ekeby I agree Loretta Devine is a joy to watch. Even with the sub-par dialog she's given, she works wonders.The plot is shopworn, but I wouldn't care if it were done cleverly. It isn't, but what really torpedoes this movie is the lackluster dialog, especially as the main character is supposed to represent a writer. I'm not speaking of those colorful explosions of verbosity that occasionally punch through--I'm speaking of all the exposition. All that dialog about who is where and why and how. It's as dull as donuts. The writer missed a lot of potential fun with words, I think.I also think this film suffers from poor editing. There is a lot of slow cutting, probably for anticipated laughs, but the situations rarely generate the laughs to fill up the time. Not from me, anyway. Truly, I think cutting 15 or 20 minutes out of this film would help it a lot.The performances are generally good, though I thought combining over-the-top caricatures with low-key realism made for a confusing mix. Pick a style and stick to it.

pjchatman This is an Black gay film. Not white. Not yellow. Not brown. Black. That said – Maurice Jamal, wrote acted (he plays Sherman's brother Eugene), directed, & produced this film, did a outstanding job of portraying a Black American family & their issues with homosexuality, which for Black Americans is more emotional than other races given the spiritual bond with church & home not seen in other races.This film is about Sherman-Patrick's (he goes by Patrick in New York & his family calls him Sherman) life being upset when he gets news he's a father. Upon arriving home he is confronted with his bullheaded mother, loving sister, resentful brother, & his very self-righteous Aunt. His problems gets worse when his boyfriend follows him to Paris, GA looking for answers (whether Gabriel is his son, & why Patrick lied about his Mother, and his name). This film has some very good drama & comedy, but you have to 'get it'. Since this is not a white-gay, Latin-gay, or Asian-gay film, they won't get it. But I did.The film starts off, yes, sloppy. We are indeed confused when see young Gabriel going to the airport, & then in the very next scene coming back home from the airport with Sherman. Jamal left the whole period of what happened when Gabriel was in New York until after Chapter 3 (the film's chapter, not the DVD). We, at first, are lead to believe that the family knows he's gay. This would certainty explain why he and his Mom argue when they meet after he brings Gabriel home. We even think he knows who Gabriel is for a minute or more. This makes the beginning feel very uneven, only because Jamal decides to tell us later what happened in New York rather than before – which again made the beginning uneven. But when Sherman/Patrick finds Ryan, his boyfriend, on the porch of his childhood home waiting for him (Ryan thought he was having an affair with another man named Sherman), the cat is let out the bag & the film falls into place, & continues from there. There are other silly scenes, but this is the particular character of the director (Cookie's 'crunch', the triple 'gasp', Aunt Lettuce's four sons) and just shows he has unique sense of direction.No film dealing with race and homosexuality is going to be 'perfect', but if it speaks to the intended audience than it accomplished it's goal. To Us (Blacks) we don't see Gay films as an excuse to get naked and swear. We explore the emotional-personal side of the lifestyle and not the sexual that most other races tend to focus on.To quote a white gay person: "'eye candy' seems like too strong a statement considering (again) no love scene, no shirtless scene, not even a muscle shirt... So by any reasonable measure, this is not really a 'Gay' movie." Ahem, Blacks live very different lives, and most are very spiritual. So the Gay experience for us is very different from those of other races. This was Black Gay film; therefore, no sex, no shirtless hunks, no shirtless hunks having sex – that's porn.

dmcortiz Dirty Laundry was hysterical! It certainly puts you in the mindset of a typical Southern family gathering. There were definitely some hints of Tyler Perry influence.Loretta Devine is always a joy to watch. She carries herself with a great deal of charisma and dignity. Jenifer Lewis is the grand-dam of divas! She carries herself in a manner that dares someone to challenge her authority.Dunbar and Jamal certainly carried themselves in a very classy, self assured manner. The entire cast was well chosen to give an even balance, varied perspectives, and display of skills and talents.I am even more impressed by the boldness of the production team to step out as independents and produce such a powerful product. Bravo! Hope to see more from you!

Black Narcissus 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.