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MOVIES / ON DVD / SORDID LIVES
Sordid Lives

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Sordid Lives (2001)

37%
25%
76%
N/A
N/A
N/A
37 %
Reviews Counted: 27 Fresh: 10  Rotten:17 Average Rating: 4.5/10

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins

Theatrical Release: May 11, 2001 Limited

Synopsis: Sometimes it takes a death to bring a family together. In the film Sordid Lives, the all-star cast puts a comedic twist on a story of unconditional love, acceptance and "coming-out" in a Texas family. The eccentric cast of characters in Sordid Lives come together when their intertwining... Sometimes it takes a death to bring a family together. In the film Sordid Lives, the all-star cast puts a comedic twist on a story of unconditional love, acceptance and "coming-out" in a Texas family. The eccentric cast of characters in Sordid Lives come together when their intertwining lives prepare for the funeral of Peggy, the family matriarch. Now Peggy was not your average grandmother, no, she was carrying out an illicit affair with a married man (G.W. Nethercott) in a seedy motel when she took her last breath. No, it wasn't the sex that got her; it was her lover's wooden legs lying in the middle of the floor. Ya see, she got up to use the bathroom, tripped on the legs, hit her head on the sink and well you guessed it -- her brain hemorrhaged and she died right there on the spot! As all good Southern daughters do, her daughter's La Vonda and Latrelle naturally began fighting. It wasn't over what they would get, but whether or not mammma was gonna wear a mink stole in her coffin, you know, one of those with the head still on it (did we mention it was 100 degrees and in the middle of summer?). This isn't Latrelle's only problem, she has a few more to work out. She's simply in denial about a few things, one, how her mamma died and two, about her son being gay. La Vonda has her troubles too ... she wants to get their brother out of the mental institution he's been in for over 20 years and she's best friends with her mother's illicit lover's wife Noleta Nethercott. Now Noleta is a woman scorned, and out for revenge. She goes a tad over the edge the night before the funeral and tries her hand at a bit of revenge therapy inspired by "Thelma and Louise." Don't worry, she wasn't alone, La Vonda serves as her partner in crime! The sister's brother, appropriately called "Brother Boy" is away in that institution to "recover" from a bad case of homosexualism with a touch of transvestitism. OK, perhaps it is a bad case ... he's lived his life dressed as Tammy Wynette (in the early years)! The glue that holds this family together is Sissy, the deceased's sister. Aside from refereeing the acts of her two nieces and their battle over the mink stole, she picks this of all weeks to quit smoking ... but after a failed attempt with some second hand behavior modification advice using a rubber band, she promptly begins smoking again! The last of our stories comes from an ex-con turned barfly/singer named Bitsy Mae Harling. Aside from comforting everyone at Bubba's Beer Joint with her guitar and song, it turns out that she too had a "deep," meaningful relationship with the deceased! Through it all, the family members and friends are able to, accept, or at least join together for the funeral, which of course has a few last minute surprises. -- © 2001 Regency Entertainment [More]

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Delta Burke, Beau Bridges, Ann Walker, Sarah Hunley, Leslie Jordan

Director: Del Shores
Screenwriter: Del Shores
Producer: Sharyn Lane, Victoria Alonso, Max Civon, Del Shores, Todd J. Harris
Composer: George S. Clinton

DVD Info

Release:

Jun 6, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case - Sensormatic
  • Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.77
  • Single Side - Dual Layer

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • Subtitles - English - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentary - 1. Del Shores - Director/Screenwriter
  • 2. Sharyn Lane - Producer
  • Deleted Scenes (9)
  • Interviews - 1. Bonnie Bedilia - Star
  • 2. Del Shores - Star
  • 3. Kirk Geiger - Star
  • Music Videos - Olivia Newton John (2)

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
07/21/05
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
1/5

No review available.

comment Comment
05/31/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
57/100

Runs the risk of alienating its audience by going a little too far over the top and, in its efforts to be different, delivers instead, more of the same.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/03/03
Janet Branagan
Apollo Guide
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
05/23/03
Emily Blunt
Blunt Review
Ratings Image
0/4

Texans are idiots, but they have hearts as big as the great outdoors--I get it already.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/02/03
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central
Ratings Image
2/10

Its stereotypes are insulting, its jokes are unfunny, and its emotions are labored. Sordid Lives is a sordid movie.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/06/03
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com
Ratings Image
1.5/4

If only the lives in Sordid Lives were sordid. Instead, the movie might better be titled Loud Lives.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/28/03
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Ratings Image
N/A

Check this out if you're in the mood to laugh at humanity's looniness.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/21/02
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan
Ratings Image
3/5

Things always feel about a half step from spinning wildly out of control, but Sordid Lives remains a guilty pleasure that you enjoy and keep to yourself .

Full Review | comment Comment
10/10/02
Jeffrey Bruner
Des Moines Register
Ratings Image
2.5/4

A train wreck you can't help but watch.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/20/02
Robert K. Elder
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2/4

While the film at times feels like a clumsily acted play, a surprising turn by Delta Burke carries the cast out of the doldrums of an often-strained plot line.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/28/02
Erin Meister
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2/4

The corn of Sordid Lives comes heavily salted -- nudity, bold talk, gay coming-out, transvestism -- but it's the crunch of the corn that will either win you or send you desperately to the lobby for the real thing.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/01/02
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune
Ratings Image
2/5

Long-winded comedy.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/22/02
Kim Linekin
eye WEEKLY
Ratings Image
N/A

Big, trashy fun.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/19/02
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies
Ratings Image
N/A

A movie that, while robustly performed ... has the strange effect of not so much opening up a play for the screen as closing it in.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/18/02
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

If the film's flaws are large, so are its laughs.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/18/02
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
12/10/01
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image
N/A

There's a genuine sweetness and familial affection that shines through Sordid Lives, and enough oddball humor to keep it mooo-ving along.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/28/01
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times
Ratings Image
1.5/5

Sordid Lives is a galloping riot of dysfunctional family humor. Too bad it's just not that funny.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/25/01
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle
Ratings Image
N/A

By pleading and begging and coaxing us to love the characters in Sordid Lives, Shores only guarantees our indifference and disgust.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/19/01
Jeffrey M. Anderson
San Francisco Examiner
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• Sordid Lives at Rotten Tomatoes
• Sordid Lives at AskMen
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