movie review stage mother

Stage Mother

Thom Fitzgerald ’s “Stage Mother” is a sweet but ineffective comedy that cashes in on drag culture’s new mainstream fame. While the movie brings up a handful of important topics, the way it handles issues like drug addiction and physical abuse ultimately feel superficial and hollow. Fortunately, a few sparkling performances salvage the show from becoming too maudlin. 

Unfortunately, “Stage Mother” begins with the tragic death of a drag queen on-stage at a struggling Castro District bar called Pandora’s Box. Eventually, the news of Rickey’s ( Eldon Thiele ) overdose death reaches his estranged Baptist parents, Maybelline ( Jacki Weaver ) and Jeb ( Hugh Thompson ), in their little Texas town of Red Vine. Overcome with grief, his mother boards a plane for San Francisco, meeting her son’s partner Nathan ( Adrian Grenier ) and best friend Sienna ( Lucy Liu ) for the first time and learns that Rickey’s bar has now passed on to her. Instead of selling the place like her husband wants, Maybelline decides to keep the bar alive in memory of her son by turning a trio of drag performers into bona fide singers.  

Even with added drama from Sienna’s abusive date and another drag performer, Joan ( Allister MacDonald ), struggling with addiction, Brad Hennig ’s script is predictable. For the most part, these are not characters but templates, a hodgepodge of adjectives that represent the idea of a person but never quite feeling like someone you would meet. Outside of Maybelline’s unsurprising “normie mom learns to accept the fabulous gays” arc, Nathan is perhaps the next biggest character, and sadly, he’s only got two moods: resentful or supportive. Grenier spends so much time being angry, it feels like an overdrawn temper tantrum. Another major part of the story is Sienna, a blunt-smoking-while-pushing-the-baby stroller mom who looks more like a bad comedian’s punchline about San Francisco. Eventually, we’re supposed to care for her character because she finds herself in trouble, but even that feels judgmental, as if it were punishment for being a single mom trying to date. If main characters like Nathan and Sienna feel empty, then what hope do performers like Cherry ( Mya Taylor ) and Tequila ( Oscar Moreno ) have? Even when unexpected characters arrive, like the charming hotel concierge August ( Anthony Skordi ) who befriends Maybelline, there’s a sense of where this story’s going, and it’s hardly ever a surprise. 

To their credit, most of the actors do what they can with what they’ve been given. Weaver adapts her tough mama person to a level of Baptist nice who winces when someone curses but isn’t afraid to wield a gun when necessary. Skordi isn’t as convincing as a former hippie turned head concierge, but he sells the charming bit as well as he can. The trio of performers—Joan, Tequila and Cherry—may not make the best singers, but they work well together. Moreno and MacDonald share the spotlight at different times as the most out-going queens, and Taylor plays the shiest one of the three. As Cherry, she’s much more soft-spoken but also dealing with her own set of problems as a trans woman, and she brings a world of patience to all of the blow ups around her. Although Grenier’s angry performance feels more petulant than nuanced, Liu seems to have fun playing her irresponsible character, making herself look as messy and weary as she possibly can. 

However sweet the story is, Fitzgerald never makes “Stage Mother” into something memorable. The cinematography is merely serviceable and the stock footage-like sweeps of the city feel terribly canned, like a TV show made on the cheap. Honestly, the movie’s premise is a bit of a bummer in it of itself. It takes a God-fearing straight white woman to help a group of queer men and women get their groove back after a traumatic loss, and I’m not sure that storyline is as progressive as it wanted to be. 

Monica Castillo

Monica Castillo is a critic, journalist, programmer, and curator based in New York City. She is the Senior Film Programmer at the Jacob Burns Film Center and a contributor to  RogerEbert.com .

• Jacki Weaver as Maybelline
• Lucy Liu as Sienna
• Adrian Grenier as Nathan
• Lenore Zann as Bevette
• Anthony Skordi as August
• Mya Taylor as Cherry
• Allister MacDonald as Joan
• Brad Hennig
• Thom Fitzgerald

Cinematographer

• Thomas M. Harting
• Warren Robert
• Yaniv Dabach

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‘Stage Mother’: Film Review

Jacki Weaver's small-town Texas choirmaster takes over a San Francisco gay club's drag revue in this genial if formulaic seriocomedy.

By Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey

Film Critic

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The late Richard Benner’s 1977 “Outrageous!” blazed trails as both a hit Canadian export and positive screen depiction of gay life, two relative rarities at the time. Even then, some gay viewers found the funny-sad friendship between a hairdresser/professional drag queen and a young schizophrenic woman a bit old-fashioned. But everybody was won over by Craig Russell’s stage impersonations of Hollywood stars — schmaltz and camp being a reliable combination for gay cinema with crossover ambitions.

That formula has scarcely altered 43 years later for “ Stage Mother .” It’s the latest from Thom Fitzgerald, whose 1997 “The Hanging Garden” was also shot in Nova Scotia, and helped herald a new, perhaps more politically bold and artistically adventuresome generation of gay Canadian filmmakers. His more recent work has fitted into a time-tested mould of sentimental seriocomedy, however. This tale of a small-town Texas matron who inherits her estranged son’s San Francisco drag bar offers up smiles, tears and glitter fit for those who might yet find “Outrageous!” a little too outré. It’s a genial if patly contrived crowdpleaser that hits all funny-sad beats right on cue. Momentum Pictures plans U.S. theatrical and VOD release on Aug. 21.

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Set in “San Francisco,” but filmed largely in Halifax, apart from scenic postcard exterior shots, the film evokes the pre-AIDS Gay Mecca of four decades ago. Brief mention of high rents aside, we seem to be in a time warp as star Jacki Weaver asks, “How many drag shows are there in San Francisco?,” the implication being “Too many to count, of course.” But in real life, the city’s last permanent, tourist-drawing such venue closed before the turn of the millennium.

