Billed as a black comedy about white trash, Del Shores goes back to his Texas roots for this this funny look at the denizens of a small town in the Texas bible belt. There are thumpers aplenty for this dysfunctional family to deal with as they guzzle booze, swallow Valium, and smoke cigarettes while dropping one-liners that are very very funny.
The plot almost doesn't matter in the hands of this great cast. Leslie Jordan plays the drag queen Brother Boy who's obsessed with Tammy Wynette and locked up in a loony bin. His sisters Latrelle and LaVonda (Bonnie Bedelia, Ann Walker) face the daily small-town barbs about their famility. Latrelle's son (Kirk Geiger) is gay and is an actor in Hollywood. There's also Aunt Cissy (Beth Grant) who's a chain-smoker and major town gossip.
At the local bar, we get Olivia Newton-John as the ex-con Bitsy who sings up a storm. The bar is run by Wardell (Newell Alexander) who tries to take of his customers. Chief among them are G.W. (Beau Bridges) and Juanita (Sarah Hunley). G.W. is married to trashy Noleta (Delta Burke) who lives in a trailer house next door to Cissy. At the loony bin, evil Dr. Eve (Rosemary Alexander is trying to de-homosexualize Brother Boy so she can be famous.
The big event in town is the funeral of the mother of Latrelle, LaVonda, and Brother Boy (Gloria LeRoy) who was having an affair with G.W. right under Noleta's nose. Will they let Brother Boy out of the nuthouse to attend?
There's also fat Vera Lisso (Lorna Scott), a real bible thumper who runs a convenience store, and the town tramp Glyndora (Dale Dickey) who ends up in jail.
Great performances by Jordan, Burke, Bedelia, Grant, Walker, and Hunley.
