Dirty Laundry (2006)

Dirty Laundry Patrick Davis has made a wonderful life for himself. All the way from Paris, GA he has an apartment in NYC with his partner and has refined his tastes a little. So what happens when you're forced to confront everything you've buried in the hamper of your life? Well, return to the source and deal with it. With the aid of little Gabriel, Patrick returns to his Paris, GA home to find his mother (Evelyn Davis) and sort out the mess that apparently started before he left town. We find out two things: Patrick is his middle name and his real first name is Sheldon. Patrick has a sister Jackie who seems to be not only his confidant but also the one who is best with the kids (in a few scenes she gets the kids and takes them elsewhere while the adults talk--rather fight).We're introduced to Aunt Lettuce aka "Lettie" who is the loud, hypocritical stereotype during choir rehearsal as the lead singer who showboats her talent she drops by to see Patrick but runs into his Mother (her sister)Patrick tries to adjust to his life in the small, rural town of Paris when he's woken up on a Sunday morning (his 'rest day') and told by his Mother: IN this house, we do church on Sunday. We see Aunt Lettuce again and how she married money, a little argument between Evelyn and Lettuce goes on in church. Upon returning, Patrick murmurs about how Sunday brunch was dignified with Egg White Omeletes and a glass of champagne on the pier at a restaurant he'd frequent in NYC with his partner Ryan as opposed to getting Sunday dinner at a chicken shack with biscuits and various side dishes.While Patrick is whispering about how dignified Sunday brunch is we see that Ryan has made his way down to Paris, GA and he blurts out one thing to Sheldon/Patrick "Baby", Evelyn is angered about that but also that he was ashamed of his family. Evelyn says: How dare you bring your partner in my house, a white boy...and On a Sunday too? Everyone is initially shocked but they don't focus on him being gay (which I think is interesting but unrealistic because my experience shows me that it tends to be a big deal when they first find out you're gay) but on the fact that he was embarrassed by his family. In the front room, Ryan remarks on how good the simple food is while Evelyn asks him to excuse them while Evelyn and Eugene (local butcher shop manager) tell him about how ashamed he is at his family, Sheldon says: You wanna know why I left? Because I didn't want to wake up and realize that I had become YOU! and storms off The brothers make up after a BBQ (and Mother Davis and Abigail Eugene's wife also have a funny argument I don't know where that falls into the sequence, you have to admit the egg jokes Mother Davis makes are hilarious!) and tings are on the road to recovery. Ryan shines in a scene where he encourages "Pudge" to think Diva and she aces a dance tryout, and in a pie eating contest (at a church picnic) when he and Sheldon/Patrick blurt out the fact that they are lovers (albeit inadvertently and to hilarious reactions of Lettuce, Clarine and a group of church gossips) and they both talk about what they are going to do with their kid.When dinner rolls around which is supposed to celebrate Sheldon leaving the next day, Aunt Lettuce comes in with her 4 sons (who all look like they'd be in their element in jail--just an observation) Lettuce makes a mockery of the family and how twisted she feels it is hence "airing out the Dirty Laundry" although Evelyn points out that her parents were mean to her and Lettuce was mean to Evelyn and in turn, she was mean to her kids it is in Evelyn's words: That Lion King (expletive)...The Circle..The Circle of Life..." Evelyn then corrects Lettuce saying that if she calls her fat again she's going to "go upside your big hat wearing head with a biscuit". Obviously drunk, but being as blunt as she can be, she accepts the fact that her son is gay and accepts Ryan because she loves her baby boy. Patrick manages to tell the family that they are going to stay in Paris--for a while anyway. The scene ends with Evelyn drunk and passed out Next scene opens up with Gabe, Patrick and Ryan as a family,then the scene ends with a wonderful quote by James Baldwin I love this movie! I really enjoyed it, although the job storyline wasn't resolved, I believe that it was a part of the exposition that didn't really need to be resolved, because life's issues aren't always resolved by its parties.Hope this helped you out and enjoy the movie as I have countless times!

