Die Mommie Die!

Synopsis
Angela Arden (Charles Busch) is a former cabaret singer whose career has long since hit the skids and crashed to an abrupt halt. Her marriage to producer Sol Sussman (Philip Baker Hall) is rapidly heading the way of her career, but with Sol unwilling to agree to a divorce Angela gets busy with a bottle of arsenic and terminates the marriage in a less-than-legal manner. Now free to carry on her illicit affair with hot young stud Tony (Jason Priestley), Angela first has to deal with a suspicious daughter, Edith (Natasha Lyonne), and equally suspicious family maid Bootsie (Frances Conroy). Son Lance (Stark Sands) also plays a crucial role, especially when it turns out that both he and Edith are also bedding Tony.

First-time director Mark Rucker has successfully created a camp classic by working closely with his talented star and screenwriter Busch, who gloriously hams it up for the cameras throughout, delivering a constant barrage of pithy one-liners. Priestley, Lyonne, and Sands provide deliciously silly support throughout, culminating in a movie that resembles a version of FAR FROM HEAVEN produced by trashy cult director John Waters.

Reviews
"...It makes a jolly absurdist stew out of its sources....[Mr. Busch] exudes a genuine screen charisma. That star quality as much as anything should earn the film a niche in camp heaven..." (New York Times)

"...Hilarious....DIE MOMMIE DIE! has great fun demolishing pretense and the façade of respectability while never hitting a false note..." (Los Angeles Times)

"...The movie winds up walking a line between put-on pastiche and kitsch passion, and Jason Priestley is perfect..." (Entertainment Weekly)

"...Busch, as screenwriter and star, is a true goddess..." (Rolling Stone)