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Never mind: Brad Hennig’s screenplay seems content to be set in a milieu of mingled nostalgia and formulaic imagination. Cribbing from the Del Shores playbook, he introduces us to Maybelline Metcalf (Weaver), dainty but sharp-tongued Southern Baptist choirmaster in Red Vine, Texas, population 1,500. Informed her only child has fatally OD’d (we’ve already witnessed his druggy onstage collapse), she traipses off to wrap up his affairs in sinful San Francisco — sans husband Jeb (Hugh Thompson), who even in death can’t forgive their son for bein’ a quar.

She gets a frosty reception from the late Ricky’s boyfriend Nathan (Adrian Grenier) and his other business associates at drag emporium Pandora’s Box, where he both created and performed in the nightly revue. They’ve all heard tales of his rejecting Texas kin, even if Maybelline was a reluctant party to that disownment. Nonetheless, she is his heir by default. The club is in poor shape, financially and otherwise. But mom decides that rather than sell off its assets, she’ll put together a new show herself.

“Stage Mother” demands we accept that church choir duties have somehow prepared her for this task, and that hitherto lip-synching Cherry Poppins (Mya Taylor), Joan of Arkansas (Allister MacDonald) and Tequila Mockingbird (Oscar Moreno) inevitably turn out to have fine singing voices. Meanwhile Maybelline is being discreetly courted by a senior hotel concierge (Anthony Skordi), though she’s soon renting the apartment couch of Ricky’s erstwhile BFF Sienna (Lucy Liu), who needs a babysitter for her fatherless infant anyway. Needless to say, the action climaxes in a triumphant re-opening, complete with “Total Eclipse of the Heart” rendition in total earnest.

The corniness of that and so much else here has a certain comfort-food appeal. Fitzgerald lends the material as much conviction as it will bear, plus a light touch that helps tone down the more maudlin bits. But the script mostly defines characters by their dysfunctions, which somehow only a sweet li’l old Texas lady’s folksy wisdoms (and occasional gun-waving) can magically cure. The film inadvertently revives the old-school notion that LGBT folk are outwardly “flamboyant” yet inwardly lonely souls crippled by substance abuse, lack of parental love and self-acceptance, etc. Even pleasingly crass cis Sienna turns out to be a hot mess of insecurities in need of a Lone Star mom’s healing gumption. There’s a whole lot of twinkle-eyed overnight problem solving and thankful hugs in the last reel here.

After lending her character some initial flintiness, Weaver settles into a goody-two-shoes interpretation that could use a tad more edge, as well as comic snap. Ditto the club performances, which are mediocre both when Pandora’s Box is meant to be failing from depleted artistic inspiration, and when it’s packing ’em in with supposedly terrific new routines.

Nonetheless, “Stage Mother’s” trappings are colorful and lively enough to make it at least feel like the splashy, big-hearted “La Cage aux Folles”-type funfest intended. That may well be enough for viewers ripe for such a package. James Worthen’s costumes and Michael Pierson’s production design manage sufficient glitz where needed on modest means, with d.p. Thomas M. Harting’s images lending a pleasant warmth to the briskly paced proceedings overall. There’s much about “Stage Mother” that’s slightly stale, but like yesterday’s donut, the icing on top makes it both look inviting and go down easily enough.

Reviewed online, San Francisco, June 19, 2020. (In Palm Springs, Frameline film festivals.) Running time: 93 MIN.

• Production: (Canada) A Momentum Pictures release of a Branded Pictures Entertainment, Idiot Savant Pictures, Emotion Pictures production, in association with Braemer House Prods. (Int'l sales: Film Mode Entertainment, Beverly Hills.) Producers: J. Todd Harris, Anne Clements, Brad Hennig, Laurie Kraus Lacob, Doug Pettigrew. Executive producers: Thom Fitzgerald, Clay Epstein. Co-producers: Bob Falkenberg, Martha Falkenberg, Valeta Massey.
• Crew: Director: Thom Fitzgerald. Screenplay: Brad Hennig. Camera: Thomas M. Harting. Editors: Yaniv Dabach, Angela Baker. Music: Warren Robert.
• With: Jacki Weaver, Lucy Liu, Adrian Grenier, Mya Taylor, Allister MacDonald, Oscar Moreno, Lenore Zann, Hugh Thompson, Anthony Skordi, Jackie Beat.

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‘stage mother’: film review | palm springs 2020.

Jacki Weaver plays a Texan who inherits her estranged son's San Francisco drag club in 'Stage Mother,' a comic drama that also stars Lucy Liu, Adrian Grenier and Mya Taylor, of 'Tangerine.'

By Sheri Linden

Sheri Linden

Senior Copy Editor/Film Critic

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Like many a stage mother, Thom Fitzgerald’s comic drama is pushy. It tries too hard, in all too obvious ways, to win over the audience. But its optimistic, ultra-schematic story is an olive branch of sorts between Southern Baptist suburbia and San Francisco gaytopia — and who couldn’t use an olive branch these days, or a shot of optimism?

Despite the often heavy-handed direction of Fitzgerald, working from a screenplay by Brad Hennig ( The Hot Flashes ) that offers bursts of tartness amid a whole lotta strained and lesson-y exchanges, the performances often shine. Jacki Weaver is luminous and affecting as a bereaved mother who becomes an absurdly effective catalyst in the lives of her late son’s friends. And the central trio of drag performers are terrific, onstage and off. Stage Mother could prove a crowd-pleaser for audiences who are willing to overlook its clunkiness.

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Weaver plays Maybelline, a church choir director who heads tearfully to the Coast for the funeral of her son, Rickey (Eldon Thiele), a drug casualty. She leaves Red Vine, Texas, over the objections of her husband, Jeb (Hugh Thompson), a character so simplistically written that the emotional stakes for Maybelline never feel particularly high. “We did it your way for 10 years,” the departing Maybelline tells Jeb, referring to their refusal to speak with their son after he moved West and came out as gay.

