Stage Mother is a comedy/drama about a mother from Texas who inherits a San Francisco drag bar when her estranged son passes away.
Jacki Weaver plays Maybelline, who learns of her son, Ricky’s, death through a phone call. Against her husband’s wishes, Maybelline books a flight to San Francisco to attend the funeral. Once there she meets Ricky’s boyfriend, Nathan (Adrian Grenier) and Siena (Lucy Liu), Ricky’s best friend.
Nathan is bitter and angry that Ricky passed away and left him with nothing. He blames Maybelline for turning her back on Ricky. And since Ricky always said he would only marry Nathan if Maybelline was there, he also blames her for that. After all, if they had been married, he would have inherited Ricky’s drag bar, which he manages, instead of Maybelline.
All Maybelline can say is that she’d never turned on her back on Ricky, which is true. Her husband, Jeb, didn’t allow her to contact him, and it’s obvious that the pain she’s feeling is in part due to that. Your heart truly goes out to her.
While Nathan is angry and blames Maybelline for his situation, Sienna is the person who gets Nathan to talk to Maybelline. And when Maybelline visits the club, Pandora’s Box, which is failing, she watches the drag show and decides to turn the place around. Having directed the church choir back home in Texas, Maybelline feels she’s up for the challenge. It’s all that’s left of her son and she wants to keep his memory alive.
Knowing that Jeb would have her sell the bar if he found out about it, Maybelline calls him and says she needs to stay a bit longer to settle a few loose ends. And so you have the basic premise of Stage Mother.
Weaver is what holds this movie together and keeps you watching. She gets involved in everybody’s lives, gives the bar a paint job, and teaches the drag queens how to sing. As unbelievable as it is, you go for the ride because Weaver breathes so much life into Maybelline that you can’t look away or stop smiling.
If only the other characters were half as entertaining. Liu is the only actor who comes close to being as good as Weaver, and her character, Sienna, comes on strong in the beginning. As a bitter single mother, Sienna has some bitingly funny lines that give her promise. And Sienne and Maybelline are great when they’re together. But after Maybelline saves her from an abusive date, her character practically disappears. And the few times we see her, the edge is gone. It’s a shame because Liu was doing such a good job with the roll.
The rest of the acting is sub-par. The script by Brad Hennig needs work, and the look is nothing to write home about. It’s Weaver who holds this movie together. It feels as if the only character Henning cared about was Maybelline, which is a shame. Jackie Weaver and Lucy Liu deserve something better than this.
As bad as Stage Mother is, I would watch it again if it was on. Don’t get me wrong, Stage Mother is awful, but it’s damn entertaining.