Review of Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) by Luc L — 03 Sep 2010

There's a lot about this that's ridiculous, although it's mostly the plot's fault - the actual production of it is fine, and Sandy Dennis in particular is pretty great. But the whole premise, the drought-stricken ghost town, the fading southern belles obsessing over past glories, monologues upon monologues, shocking secrets revealed, a major character who's offscreen the entire time, transsexual Karen Black - it all starts to remind you of the worst tendencies of Tennessee Williams, although it never quite reaches those heights of absurdity.

Despite all this, it stays diverting if sort of predictable at points, and there was at least one sucker-punch moment where it actually does manage to shock and, in my case at least, abruptly reminded me that I actually did care about some of these characters after all.