In the Castro District she quickly falls in with Rickey’s best friend, single mother Sienna (a warm turn from Lucy Liu , who starred in the helmer’s 2005 AIDS drama 3 Needles ). From Nathan ( Adrian Grenier ), Rickey’s business partner and husband in all but name, Maybelline receives nothing but animosity. Understandably, he’s not pleased that she and Jeb are the inheritors of Pandora’s Box, the drag club Rickey owned and performed in — and Grenier, in a thinly conceived and unconvincing role, is saddled with especially stilted dialogue to that effect.

It couldn’t be more apparent where all this is going. Even so, Maybelline becomes enlightened, opens her heart, and spreads her maternal magic with such head-spinning rapidity that it undercuts much of the intended poignancy. First she creates a new show for the club, coaxing Rickey’s “drag sisters” — Joan (Allister MacDonald), Cherry (Mya Taylor) and Tequila (Oscar Moreno) — to sing rather than lip-sync. Naturally, they all have great voices. And the bartender just happens to play a mean piano.

More credible is the way Maybelline gets busy helping Sienna with childcare (her infant boy, not to put too fine a point on it, is named Rickey). Maybelline makes extraordinarily quick work of healing the drag sisters’ pain: She stages a one-person intervention for the drug-snorting Joan, arranges a rapprochement between Tequila and her disapproving mother, and encourages a struggling-to-transition Cherry to make a clean break from a past relationship.

“You shouldn’t let a dead marriage hold you back,” Maybelline tells Cherry — words clearly meant for herself as well. And in short order she’s caught the eye of a hotel concierge (Anthony Skordi) with a compelling bass voice, a fellow Texan who’s given an intriguing sliver of backstory.

Maybelline’s peace-making prowess extends to the club’s former hostess, Dusty Muffin (an excellent Jackie Beat, aka Ken Fuher), and goes over the top when she reveals herself to be a pistol-packing enemy of sexual abusers. She’s utterly unstoppable, and you might not be able to stop yourself from shouting “Enough already!” at the screen.

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Everyone in Maybelline’s orbit is less of a hot mess after a few weeks with her, but beneath her character’s homespun superheroic surface, and beyond the writing that spells out emotions with a bold marker, Weaver gives us a tremulous, awakening spirit. She suggests the lingering confusion and self-blame over a bungled relationship with an adult child. Fitzgerald’s judicious use of flashback imagery, rather than scenes with dialogue, adeptly conveys what Maybelline and Rickey once shared, and what they lost.

Establishing shots of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Castro and the Fairmont Hotel, in combination with Michael Pierson’s superb, character-defining production design, conjure a believable City by the Bay in this Halifax, Nova Scotia-shot feature. The narrative itself might be harder to buy, but the musical performances, not least the tear-jerking extravagance of the final number (with Weaver in fine voice), always hit the spot.

Venue: Palm Springs International Film Festival (Queer Cinema Today) Production companies: Film Mode Entertainment, Branded Pictures Entertainment, Idiot Savant Pictures, Emotion Pictures Cast: Jacki Weaver, Lucy Liu, Adrian Grenier, Mya Taylor, Allister MacDonald, Oscar Moreno, Lenore Zann, Hugh Thompson, Anthony Skordi, Jackie Beat, Eldon Thiele, Sofia Banzhaf Director: Thom Fitzgerald Screenwriter: Brad Hennig Producers: J. Todd Harris, Anne Clements, Brad Hennig, Laurie Kraus Lacob, Doug  Pettigrew Executive producers: Thom Fitzgerald, Clay Epstein, Laurie Lacob Director of photography: Thomas M. Harting Production designer: Michael Pierson Costume designer: James Worthen Editor: Yaniv Dabach Composer: Warren Robert

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Stage Mother

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

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Stage Mother Review

24 Jul 2020

Stage Mother

There’s much to enjoy in Stage Mother — Thom Fitzgerald’s raucous follow-up to 2018 festival favourite Splinters — which follows an older Texan woman as she makes an eye-opening trip to San Francisco following the drugs-related death of her drag-queen son. Jacki Weaver is a real treat as Maybelline, a closeted Southern church-choir director who takes over the running of her son’s gay bar, to the initial horror of his grieving partner, Nathan ( Entourage ’s Adrian Grenier in an underwritten role). And, as she is won over by the unconstrained lifestyle, which forces her to take a fresh look at her own happiness, the pure ‘walk a mile in my shoes’ optimism of the story is undeniably something of a tonic.

Yet Brad Hennig’s screenplay also suffers from an unevenness of tone, which threatens to derail it at key moments. That Maybelline and her one-note backwater husband Jeb (Hugh Thompson) are meant as ciphers for ignorant Red State conservatism and, similarly, that the employees and patrons of bar Pandora’s Box embody euphoric free-thinking liberalism is somewhat par for the course with such a culture-clash drama. But, at times, its over-earnestness gets in the way of the natural pace of the story. It’s not enough for Maybelline to embrace her son’s lifestyle and become more independent in her own right (along the way she also tackles such things as drug addiction and sexual consent). While her straight-talking efforts — to help tortured drag performer Joan of Arkansas (a compelling Allister MacDonald) with his narcotics habit, and her son’s best friend and single mother Sienna (Lucy Liu, charming) to fend off an over-amorous sexual partner — are well-intentioned, they feel more like box-ticking than a real exploration of the issues at hand.

The film really hits the high notes whenever Joan and fellow performers Cherry and Tequila Mockingbird are on stage.

Still, as one of Canada’s pioneering gay filmmakers, Fitzgerald ( The Hanging Garden , 3 Needles ) ensures that his characters take proud centre stage, and the film really hits the high notes whenever Joan and fellow performers Cherry ( Tangerine ’s Mya Cherry) and Tequila Mockingbird (Oscar Moreno) are on stage. The film hard-sells Maybelline’s suitability for the task, be it her time overseeing a stilted small- town choir equipping her for choreographing drag numbers, or belting out show-tunes with her young son in flashback. Thanks to her expert tutelage, the trio blossom from lip-syncing caricatures to impressive drag divas with the power to draw a huge crowd.

