Dirty Laundry

Coming Home and Facing Truths in a Laugh-Fueled, Southern-Fried Family Dramedy
I got the chance to see a rough cut of writer/director/actor Maurice Jamal's film last year 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 movie's first half. However, the movie gradually congeals into a more resonant drama of acceptance and forgiveness.

Despite his bare-bones production budget and a sometimes too facile approach to easy laughs, Jamal has a keen eye...

Jennifer Lewis & Loretta Devine----Lord, Give Me More!
Jennifer Lewis & Loretta Devine---what more could a moviegoer ask for? These two stellar talents wring more humor and pathos out of a line of dialogue than Laurence Olivier in his prime.

This movie is not the greatest story ever told. And it won't be taking home a busload of Oscars. But there are moments of real truth and poignance and compassion here. And the acting---though over the top---is an absolute delight. Rockmond Dunbar is sexy and subtle and moving. The entire cast deserve a huge Bravo.

But the movie belongs to Jennifer Lewis and Loretta Devine. They should be charged with grand larceny, because they steal every scene.

Good Clean Family Fun!! Hillariously Funny!! But Also Heartwarming!!
This is a very funny movie that gets even funnier as it progresses!! Hold onto your sides, as you'll be laughing non-stop!!! Sports an elite all-star cast.

Magazine writer Patrick Sheldon (Rockmond Dumbar) who is gay, is a very successful businessman, lives in the Big Apple, has a very high-paying job, a luxurious penthouse-style apt and a very caring and loving boyfriend, just couln't ask for anything more or less.

That is until one evening during a party, a little boy named Gabriel (played by Aaron Grady Shaw from the HBO series In Treatment) shows up uannounced, knocks on his door, introduses himself and then tells Patrick that he's his son. The rug is snatched out from under him.

In an effort to get to the root of this surprise visit by Gabriel, Patrick
then takes the boy back with him back to his hometown of Paris, Georgia where he tries to unravel the mystery to find out just how he happens to suddenly have a child. Once there, he finds out...

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