Customer Reviews
Sordid Lives 
2008-10-07
Great easy purchase, very fast delivery - awesome product, just as described. THANKS AMAZON!! Awesome funny movie!
Cute but flawed 
2008-10-04
Sordid Lives is like many films that have attained "cult" status in that it's an awkward, ungainly production whose devotees embrace it for the very elements that mainstream audiences might consider flaws.
The story is simple and straightforward, and the characters are potentially interesting, but they most seem two-dimensional. Beau Bridges is wasted on a drunk buffoon who's never really funny or given much to do. Bonnie Bedelia fares better as the prissy mom of the narrating character, because she chooses to play the part straight instead of broad. Even when she's being ridiculous, she's far more real than most of the cast, who, while energetic, are often not likable and frequently cartoonish. I suspect this is more about the script and the direction than the actors.
The gay subplot of the film is handled with a surprisingly heavy hand, and while Leslie Jordan's character Brother Boy is played with a certain level of dignity, the part as written is more stereotypical and broad that you'd think. Cooped up in an insane asylum for 23 years, Brother Boy lives vicariously as Loretta Lynn, but it's never clear if he's adopted his country music queen persona as a mechanism for distancing himself from the horrible world he inhabits, if he has gone slightly nuts from his years locked up, or both. The story takes a cheap way out by having him confronted by a psychologist who's clearly the biggest but in the booby hatch. The character of Ty, who narrates the story from his therapist's office, is bland, and for every story he tells that feels real and touches a nerve, there's something else that feels worn and retreaded. Ty never seems to be connected to the world he describes.
There's fun and funny stuff here, but the morals are heavy handed, and the story tries too hard to be outrageous, often resulting in forced comedy.
That this film is adapted from a play is readily apparent and all too obvious. I've not seen the play, but its fingerprint are all over the film: the staging and the dialogue and the fact that the whole story plays out in essentially four locations (house, mental hospital, bar and church) all point out this origin in really obvious ways. The thing takes place in essentially four scenes, and while intercut, it's still obviously four scenes. Those scenes would have been better off subdivided into smaller scenes and played in different locations.
Worst of all the technical execution is terrible. Apparently being one of the first indies shot on high def video, the film has a weird flat quality that isn't helped by amateurish lighting schemes where actors actually step into key lights of their fellow performers, casting them in shadows. The camera work itself is shaky and the setup and angles are often clumsy. The deleted scenes on the DVD demonstrate how bad this work can be, as some of the deleted material is so poorly photographed that one suspects it was dropped for its lack of visual quality as opposed to its narrative effectiveness.
In a way, the TV series spawned from it is better than the film itself, because it's written in bite-size scenes suited to television and film.
sordid lives 2008-10-02
The dvd arrived in excellent condition. I would continue to do business with this company. The product arrived sooner than expected. I was extremely satisfied.
Sordid Lives the Movie 2008-09-30
Loved it. Laughed and laughed and laughed! I love the series which is a prequel to the movie. I'm a dis-functional person from the southwest and can relate. This movie is for adults (adult children). I laughed, I cried I happily kissed 10 bucks goodbye.
Sordid Review 
2008-09-26
I have been watching the Sordid Lives new series on Logo and it is hysterically funny! The series gives events prior to those in the movie.
If you like the series you will like the movie (although the movie is not quite as funny as the series). If you like irreverent white trash humor
you will like this movie. Great cast! Enjoy!
LET'S WATCH IT AGAIN! 2008-09-20
Get ready for laughs the size of Texas when Olivia Newton-John, Beau Bridges, Bonnie Bedelia and Delta Burke lead an all-star cast in this twisted, white-trash tale "that puts the 'fun' in 'dysfunctional'" (Toronto Sun). The hilariously sordid details about a southern family surface with a vengeance when relatives converge for the funeral of "Grandma Peggy," who died after tripping over her lover's wooden legs! Toss in a couple of feuding, big-haired daughters, a jumpy aunt who just quit smoking, the scorned neighbor from hell, and crazy, cross-dressing "Brother Boy" - and you've got an outrageous "train wreck you can't help but watch!" (Chicago Tribune)
Absolutely perfect 2008-09-15
This is one of the absolute best LGBT movies I own. The acting is perfect, the dialogue is so realistic, and the best thing of all is that it isn't riddled with gay stereotypes. You'll love it!
Hilarious and well crafted! 2008-09-15
"Sordid Lives" has the perfect mix of an experienced cast, great writing, wonderful comedic timing and great editing. I rarely see a film more than once or twice but I cannot get enough of "Sordid Lives"! It is evident that the cast enjoys the script and enjoys working together; they produce a story with wit and energy without playing it slapstick.
Good comedy leaves you laughing; great comedy does that and raises your consciousness. "Sordid Lives" does the latter with taste, timing and sequins!
Late to a great party .. .. .. 2008-09-12
While on vacation, some new-found friends were riding me because I had never seen and almost 10 year old movie, "Sordid Lives", of which the series was premiering in Aug'08. When home I rented it from the library and well: Funniest Movie I Have Seen in Years - w/o a doubt! Watched it 3 times in 2 days and invited friends for a viewing. I suggest you grab some fried chicken and iced tea, light-up a smoke, pop a Valium and settle in for a rip-roaring, stomach-busting, cheek-sore, laugh-out-loud good time. You'll want to share with your friends and you'll be quoting lines from this movie the rest of your life. Woo-hoo! Don't miss out on the party - er - funeral!
Sordid Funny! 2008-08-26
I knew by the title-Sordid Lives, and the trailer on the cover, this had to be a funny movie! We all know someone who resembles the characters in this film from the the in-the-closet son to the neurotic mother of the in-the-closet son. It's side splitting funny and Delta Burke puts in a fantastic performance of the put upon wife! It's a must see film!