Under the discerning gaze of cinematographer Tom Harting, Halifax in Nova Scotia is an impressive stand-in for San Francisco, its gleaming cityscape still a beacon of love and acceptance that’s in direct contract to the dusty, decaying ideals of small-town USA. And by the time Stage Mother reaches its unsurprisingly upbeat ending, everything tied up in a sequinned bow to the strains of Weaver and pals belting out ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’, its timely message of unity and hope may well have won over even the most cynical of viewers.

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Too often, some of these queer classics were limited by micro budgets and/or distribution which relegated release to art-house theaters in a sprinkling of major metropolitan areas, so it’s a welcome treat to see a revitalizing Jacki Weaver bring an extra cup of kindness as the warm, empathetic lead in a narrative which resists the limitations of its stereotypes with keenly heartfelt aplomb.

Jacki Weaver has had a fascinating, unpredictable career trajectory. Technically once categorized as a character actress (she was a supporting player in the Peter Weir classic Picnic at Hanging Rock , 1975), her career surged after an Oscar nod a decade ago thanks to David Michod’s Animal Kingdom (followed by another for The Silver Linings Playbook in 2012). Often villainous and almost always kooky, Weaver expertly flies between genres with ease, and whether you’re watching her steal scenes in Poms (2019) or deliver weirdness in Bird Box (2018) or Stoker (2013), she’s always a highlight. And with Stage Mother she effortlessly transforms from repressed Texas housewife to a scion of gracious maternity as a mama hungry for spiritual retribution following the overdose of her estranged son. Even if the beats of Brad Hennig’s fun but familiar narrative are sometimes predictable, there’s nary a false note or schmaltzy bit from Weaver, who clings to her San Francisco tribe like a brood of lost hatchlings.

While Adrien Grenier is interesting, one wishes he would have had a few more scenes to suss out Nathan’s transformation from a bitter, grieving partner to his eventual acceptance and understanding of Maybelline, a woman with her own yoke to bear thanks to the choices she’s made. Likewise, Lucy Liu (who also appeared in Fitzgerald’s underrated 3 Needles , 2005), while refreshing to see as a bedraggled, sexually liberated single mother, is perhaps more catalyzing window dressing than anything.

The real pulse of Stage Mother comes from Weaver’s interplay with Mya Taylor (of Sean Baker’s beautiful Tangerine , 2015), Allister MacDonald and Oscar Moreno. And then there’s drag queen icon Jackie Beat, effective in drag and out, as Dusty Muffin. What could have been a hamfisted movie romance with August, a hotel concierge played by Anthony Skordi, is instead a rather touching entanglement with Weaver. But the showstopper is a moving and beautifully staged tribute to Maybelline’s dead son, a live performance of the Bonnie Tyler ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

These are echoes of the pain and melancholy in Fitzgerald’s 2003 film The Event , which left us with Olympia Dukakis leaving a voicemail on her deceased son’s answering machine. Sweet and poignant without being overstated, it’s a rare, uplifting take on forgiveness and empathy perhaps necessary now more than ever.

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Stage Mother (2020)

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Stage mother.

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Common Sense Media Review

Bawdy comedy puts lipstick on overcoming prejudice.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Stage Mother is a comedy that promotes tolerance and inclusion, as well as self-discovery. Characters who start out on opposite sides of the belief spectrum -- coming from the LGBQT+ community and from the Southern religious conservative community -- demonstrate to viewers that even…

Why Age 15+?

Strong language, some of it sexual in nature, includes "a--hole," "balls," "bitc

Sexual assault. Gun pointed to stop an attacker.

Heavy sexual slang, conversation, innuendo. One scene of sexual activity shows a

Drug use, depicted in a negative light. Smoking without consequences. Primary lo

Several references to the high cost of living in San Francisco, including taking

Any Positive Content?

Love means acceptance and support. Message of building a bridge to people whose

While Maybelline, a Southern conservative Christian, didn't step up while her so

Strong language, some of it sexual in nature, includes "a--hole," "balls," "bitch," "blow," "bulls--t," "d--k," "piss," "p---y," "s--t," "sluttiest," "sucks," and several uses of "f--k."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Heavy sexual slang, conversation, innuendo. One scene of sexual activity shows a nude male (genitals covered) and a woman wearing bra and underwear. Comedic sexual gestures. Plot hinges on a character's sexual identity. Married woman goes on a date with someone who's not her husband.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Drug use, depicted in a negative light. Smoking without consequences. Primary location is a bar. A shot is taken for courage, discussion of free drinks as a reward, and friends drink wine together.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Several references to the high cost of living in San Francisco, including taking a shot at grocer Whole Foods.

Positive Messages

Love means acceptance and support. Message of building a bridge to people whose lifestyle may be different from yours. Communication is a theme.

Positive Role Models

While Maybelline, a Southern conservative Christian, didn't step up while her son was alive, she reconnects with him/his memory by caring for and protecting the people he loved. The film's LGBTQ+ community includes positive representations of a Black transgender woman and a friend of the community who's an Asian American woman.

Parents need to know that Stage Mother is a comedy that promotes tolerance and inclusion, as well as self-discovery. Characters who start out on opposite sides of the belief spectrum -- coming from the LGBQT+ community and from the Southern religious conservative community -- demonstrate to viewers that even those who are very different have a lot to gain from one another. Main character Maybelline ( Jacki Weaver ) is made sympathetic through her realization (belated as it is) that alienating her child because of his sexual identity was a mistake, and the importance of both communication and unconditional love are clear themes. Sexual innuendo, mostly used for humor, is off the charts, and there's plenty of swearing ("s--t," "p---y," "f--k," etc.), too. Despite all the sex talk, there's only one scene that depicts a sex act, but it may be troubling to viewers, as it involves a consensual sex act that turns into assault. Someone points a gun at an attacker. Drug use is shown, but it's depicted in a negative light. On the other hand, smoking is shown without consequence, and most of the movie's action takes place in a bar, where drinking is shown positively. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

What's the Story?

