Comedy

Mule Skinner Blues

Beanie Andrew has been possessed with making his own B-grade horror film. He rallies his fellow trailer park friends to fulfill his bizarre vision: to "rise from beneath the murky swamps behind the local junkyard in a blue ape suit and look for his severed arm." As Beanie strives to make his film, the viewer explores the lives, dreams, hopes and realities of his supportive friends as they each search for their own paths to artistic self-expression. With a fresh and inventive style, this visually stunning film is a four-year magical mystery tour through the underbelly of trailer park society.

Die Mommie Die!

"You slipped into my life as easily as vermouth into a glass of gin," purrs reclusive singing star Angela Arden, as played by camp icon Charles Busch (Psycho Beach Party). Arden is not only haunted by a secret, she's treated like dirt by her louse of a husband (Phillip Baker Hall, Boogie Nights), her snoopy maid (Frances Conroy, Six Feet Under), and her petulant daughter (Natasha Lyonne, Slums of Beverly Hills). Only her mentally defective son (Stark Sands) and a well-endowed gigolo (Jason Priestley, Beverly Hills 90210) treat her with love and affection. Is it any wonder she takes drastic action to improve her life? Replete with lurid sex, incestuous overtones, a poisoned suppository, musical numbers, an acid freakout, and black-and-white flashbacks, Die Mommie Die! lovingly sends up movie soap operas. The tone is uneven, but Busch skillfully walks a razor-sharp line throughout. --Bret Fetzer

The Other Side of the Bed

Sometimes the game of love requires a little cheating… The Other Side of the Bed is a raucous and sexy romantic comedy with a musical twist. The film tells the story of two couples, along with a collection of their friends and co-workers, whose switching back and forth between lovers leads to lies and heartache - and lots of song and dance.

Melvin Goes to Dinner

A brisk, funny talkfest. Accidental meetings result in four people sharing dinner in a bistro, an encounter that becomes a bluntly honest discussion of sex, religion, and sex. Cutaways to other aspects of their lives bring visual variety (and afford opportunities for cameos by Jack Black and David Cross), but the meat of the meal is in how four people talk to, at, and against each other. The quartet is sharp and comic: screenwriter Michael Blieden and Matt Price play friends who haven't seen each other in a while, and Annabelle Gurwitch and Stephanie Courtney are the women they bump into. Their patter contains a couple of neat surprises, and ranges over a long menu of relationship issues. It's directed by comedian Bob Odenkirk (of Mr. Show fame), and he has two distinct directorial gifts: getting actors into a strong, naturalistic flow, and knowing where the jokes are. --Robert Horton

Melvin goes to dinner with three almost complete strangers. The frequency funny, bit also heartfelt conversation goes from dating to sex, top religion, to fetishes, to ghosts and everything else in between. The film is written and co-stars Michael Blieden, who adapted his stage play "Phyro-Giants!" The film marks the directorial debut of Bob Odenkirk, co-host of "Mr. Show" and the Emmy-award winning writer for "Saturday Night Live," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," and "The Ben Stiller Show."