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Sordid Lives: When forced to return to his small Texas hometown for a funeral, a young gay man must finally come out to his family, and the family as a whole must deal with its many secrets.
Country: USA, 2000
Original Language: English
Rating: 4/5
Zavi thinks: It takes a few minutes for this film to get rolling, but once it does, its complex layers of dry humor make it absolutely hilarious. Billed as a “black comedy about white trash,” this film perfectly captures the unique nuances of being in a large Southern family, from the idea that ‘a-statement-isn’t-judgmental-if-you-say-bless-their-heart-at-the-end’ to the concept that ‘even-though-everyone-knows-we-just-don’t-talk-about-it’. This movie isn’t just for the Southern niche, however. Anyone who has ever left a small hometown for a larger city and experienced the challenge of coming home as a different person will relate to it. This movie is endearing, silly and weird all at once and is great for group movie nights.
Panda thinks: I wasn’t sure what to think of this film when I first saw it and heard the description. The quality of the actual appearance of the film gives a cheap/made for TV movie feel, but there’s definitely a lot of complexity to the script. The acting is impressive and amusingly over the top at times. This film is unique to our list of reviews so far, as it isn’t really a story about romance, but more a story of family, secrets, and learning acceptance. As the theme song implies, this film is about “sortin’ out our sordid lives”.