In STAGE MOTHER, conservative Texas church choir leader Maybelline ( Jacki Weaver ) travels to San Francisco against her husband's wishes to attend the funeral of their son Rickey (Eldon Thiele), whom they became estranged from because he was gay. She inherits Rickey's faltering drag club and begins to realize that it's not the only thing that needs turning around.

Is It Any Good?

While everything falls together a little too easily, this musical comedy about working through prejudice encourages empathy for and understanding of others. It makes heroes of both "sides" (the LGBTQ+ community and Southern Evangelical Christians) while also nudging each about where they could do better. Having a sympathetic main character who's been part of the Religious Right is notable: Hollywood can't create a world of equal inclusivity if it excludes a significant portion of the population. That said, for a woman who didn't maintain contact with Rickey because of her disapproval of his identity, Maybelline turns around pretty quickly to embrace and mother his friends, partner, and colleagues. Similarly, they quite speedily create a cozy relationship with her. It's all a little pat, but aside from that nagging bit of convenience, the film is heartwarming, funny, and entertaining.

The success of the film rests on Weaver's capable shoulders, and she proves once again that she's a phenomenal acting talent. As Maybelline, she creates a character who's gentle and caring, awakening to who she's been and the grave mistake she's made. Weaver's comedy chops are sharp, and she's perfectly paired with co-star Lucy Liu , who turns comedic dialogue into barbed wire laughs. The same can't be said for Adrian Grenier , alas, from whom nothing rings true. He plays Nathan, Rickey's life partner, who runs the business side of their operation. For Grenier, the role is the opportunity to break out of his womanizing Entourage character, but instead he just demonstrates his lack of acting chops. On the other hand, his character is the only one who totally avoids stereotypes. The drag shows have dazzling costumes and fun music -- when the finale hits, it's the kind of over-the-top moment you might expect, with an emotional impact you won't.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about stereotypes . Does Stage Mother reinforce or undermine LGBTQ+ stereotypes? What about stereotypes about Southern Christians? Do you think Maybelline, Bevette, and Jeb play into or defy the typical characterization?

How does the media's modern portrayal of drag culture compare to the past, when heterosexual comedians like Milton Berle, Tom Hanks, and Martin Lawrence would dress up like women for laughs? How does highlighting a marginalized community in film or TV encourage inclusion and awareness?

What do you think Stage Mother 's intent is? Do you think it succeeds in conveying that message?

How do the characters use communication to overcome their prejudices? What do they eventually gain from their new perspective?

What does the movie say about acceptance? How should people interact with friends or family members who don't share the same beliefs or values that they do?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 21, 2020
• On DVD or streaming : August 21, 2020
• Cast : Jacki Weaver , Lucy Liu , Adrian Grenier
• Director : Thom Fitzgerald
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Asian actors
• Studio : Entertainment One
• Genre : Comedy
• Topics : Friendship
• Character Strengths : Communication
• Run time : 93 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : sexual content including an assault, language and some drug use
• Last updated : June 2, 2023

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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What to watch next.

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Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – Stage Mother (2020)

July 22, 2020 by Tom Beasley

Stage Mother , 2020.

Directed by Thom Fitzgerald. Starring Jacki Weaver, Lucy Liu, Adrian Grenier, Mya Taylor, Oscar Moreno, Allister MacDonald, Jackie Beat, Lenore Zann and Hugh Thompson.

When her drag queen son dies, a conservative Texas woman inherits the gay bar he owned with his boyfriend.

The soaring popularity of RuPaul’s Drag Race – various incarnations of the show have barely been off screens for the entirety of this year – has brought the world of drag to a much bigger audience. It’s now becoming a far more popular presence in cinema too, with last year’s Brit drama Tucked using the world of drag to tell an intriguing story about rising stars and fading veterans – albeit one that never quite explained why the medium has such escapist joy. Some similar problems afflict Thom Fitzgerald’s Stage Mother , though the movie is a fleet-footed and enjoyable tale.

It’s a fish-out-of-water story, following God-fearing Texan mother Maybelline (Jacki Weaver) as she travels to San Francisco following the death of her estranged son, Ricky. He had moved out of the family home years prior after Maybelline and his father Jeb (Hugh Thompson) proved intolerant of his sexuality and love of performing. Maybelline discovers that she has inherited Pandora’s Box – the gay club Ricky had owned with his partner Nathan (Adrian Grenier). Armed with the idea that the queens should sing rather than lip-sync, Maybelline sets about turning the club’s fortunes around while providing childcare for Ricky’s best friend Sienna (Lucy Liu).

There are very few surprises in Stage Mother , which traces the fairly standard track of this sort of movie. The warm, quick-witted Weaver serves as a sort of heavenly matriarch for many of the queens at the club, helping them with family issues, addiction and relationships in a way that seems far too streetwise for her supposedly homespun way of thinking. Maybelline describes her hometown as “a big clump of white flour” in an increasingly colourful world, and it’s certainly a land of churches and flagpoles outside every home, but it doesn’t take long for her to become a fully paid-up lover of the drag arts and agony aunt for gay and trans issues.

Fortunately, the performances are solid across the board, with Tangerine star Mya Taylor a particular standout as a trans woman in the midst of her journey. The only weak link is Adrian Grenier, though admittedly the role of Nathan is desperately under-written in favour of the more dramatic struggles of the bar’s resident performers. It’s also a shame to see experienced drag performer Jackie Beat given a role that amounts to little more than an extended cameo.

Weaver is very much the heart of the movie and it’s impossible not to be charmed by her. While she slots into the drag community a little too easily, it’s a delight to witness her growing confidence in being her own person, rather than meekly following the prejudices of her deeply dull husband. Director Thom Fitzgerald has a tendency to over-crank some of the more significant moments, but this succeeds as often as it fails. Most notably, a scene in which Maybelline holds a sexual abuser at gunpoint is a powerful show of defiance from a woman who has earned the courage to speak her mind.

