Die Mommie Die!

Theatrical Release Date: 2003 10 31 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 829567020425

Studio: Showtime Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content]

Summary: Playwright, performer, and drag queen Charles Busch appears in the leading role as aging pop star Angela Arden in the darkly comic melodrama Die Mommie Die. Based on Busch's own play, this film marks the directorial debut of Mark Rucker. In 1967, Angela's career has hit bottom and she's trapped in a loveless marriage to film producer Sol Sussman (Philip Baker Hall). She gets involved in an affair with unemployed TV actor Tony Parker (Jason Priestley). After Sol suddenly dies, Angela's daughter Edith (Natasha Lyonne) plots a conspiracy of revenge and enlists the help of her brother, Lance (Stark Sands). Also featuring Nora Dunn and Frances Conroy. Busch has previously appeared in drag for the film adaptation of his play Psycho Beach Party in 2000. Die Mommie Die premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Category: Comedy

Awards: Outstanding Performance – Sundance Film Festival

Features: ccCommentary with director Mark Rucker, writer/actor Charles Busch, and actor Jason Priestley
Director's introduction
Sundance channel "Anatomy of a Scene: Die Mommie Die!"
"Why Not Me?" music video and Charles Busch performance
Deleted scene: Angela Sees Herself
Trailers
Screen tests
Gallery of rejected Die Mommie Die! movie posters
The costumes of Die Mommie Die!
Photo gallery: On set and NY and LA premiere stills
Biographies and production notes in downloadable PDF format
Widescreen format and more

Die Mommie Die!

Format: DVD

Release Date: 04/26/2005

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 90 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Opening Credits
2. Daddy's Little Girl
3. Sol Comes Home
4. Bad Influence
5. Bootsie Offers Help
6. Family Dinner
7. The Suppository
8. Everything About Edie
9. Answers for Tony
10. Mourning Sol
11. Face the Truth
12. Sol's Will
13. True Colors
14. A Suicide?
15. The Trip
16. Back From the Grave
17. "I Have Me"
18. End Credits

Brian J. Dillard

The line between melodrama and camp has always been especially fine. On the one side, there's Far from Heaven, Todd Haynes' reverent Douglas Sirk homage; on the other, there's the oeuvre of drag auteur Charles Busch. Those expecting Die Mommie Die to follow in the over-the-top tradition of Psycho Beach Party, the sole previous cinematic adaptation of Busch's stage work, may be in for a surprise. For all its florid production values, operatic emotions, and satiric jabs at Sirk and Sunset Boulevard, Die Mommie Die is only slightly more exaggerated than its inspirations. Sure, it's funny, full of deliciously bawdy verbal and visual gags. And sure, everyone from Natasha Lyonne to Jason Priestley and Six Feet Under's Frances Conroy pops in to send up the archetypes of '50s "women's pictures." But for all its satire, Die Mommie Die takes its source material no less seriously than Haynes did in his justly celebrated film. Channeling Joan Crawford, Jane Wyman, Susan Hayward, and other magnificent dames, Busch turns in a black comedy with as much to say about gender roles and social conventions as any ostensibly serious period piece. Busch may prefer to wink and laugh rather than wring his hands, but that doesn't make his film any less enjoyable -- or his artistry any less impressive. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Sara Gilbert  Actor 
Paul Vinson  Actor 
Stanley de Santis  Actor 
Jason Segel  Actor 
Anthony Edwards  Producer 
Bill Kenwright  Producer 
Charles Busch  Screenwriter 
Dante di Loreto  Producer 
Dennis McCarthy  Composer (Music Score) 
Mark Rucker  Director 
Lony Dubrofsky  Executive Producer 
Neil Ellman  Executive Producer 
Charles Busch  Actor 
Natasha Lyonne  Actor 
Jason Priestley  Actor 
Frances Conroy  Actor 
Philip Baker Hall  Actor 
Stark Sands  Actor 
Victor Raider-Wexler  Actor 
Nora Dunn  Actor 

Country: USA