Patrick (Rockmond Dunbar) has created a whole new back-story after leaving his Southern family. Back home after being told to take a leave of absence by his boss, Sheldon (Rockmond Dunbar) finds he has a son and his family is jumping all over him for his Northern elitism.Things get really interesting when Ryan (Joey Costello) shows up, and the family finds out why Sheldon is now Patrick. But, it is still the elitism that bothers them more than his sexual identity.I was having computer problems and tuned into this while I tried to fix them. I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed Dunbar's performance. Costello was also good, and they both managed to help out members of the family, while they united with the family.Loretta Devine was great as his momma, Terri J. Vaughn enjoyable as his sister, and Maurice Jamal did a really good job as his brother.It was funny, sweet, and what I really imagine as an accurate portrayal of Black Southern life.

I got the chance to see a rough cut of writer/director/actor Malcolm Jamal's film at the Castro Theatre during the 2006 San Francisco Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. As an openly gay black man, he lends a particularly unique and contemporary perspective on the Prodigal Son parable with this tale of a class-conscious New York-based magazine writer whose discovery of a ten-year old son leads him back to the family he left behind years ago in his hometown of Paris, Georgia. Those who have seen Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" or Harvey Fierstein's "Torch Song Trilogy" will recognize the fish-out-of-water comedy that dominates the first half of the movie. However, the movie gradually congeals into a more resonant drama of acceptance and forgiveness without foregoing the humor.Despite his bare-bones production budget and a sometimes too facile approach to easy laughs, Jamal has a keen eye for his Deep South setting and especially his characters that manage to sidestep stereotypical treatment. What I particularly like about the family interactions is how Jamal chooses to emphasize the son's elitism that has alienated the family, not as much his sexual orientation. Rockmond Dunbar brings a sympathetic core to the uptight son, Patrick in his current life but Sheldon to his family. However, it's Loretta Devine who shines as his mother Evelyn, a hardened, alcoholic washerwoman who holds her own secrets and rails against her son with fervor. She seizes a great movie moment as she delivers a near-soliloquy at the dinner table near the end. With her foghorn, female-impersonator delivery, veteran scene-stealer Jenifer Lewis plays judgmental Aunt Lettuce with her usual gusto and provides the film's biggest laughs.Most of the cast is terrific - Terri J. Vaughn's supportive sister Jackie, Filipino comedian Alec Mapa as the overzealous metrosexual friend, Sommore's throaty turn as the sassy daughter-in-law, and Jamal's own performance as Sheldon's straight, dim-bulb brother who runs the local butcher shop. The one major fly in the ointment is Joey Costello who comes across far too flighty and naïve as Patrick's partner Ryan. The film has a too-pat though forgivable ending. In a concluding Q&A, Jamal said he just filmed the production in April and is touring this movie in select major cities in special showings through the summer. He hopes for a Christmas release at which point I say check it out. Jamal is a most idiosyncratic comedy talent.

I managed to catch this film recently and you know what I'm rather glad I did. It's a great little comedy with some cracking one-liners and a fair few laugh out loud moments. For the life of me I can't understand the low marks its got.The story of an African American guy called Patrick who after a 10 years living in the City gets called back to the small Southern town where he grew up. Welcomed back into to his family, little do they know that he's Gay and little does he know of what he left behind in his home town all those years a go.It features a great scene chewing comedic performance from one of my favourite actresses Jenifer Lewis as Patrick's snobby aunt Lettuce. As well as that look out for Loretta Devine as his mother who is her usually good self. The film fizzes with one-liners for example. "You can't make a Soufflé with Powdered Eggs". Said from one woman to another who's having trouble having children.The film owes a lot to the work of Tyler Perry to my mind and if you like his Medea Films you'll love this. Well worth a look if its at a cinema near you.