Fitzgerald’s movie, too, appreciates the fun of drag, even if it never quite gets to the heart of what makes it such a diverse and enjoyable art form. This is a movie in which depth is in rather short supply. The notion of queens singing, meanwhile, is far from revolutionary to anyone who has seen an episode or two of Drag Race , but the lewd jokes are delivered with enjoyable venom and the sparky banter between the queens is a joy to behold, particularly when it bumps against Maybelline’s church-going moral sensibilities about sex.

Stage Mother is a slight, light-footed film that is never attempting to reinvent the wheel – because it doesn’t need to. Anchored by the always reliable Weaver, it’s able to explore the silliness and sparkles of drag while providing enough punch-the-air moments to ensure that everyone will leave the cinema with a broad smile across their face and Bonnie Tyler burrowing, earworm-style, into their brains. There are certainly worse ways than that to spend an evening.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★

Tom Beasley is a freelance film journalist and wrestling fan. Follow him on Twitter via @TomJBeasley for movie opinions, wrestling stuff and puns.

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Stage Mother Movie

Who's Involved:

Lucy Liu, Thom Fitzgerald, Jackie Beat, Adrian Grenier, Mya Taylor

Release Date:

Friday, August 21, 2020 Limited Friday, August 21, 2020 VOD / Digital

Plot: What's the story about?

When conservative, Texas church-choir director Maybelline (Jacki Weaver) inherits her recently deceased son’s drag club, she surprises her closed-minded husband and everyone else she knows by moving alone to San Francisco to save the club from bankruptcy. In this raucous, racy new environment, she begins to open up and find new meaning for her life, even becoming a mother-figure to the club’s flamboyant performers …until a surprise visit threatens to upend her new life.

5.00 / 5 stars ( 5 users)

Poll: Will you see Stage Mother?

Who stars in Stage Mother: Cast List

Red One, Presence  

Adrian Grenier

Marauders, Arsenal  

Tangerine  

Jackie Beat

Who's making Stage Mother: Crew List

A look at the Stage Mother behind-the-scenes crew and production team. The film's director Thom Fitzgerald last directed The Event .

Thom Fitzgerald

Screenwriter

Production Companies

Watch stage mother trailers & videos.

Official Trailer

Production: what we know about stage mother, filming timeline.

• 2020 - August : The film was set to Completed  status.

Stage Mother Release Date: When was the film released?

Stage Mother was a Limited release in 2020 on Friday, August 21, 2020 . There were 15 other movies released on the same date, including Unhinged , The Vanished and Inception . As a Limited release, Stage Mother will only be shown in select movie theaters across major markets. Please check Fandango and Atom Tickets to see if the film is playing in your area.

Q&A Asked about Stage Mother

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Follow the Updates

• Sat., Aug. 8, 2020
• added Official Trailer to movie trailers & videos
• added Momentum Pictures as a distributor
• added Thom Fitzgerald as director and screenwriter to movie credits
• set film release to VOD / Digital
• added the US film release date of August 21, 2020
• added a link from facebook.com
• changed the US film release date from TBA to August 21, 2020
• set film release to Limited
• set the MPAA rating to R for sexual content including an assault, language and some drug use
• added Jackie Beat as actor to movie credits

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By Don Morton

Stage Mother

Superficial Drag

February 25, 2021

When a Midwestern choir director (Jacki Weaver) learns of the death of her son, the owner and star of a moth-eaten San Francisco drag club, she travels there despite her macho husband’s objections to put her boy’s affairs in order. Once in the City by the Bay, she inspires the club’s cast of equally moth-eaten queens to ditch the lip-synching and belt out their own songs, to great and glittering success.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar ; and Kinky Boots are just a few films of the “heartwarming drag queen” subgenre that have successfully crossed viewer sexual orientation lines to achieve universal acclaim. But while this is a warm-hearted attempt to join that sorority, it never quite rises above the merely perfunctory. It’s just too derivative, lazy and slightly stale. (93 min)

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Jacki Weaver ditches the diocese for drag queens in wild Stage Mother trailer

Lucy Liu, drag icon Jackie Beat, Tangerine star Mya Taylor, and Adrian Grenier round out the cast.

America's Next Drag Superstar is: Two-time Oscar-nominated legend Jacki Weaver .

The Australian actress fronts the bonkers trailer for the upcoming queer-themed movie Stage Mother , in which the Silver Linings Playbook star plays Maybelline, a "baptist choir mistress" who reluctantly inherits her recently deceased, estranged son's struggling San Francisco drag bar.

With the help of her late son's friends ( Lucy Liu , Adrian Grenier ) and a few local glamour girls (including club icon Jackie Beat and Tangerine star Mya Taylor), Maybelline moves from the southern comforts of Texas to the West Coast to help keep her family legacy — and the bar — afloat in ways she never imagined, like, say, becoming an unwitting house mother to a group of feisty drag queens and taking the stage herself for an over-the-top performance in full wig-and-makeup eleganza.

Directed by Forgive Me producer Thom Fitzgerald, Stage Mother will be released in select theaters and on digital platforms, including VOD, beginning Aug. 21. Watch the film's new trailer above, and keep up with EW's ongoing drag coverage here .

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A conservative church-choir director moves from Texas to San Francisco to run her deceased gay son's drag club.

Videos: Trailers, Teasers, Featurettes

Where does Stage Mother rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Stage Mother is 9467 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 4760 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than The Invisible Witness but less popular than I Am Here.

