Internship Mother (2020)

Directed by: Thom Fitzgerald | 93 minutes | comedy, drama, music | Actors: Jacki Weaver, Lucy Liu, Adrian Grenier, Mya Taylor, Allister MacDonald, Anthony Skordi, Oscar Moreno, Jackie Beat, Hugh Thompson, Lenore Zann, Eldon Thiele, Kris Cochrane

What do we have here? Maybelline (Weaver), a middle-aged housewife and church choirmaster, has spent her entire life in rural Texas. Despite unconditional love for only son Rickey (Thiele), Maybelline finds herself in conflict with the values ​​of community and dominant husband, who strongly reject the son’s flamboyant drag queen lifestyle in San Francisco.

Shortly after receiving the sad news that Rickey died of a drug overdose, Maybelline defies her husband and travels to San Francisco, where she meets life partner Nathan (Grenier) and Sienna (Liu), a free-spirited single mother who was Rickey’s best friend. . Maybelline is shocked to learn that because Rickey died without a will, she inherits the nightclub he owned and starred in.

Maybelline discovers that the club is on the brink of bankruptcy, and makes an impulsive decision to help save the day – moving in with Sienna, who is struggling to make ends meet. We are going on a ‘kaleidoscopic journey’ with Maybelline, according to the press kit. “Droll” is a better word for this comedy-drama. The intentions are clear: to laugh affably about a Texas housewife who takes over a drag club, and the resulting culture clash.

A little more sanding is fine, thinks the undersigned, because the gap between conservative and progressive America is bigger than feel good can make up for. Do you often see that acting funny for being funny is being taken for granted. ‘Stage Mother’ is a skinny ‘Shirley Valentine’ – without the British self-mockery. The creators overestimate their resources; the disease is worse. Or is that a European perspective? Perhaps this film will win more souls in The States this way.