembling Joan Crawford but with the characters last name of Arden I couldn't help but think of actress Eve Arden whom Busch also resembles. But that part of the films humor wears out so quickly that everything else seems thrown in to try and fill out the script to a near 90 minutes and the ridiculous ending doesn't help either. The film has many in-jokes and the characters all display silly behavior but even die hard camp lovers will find this effort (at best) a tedious offering.

SSRhodes As a fan of Charles Busch's work, I really looked forward to seeing this film. I have to admit I was not impressed. I've seen and directed many of Busch's stage plays, and while they are hysterical and fun when live and on-stage, they simply don't translate to film very well. Busch's portrayal of Angela is outstanding -- strong yet almost pathetic; however, I felt it was one dimensional. No true highs and lows. After about 30 minutes or so, I kept hoping he would just let loose and go 'Joan Crawford' on us. The supporting cast, with the exception of Frances Conroy (Bootsie) were simply dull and lackluster. I couldn't help but feel that the actors weren't directed very well; they didn't capture the 'over-the-top' attitude that is a necessity in this genre (camp). Certainly, it is a beautiful cast, but I still didn't buy their performances. If you want to truly enjoy Busch's work, see it live and on-stage. Trust me, you won't be sorry!

Roland E. Zwick Screenwriter Charles Busch has adapted 'Die Mommie Die' from his own stage play. A transvestite, Busch also plays the lead role of Angela Arden, a washed-up torch singer in the late 1960's who murders her movie producer husband by giving him an arsenic-laced suppository. Other characters include her incest-oriented virgin daughter, her gay teen son and her bisexual stud boyfriend who manages to run through her, her son and her daughter before he's through with the family.'Die Mommie Die' has all the makings of a nifty little satire in the style of John Waters. Alas, Busch, who is clearly in the bush leagues when it comes to film-making, spends so much time trying to be arch that he forgets to be funny. The story, which is a cross between 'Mommie Dearest' and 'What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,' is rife with campy possibilities, but the film never catches fire, maintaining far too subdued and restrained a tone for this kind of material. Under Mark Rucker's lagging direction, the pacing turns deadly, with the jokes coming a full beat and a half behind where they ought to. Moreover, the deliberately stilted writing and acting are too cute by half, calling so much attention to themselves that they wind up diluting their effectiveness in the process. It's a shame that what should have been a rollicking, manic good time at the movies turns instead into a funereal misfire. Rarely have ninety minutes passed so slowly.