Streaming charts last updated: 1:18:27 PM, 09/10/2024

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Stage Mother

The Plot: Deep in rural Texas, church choir director Maybelline (Jacki Weaver) gets a call from San Francisco. Her estranged son has died in dramatic fashion – while performing at a drag club. Not having spoken to him for years, Maybelline nevertheless makes the journey to San Francisco where she discovers her son’s lifestyle just being himself. She bristles with the club’s co-owner Nathan (Adrien Grenier), who also happened to be her son’s partner. With the club left in the will to her as the surviving relative, Maybelline must now put aside her conservative values and embrace the colour, glitz and flamboyance of her troupe of lip-syncing characters…

The Verdict:  One can imagine new release Stage Mother being positioned as post-lockdown cinema viewing. Having being picked up at the (virtual) Cannes market recently, it appears to have the kind of upbeat albeit unrealistic tone that one would expect of a film like this. A fish-out-of-water element mixed in with the lively, rainbow-coloured San Francisco drag queen scene. Add in a two-time Oscar-nominated Australian actor and it should be the sparkling recipe for a wild night out at the cinema. The Birdcage this is not though. Sadly though, Stage Mother is a real drag throughout and lands itself firmly in the iffy category.

As is often the case, the blame lies mostly in Brian Hennig’s uninspiring script. It tries to position itself early on as a clash of two opposing forces, with the memory of a departed son / co-worker hanging in the balance. That underlying tension is hinted at in the prickly relationship between Maybelline and Nathan, with the latter apparently having absorbed all of his partner’s issues with Maybelline and then spewing them out as if they were his own. This makes for ostensibly engaging drama and a frosty relationship thawing out over the running time, with Weaver and Grenier doing what they can with their thinly-written characters. However, Hennig conveniently sidesteps / gives up on these character issues and instead goes down a more predictable route by shifting the focus around to less interesting character dynamics.

With a flat script to work with, director Thom Fitzgerald doesn’t fare much better. His workmanlike direction tries to pump some life into the script but he doesn’t succeed. There’s little story momentum, other than suggesting that Maybelline is just the ticket to get the show on the road again. This leads to a big put-on-the-show sequence towards the end which clumsily tries to amalgamate the themes of the film. It all comes across as fake sincerity, as the onstage drama gives way to the kind of yawn-inducing acceptance that will have viewers looking at their watches. Given a seriously under-used Lucy Liu and a fabulous cast of drag queens (including Mya Taylor from the brilliantly trashy Tangerine), this really should have been a lot more raucous fun for the audience.

Rating: 2 / 5

Review by Gareth O’Connor

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TIFF Review: Heretic is a Chamber Piece of Subversions Exploring the Concept of God

Missionary work has always fascinated me. Not when it’s performed abroad as a means of indoctrinating people who might otherwise be unaware. I mean here, in America, where anyone fascinated with religion could simply walk up to a church, synagogue, or mosque and ask to learn. Yes, there’s a degree of marketing at play and companies have advertising budgets to spend in ways that also serve their flock by providing them a façade of purpose, but to have a door opened with a resident genuinely saying “you’ve converted me” is insane. It happens, though. People are impressionable. People are lonely.

That’s where Scott Beck and Bryan Woods leave us at the start of Heretic . With the question of which describes Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) best. Because he did request information. The Church of Latter Day Saints wouldn’t have sent Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) over if they didn’t believe he was ready and willing to at least consider baptism. We know differently, though. We know some people say “yes” to loaded pitches to be polite and extricate themselves from conversations they don’t want. Is that the case with Reed here? Could he be a true believer? Or perhaps he has an agenda of his own.

Do Barnes and Paxton consider that last option? Maybe the former does. She seems a bit more worldly, in the sense that the latter appears to be the definition of naïve. That doesn’t, however, mean she’ll enter into this sales call with cynicism. No, both of these women’s faith is unwavering. They wouldn’t dare disrespect their God by presuming He didn’t send them to this house for a reason. They will wear their smiles and deflect Reed’s obvious provocations because they have a duty to perform. It’s only when they unsuccessfully ask to see his wife multiple times and he leaves them alone long enough to really study the room they’re in that the fact they’ve become the mark is made clear.

Mr. Reed seeks to convert them . To Satanism? Atheism? Science? Maybe he just wants to toy with them by turning the tables on this dance––a sort of middle finger to the whole organized religion industry––or maybe he is lonely. Whatever his motivations, his plan to weaponize their piety in ways that force them to trap themselves in no-win situations of his making unfolds. At first his queries are philosophical in nature. Verbal cues and weighted decisions that have them questioning and / or confirming their beliefs. Then his requests become tangible. Sensorial. Barnes and Paxton must perform. Finally they become violent. Traumatic. How far will they let Reed take them? Do they have the power to stop him?

As a bona fide chamber piece focusing upon this trio for the duration (save a couple supporting players meant to inject potential answers and increase the already tense atmosphere of dread), Heretic is dialogue heavy due to the debate about God that commences. Don’t think the visuals will bore you, though––the setting of Reed’s house rapidly evolves into a puzzle box meticulously constructed to coax his guests out of their comfort zone. Timers and sounds and smells all work in concert to create a sense of unease that better allows Reed to surprise them with his ever-charming delivery and increasingly sinister intent. It’s not long before the only way out is to go further in: a true test of faith.

Their rapport is electric, Grant having the time of his life running circles around what he believes to be two young girls duped into becoming the lambs all religions need to populate their slaughter. The question is therefore whether Reed seeks to slaughter them himself––his forceful rhetoric and mischievous delight could feasibly be altruistic. Because pointedly singing Radiohead’s “Creep” by way of The Hollies’ “The Air That I Breathe,” labeling himself a creep and weirdo in the process, doesn’t mean he isn’t trying to save his guests from a lifetime of exploitation. Although that would be quite the twist, considering Heretic ’s series of subversions and misdirections proves too dark to be only hiding an unsolicited education.

What Reed can’t yet know, though, is that Barnes and Paxton aren’t helpless. He can trap them in a corner with no exit besides the one he’s designated, but that doesn’t mean they will give up without a fight or compromise their identities to escape. If he wants their participation, he must deal with the reality that they’ll challenge each word he speaks. Because despite having a point about what religion’s true purpose is and how each iteration is a facsimile of the rest, a sound premise still demands concrete justification. Reed is too interested in the sound of his own voice to acknowledge his guests see through his bluster and reject his notion of authority.

