Synopsis
Angela Arden is washed up, has-been singing star who is trapped in a hateful marriage to film producer Sol Sussman. In an attempt to escape her marriage so that she can be with a hunky layabout, she poisons her husband. However, Angela's manipulative daughter, gay son and alcoholic maid are not going to make it easy for her.
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Cast
- Charles BuschAngela / Barbara Arden
- Natasha LyonneEdith Sussman
- Stark SandsLance Sussman
- Frances ConroyBootsie Carp
- Philip Baker HallSol Sussman
- Jason PriestleyTony Parker
- Nora DunnShatzi Van Allen
- Stanley DeSantisTuchman
- Angela PatonAngela's Fan
- Josh HutchinsonPoliceman
Recommendations
- 80
Village Voice
Though Natasha Lyonne as bratty daughter and Philip Baker Hall as the disposable spouse impress, it's Busch's heartfelt Joan Crawford homage that enthralls. Busch can transcend even the smog, making hazy camp seem fresh. - 80
Los Angeles Times
With his hilarious spoof Die Mommie Die! Charles Busch takes the melodramatic woman's picture of the '40s and '50s to delirious extremes. - 80
The New York Times
Makes a jolly absurdist stew out of its sources. - 70
Variety
Doing for the cheesier Ross Hunter-style bigscreen soaps of the early/mid-'60s what "Far From Heaven" did for the plush Douglas Sirk melodramas of a decade earlier -- albeit with tongue planted much further in cheek -- writer/star Charles Busch's Die Mommie Die! is an enjoyable genre homage-cum-parody. - 67
Entertainment Weekly
Busch, looking like a depressed Stockard Channing, throws his tantrums with breathy ''aristocratic'' hauteur. Yet the movie winds up walking a line between put-on pastiche and kitsch passion, and Jason Priestley is perfect as a brooding lunkhead of Tab Hunter gigolo-osity. - 63
New York Daily News
A brilliantly pitch-perfect sendup of a particular type of cheesy movie. - 50
Dallas Observer
Busch, responsible for the similarly hit-and-miss-that's-a-mister "Psycho Beach Party," has a good idea; two in one movie would make him absolutely fabulous. - 50
L.A. Weekly
Predictably, the jokes are raunchy, yet they're few in number, as if the writer's sleaze well is running dry. First-time director Mark Rucker has a nice feel for period detailing but fails to build on his star's rare flashes of high energy.
