A Very Sordid Wedding
Gravitas Ventures (3/17/2017)
TV Series  /  Comedy, Queer Themes/Interest
In Collection
#836
6*
Seen ItYes
(10/20/2017 Home)
191091471210
IMDB   5.3
109 mins USA / English
DVD  Region 1   US - TV-MA
Whoopi Goldberg Abernatha Coleman
Bonnie Bedelia Latrelle Williamson
Leslie Jordan Earl 'Brother Boy' Ingram
Blake McIver Ewing Peter
Dale Dickey Sissy Hickey
Aleks Paunovic Hardy
Caroline Rhea Noleta Nethercott
Alec Mapa Marty Wells
Katherine Bailess Greta Waring
Carole Cook Hortense
David Steen G.W. Nethercott
Lorna Scott Vera Lisso
Michael MacRae Wilson
Kirk Geiger Ty Williamson
Emerson Collins Billy Joe Dobson
Krystal Summers Herself
Newell Alexander Wardell Owens
Levi Kreis Jimmy Ray Brewton
David Cowgill Odell Owens
Ann Walker LaVonda DuPree
Sarah Hunley Juanita Bartlett
Rosemary Alexander Dr. Eve Bolinger
Sharon Garrison Mrs. Barnes
Ron Corning Newscaster
Richard D. Curtin Edna Jean Robinson
Director/Choreographer
Del Shores
Producer Louise Beard
Jennifer Beasley
Writer/Composer Del Shores
Cinematography Paul Suderman


It's 2015, seventeen years after Peggy tripped over G.W.'s wooden legs and died in Sordid Lives, and life has moved into the present for the residents of Winters, Texas. Sissy Hickey (Dale Dickey) is reading the Bible, cover to cover, trying to make some kind of sense out of what it really says about gay people. Her niece Latrelle Williamson (Bonnie Bedelia) has divorced her husband Wilson (Michael MacRae) who has taken up with a hot young gold digger (Katherine Bailess). Latrelle's now out and proud gay son Ty (Kirk Geiger) is on his way back to town with his black man (T. Ashanti Mozelle) and news of their own. Her sister LaVonda (Ann Walker) is still cussin' and drankin' and is being blackmailed to sit with the sick and afflicted. LaVonda's best friend Noleta (Caroline Rhea) meets a hot younger man (Aleks Paunovic) while visiting her awful mama (Carole Cook) in the hospital. G.W. (David Steen), sporting new fiberglass legs after Noleta burned his old ones, is still feeling guilty and mourning Peggy. Nearly incoherent barfly Juanita (Sarah Hunley) has moved from her obsession with Vacation Bible School roosters to the royal family while Wardell (Newell Alexander) and Odell (David Cowgill) still bicker at the bar. Tammy Wynette champion Brother Boy (Leslie Jordan) hasn't been back to Winters since Peggy's funeral, and he's working at a tragic little gay bar in Longview, having added Loretta and Dolly to his new medley act "We Three Queens of Oper-y Are" till a chance meeting with a dangerous criminal (Emerson Collins) forces him out on the run. Again. As the sordid saga continues, an anniversary memorial service is being planned in honor of Peggy at Bubba's Bar while the Southside Baptist Church is planning an "Anti-Equality Rally" to protest the advancement of same-sex marriage, spearheaded by Vera Lisso (Lorna Scott) and Mrs. Barnes (Sharon Garrison.) Both events are to take place on the same night, so the cast of colorful characters are all on a collision course for shenanigans and fireworks! Along the way a host of new faces arrive in Winters - Ty's man, Latrelle's ex-husband and his gold digger, the new fire and brimstone preacher (Levi Kreis), Noleta's mother, several drag queens and a bisexual serial killer, all swept into the adventure on the way to the surprise wedding. As the original film dealt with coming out in a conservative southern world, A Very Sordid Wedding explores the questions, bigotry and the fallout of what happens when gay marriage comes to communities and families that are not quite ready to accept it. Bigoted "religious freedom," marriage equality and cultural acceptance are all explored with Del Shores' trademark approach to using comedy and his much-beloved Sordid Lives characters to deal with these important current social issues and the very real process of accepting your family for who they are instead of who you want them to be. (Rotten Tomatoes)
Edition Details
Release Date 10/16/2017
No. of Discs/Tapes 1
References
QueerGuru Rating 8

Notes
One of my all time favorite films is Del Shores' 2000 movie Sordid Lives· It made fun of homophobia with laughter· There is little doubt that Shores is a master of "Texas Humor·" I therefore looked forward to the sequel A Very Sordid Wedding as a continuation of the fun, romp, and satire of the original· While there are superb presentations by some great character actors, the film itself devolves into tiresome preachy scenes repeating the stale arguments oft used to debunk the religious right· While not a bad film, it was a disappointing one·
BTW: I showed this film to a small group of gaymen, ages 22-76· There was little doubt that their favorite character was Hardy (Aleks Paunovic).