It’s a helluva ride through the annals of religious history and the ways in which the concept of God has been bought and sold by charlatans and pop culture. Whenever Beck and Woods have you looking one way, they hit you over the head from the opposite direction––everywhere they take us is perfectly measured to usher in the next test of will. It’s thus a testament to the execution that we can remain on those carefully laid tracks and still feign surprise upon spinning to see the reverse perspective. Credit the strength of Grant’s performance too––a fork-tongued vaudeville act meant to distract us as much as his victims. Heretic might not be as smart as it thinks, but boy is it fun.

Heretic premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and opens on November 15.

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‘Mother Mother’ Review: A Slow Burn Somali Drama Defies Expectations with a Complex Study of Familial Ties

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In the first sequence of “ Mother Mother ” a herd of camels cry out in the dark. Their guttural sounds are their own kind of haunting music as we are drawn into the world of two camel herders in rural Somalia : widow and force-of-nature Qalifo and loyal only son Asa (newcomers Maan Youssouf Ahmed and Elmi Rashid Elmi). 

Shot entirely on location in Kenya and the autonomously-run Somali region of Puntland, Warsame’s collaboration with “City of God” and “The Constant Gardener” (also shot in Kenya) cinematographer César Charlone is a get that, mostly, elevates the film. Although at times the visuals distract more than they reveal. On the whole “Mother Mother” adds up to a thoughtfully rendered and quietly assertive debut that endears us to a protagonist more often seen only in the background and now occupying its center. 

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t initially excited to screen “Mother Mother.” The still photo representing the movie with its deep browns and the mixture of longing and grief on the protagonist’s face are compelling to be sure but also made me wonder: is this just more “poverty porn” about the African continent, another “tradition versus modernity” themed story that’s been done to death? Warsame’s description of the film as being “about the Somali mother…when life is tough, they just get tougher” when introducing the film at TIFF also worried me: is this another one-dimensional story about strong women made by a man?

One senses right away the tensions simmering between a mother and son who rely heavily upon one another in their tight corner of the world. The first third of the film is a slow burn where we’re meant to arrive and immerse ourselves in this pastoral terrain. There’s a vérité quality present as we watch them tend to repetitive and physically demanding work of tending to the camels and all the rudimentary tasks required to take care of a property where no other houses are anywhere in sight. Charlone shoots primarily with handheld, emblematic of the documentary style that has come to be associated with his aesthetic. With a steady stream of extreme close ups that punch in and in, the visuals come at you more than they reveal themselves to you. Wide shots are intercut with tight overexposed close ups where the actor is in profile and the sandy colored earth around them is blown out to white. The back and forth feels distracting rather than revealing at times, a showy move that feels out of step with the overall mise-en-scene. And once Asad’s trajectory takes a dark turn, Ahmed’s performance as Qalifo starts to feel less nuanced and more one note. We search her face for deeper, or at least more varied expression that matches the poignant trajectory of the story.

The most fascinating question “Mother Mother” raises has to do with the meaning of justice. It mines the civic and cultural traditions of the Puntland region of northeastern Somalia to offer up a version of restorative justice. Puntland is self-governing with its own government, judicial system, and policing that operates autonomously while still being part of Somalia’s republic. The particular conception of justice and enforcement of its customs in the region is one where communities make collaborative decisions empowering individuals to come up with less than obvious consequences for unfortunately all too commonplace crimes like homicide. Qalifo’s creative solution in the case of her son becomes a regional cause célèbre that goes viral in the U.S. and Somalia eventually getting her an invitation to meet with the president of Somalia. Warsame intentionally leaves room for interpretation in terms of where to lay blame for the crime committed against her son, resisting the easy pointing of fingers, and this choice resonates in the wake of our current cultural reconsideration of policing and incarceration today. 

“Mother, Mother” premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

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Naomi Scott Is a Pop Star in Danger in New ‘Smile 2’ Image

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The highly-anticipated sequel to the smash box office hit from 2022 just got an exciting new look. Total Film has unveiled a new image of Naomi Scott as Sky Riley in Smile 2 , the sequel which is due in theaters next month on October 18. Sky Riley is a pop star in the movie, and the newly-released image shows her dancing on stage in what appears to be a large concert. In addition to Scott, Smile 2 also stars Kyle Galner , Drew Barrymore , Rosemarie DeWitt , Lukas Gage , Dylan Gelula , Peter Jacobson , and Ray Nicholson . The first trailer for Smile 2 debuted earlier this summer and was met with approval and anticipation from horror fans everywhere, and Paramount just recently revealed a new Smile 2 trailer roughly one month before the film's release in theaters everywhere.

Smile 2 comes from writer/director Parker Finn who made his directorial debut and screenwriting debut on the first film in 2022. Smile was an immediate hit, grossing $22 million domestically during its opening weekend on a reported budget of only $17 million. The film also had major legs at the worldwide box office, finishing its theatrical run with more than $217 million worldwide, meaning it earned back more than ten times its reported cost. Finn will next team up with Robert Pattinson , best known for his role in Twilight and, more recently, The Batman , for a remake of Possession , the 1981 horror film which was written and directed by Andrzej Żuławski .

What Other Movies Are Releasing in October?

Arguably the biggest release coming in October will open the month on the first weekend; Joker: Folie à Deux , the sequel starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga , will hit theaters on October 4. Saturday Night , the drama detailing the lead up to the first ever broadcast of Saturday Night Live in 1975, will also arrive in theaters between Joker 2 and Smile 2 , premiering on October 11. The film stars J.K. Simmons , Willem Dafoe , Nicholas Braun , and many more. Closing out the month of October is Tom Hardy 's final outing as the gooey symbiote; Venom: The Last Dance will premiere in theaters on October 25, and the final entry has also added other stars such as Juno Temple and Chiwetel Ejiofor to its cast.

Smile 2 is expected in theaters on October 18. Check out the new image from the film above, stay tuned to Collider for future updates and coverage, and stream the first Smile on Paramount+ .

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