With big
personalities and an excess of somewhat pointless dialogue filling each of the
scenes, all of which seem to take place indoors, it is not hard to imagine that
Sordid Lives began as a stage play
before it was adapted into this film. The characters are big and the plot is
minimal, but the high camp value of the humor makes it easy to understand the
film’s cult success. Being able to understand is not the same as to appreciate,
however, and I found the endless southern ramblings to be a bit much to endure
for 111-minutes.
Sordid Lives is written and directed by
Del Shore, who adapted it from his own stage play with many original cast
members. The storyline is extremely simplistic, following a gay West Hollywood actor’s return to his small Texan hometown
for his grandmother’s funeral. Though this film could have focused on this
character as the protagonist, his main influence to the plot seems to be
through contrived conversations about his hometown through sequences in therapy.
One also might imagine it to be a film about the difficulties of returning to a
conservative town as an openly gay man, but there are plenty of flamboyant
family members to ruin any chance of these themes. In reality, it is the
supporting family members who end up stealing the show, mostly due to campy
excess.
Although I
appreciate the significance of this film in the LGBT community, I can’t help
but feel that it is also a case where less would have been more. A film about a
gay actor returning to his hometown in fear that he will no longer be accepted
would have been a compelling premise, but that is swept under the rug in favor
of having more colorful supporting characters. One of the film’s biggest
scene-stealers is Leslie Jordan in the role of the Tammy Wynette-obsessed gay
uncle, who has been institutionalized for years due to his cross-dressing.
This film
embodies the definition of camp, though I would not say that it is likely to be
entertainment all will equally enjoy. There are some surprisingly effective
performances, but the hard work of the actors is not enough to make up for a
stagnant storyline. The Blu-ray release includes an all-new set of interviews
with the cast and director Del Shores. Also included are the originally
recorded commentary track and a new trailer. The Blu-ray disc comes with closed
captions and a 5.1 surround sound audio track that is all but unnecessary for a
dialogue-heavy low-budget film such as this.
Entertainment Value:
3.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 4.5/10
Historical
Significance: 6.5/10
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