Dirty Laundry

I caught this at a film festival, and I won't be surprised if it gets pulled the weekend after it opens in its limited release in New York and Los Angeles. It's just not watchable.

This is a disappointing sophomore attempt by Jamal, who resorts to the same old one-liners delivered by stereotypical characters - so wooden and absent of any development that the viewer never quite connects with any of them.

Loretta Devine is good - but not great. I've seen her in far better work. Her skills are out of place with the pedestrian acting capabilities of the rest of the cast and the "phone-it-in" direction.

The only thing worse than the terrible production values is the predictable story. I found myself looking at my watch half way through the film, hoping for the end after I finally realized I didn't care about the story, the characters, or the outcome of the plot. What a disappointment for the black LGBT community.

Save your money - my hunch is that this will be buried in the 99 cent give-away bin at local drugstores.

I saw this movie twice this morning, love it already. I love the story line and all the characters were in place. I think the writer/director Jamal did a wonderful job w. his first project out the running gate. I'm not impressed by much, but I do enjoy great films. Wish I had of supported this film on the big screen. (I didn't see any trailers on it) Jamal, be prepared for the haters to roll in...jealous because they don't have anything out there and you did it! It's what every household goes through. I know I did w. my family. As my own cheerleader, I left Mn. to pursue my dream as a filmmaker/writer in Hollywood. I had to do it. I to barely speak w. my family...(just my four kids) Sometimes people don't see your vision and their not supposed to. Your dreams and visions are your and no one else's. But if we don't get away to pursue our dreams you you will slowly die inside.

Sometimes we can be our own interruptions.

So I say to you, good job Jamal. I hope to meet you soon and work w. you in the near future.

AN MAYS

This was such a great movie.. i see why the movie Ideal Home, stole the concept

Now yall know ya girl is addicted to Black movies. I mean...after watching mainstream television I just NEED to see some Black people doing some thangs ya know?

Well...I rented this movie I thought it was going to be same old same old.

NOT!

Ohmygoodness! THESE CHARACTERS WERE SOOOOOOO WELL DEVELOPED and the story line was so good. This was SUCH a believable movie and all of the dialog was SO REAL! SO REAL!

Wow...I was soooooooooooooo impressed with how they handled such sensitive topics. LOVED IT!

I would give this movie a solid 7 and only because of some really campy dialog about the son's mother. It was very, VERY awkward to me.

Loretta Divine? I think this was the best role I've seen her in since she was strutting her stuff talking bout "Would you like to have dinner with us tonight? It's just leftovers. Collard greens and corn bread, some candied yams, a little potato salad, fried chicken, peach cobbler and a few slices of ham."

This was a GOOD role for her. LOVE YOU GIRL! Rockmond Dunbar, Terri Vaughn and Maurice Jamal did a good job too. Jennifer Lewis? She played the same role she always plays. Bless everybody's heart involved.

If you have an opportunity...I say rent this movie. It was good. Not for the kids though. Just for you. :)

Monica Mingo dot com

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.