Die, Mommie, Die! (2003)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Mark Rucker

Writers (WGA):

Charles Busch (play)
Charles Busch (screenplay)

Release Date:

31 October 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Hollywood...It's a dirty town but someone has to do it!

Plot:

An ex-pop singer kills her much-hated husband to be with her young lover. Her daughter plots Electra-like revenge. |

Plot Keywords:

LSD | 1950s | Washed Up Star | Murder | Parody

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Charles Busch	...	Angela Arden / Barbara Arden
Angela Paton	...	Angela's Fan
Jason Priestley	...	Tony Parker
Natasha Lyonne	...	Edith Sussman
Frances Conroy	...	Bootsie Carp
Philip Baker Hall	...	Sol Sussman
Stark Sands	...	Lance Sussman
Josh Hutchinson	...	Policeman
Victor Raider-Wexler	...	Sam Fishbein
Nora Dunn	...	Shatzi Van Allen
Christopher McDaniel	...	Moving Man #1 (as Chris McDaniel)
Tom Hughes	...	Moving Man #2
Stanley DeSantis	...	Tuchman
Paul Vinson	...	Leather Daddy

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content, language and a drug scene.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Aviator Films

Trivia:

During one of the black and white flashbacks, Barbara is shown at a jewelry counter that reads "Kenwrights", named after the film's producer Bill Kenwright.

Quotes:

Angela Arden: Sweetie? Sweetie, these angels need to be walked.
Edith Sussman: Translation: Get the hell out of here so I could be shrew to your father in private.

Movie Connections:

References Valley of the Dolls (1967)

Soundtrack:

(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey

High camp genre parody works pretty well

Charles Busch is a female impersonator who writes and stars in genre parodies. His last filmed effort was Psycho Beach Party. This latest effort, Die Mommie Die, is a parody of the drama queen melodramas of the 50s and 60s, in which actresses like Susan Hayward schemed and

seduced callously, and encountered crises which were not only larger than their real-life counterparts, but also arrived with far greater frequency.

The genre died out of the film world before most of you were born, but it left behind a legacy of nighttime soap operas like Dynasty, so if you can remember Joan Collins on the small screen, you'll have a good idea of the equivalent big screen target Busch is focusing on.

Busch is a talented guy, whom you may remember from his portrayal of Nat Ginsberg on Oz. I don't know if it's even correct to call him a female impersonator. He is a male who plays certain types of female roles convincingly. His characterization in this film is so convincing that you'll forget he is a male, and his writing shows a real gift for walking the line between lampoon and homage.

Busch and director Mark Rucker got the actors to deliver all their outrageous lines in a consistently theatrical and obviously insincere style to match Busch's own. I thought Jason Priestly was especially funny as a bisexual gigolo. The entire film plays out as if everyone in the cast knows he or she is in a high camp entertainment, and wants the audience to know that they know.

I laughed a lot, to tell you the truth. I suppose drag queen movies may not be what most of you are looking for. Me neither. But the fact of the matter is that Busch can probably evoke the actresses of that era better than any contemporary female I can name. Hell, When I was a kid I always wondered if Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were really middle aged men in wigs, so who better to portray them than a 48 year old man in a wig?

Busch is making fun of the melodrama queens, but he also has a gift for witty dialogue and a genuine regard for the subject matter which makes this an entertaining confection about part of filmdom's barely-remembered past.