The irrepressible Olympia Dukakis has really broken ground in her relatively short time as an Oscar winning celebrity. Playing a transsexual apartment owner who left new tenants home made joints, the mother of a transsexual lesbian and the seller of tickets at the "Let's take a wack at Ouiser" booth was already a respected stage actress when she struck gold as Cher's mother. Now, she's Stella, a no-nonsense self confessed dyke who is determined to hold onto the love of her life, and she will do all she can to marry her.
A tickling game results in her lover Brenda Fricker being sent to a convalescent home. Practically beating up Fricker's uptight granddaughter and the local sheriff, Dukakis sneaks Fricker out and heads up to Canada, and like Thelma and Louise, they pick up a hunky hitchhiker, but there's no hanky or panky going on. "You're barking up the wrong fire hydrant", Dukakis tells him as he shows off his goods.
"If that skirt was any shorter, you'd need another hairnet" is perhaps the mildest comment Dukakis says, shocking a very Christian Canadian who picks her up hitchhiking. Certainly, some people will take offense to what she says, but Dukakis refuses to betray who this broad is. Fricker is the more gentle of the two, but equally tough underneath her grandmotherly demeanor. Underneath her masculine exterior, Stella actually beats a heart of gold even though she can be at times very brusk.
Delightfully non-politically correct, it is also extremely romantic in the sense of what Dukakis strives to achieve. Call this a gay "On Golden Pond" as seen through the eyes of Miss Apley, the old lesbian next door to Ethel and Norman Thayer. It is a triumph of determination that gets these two women through their ordeal, with Ryan Doucette in fine support as the surrogate son they find along the way. He's on his way home to see Hus dying mother and seems to be carrying his own secrets. Together, these three opposites share some dynamic adventures, and it ultimately is both bittersweet and funny, but never short of being amusingly human.
A tickling game results in her lover Brenda Fricker being sent to a convalescent home. Practically beating up Fricker's uptight granddaughter and the local sheriff, Dukakis sneaks Fricker out and heads up to Canada, and like Thelma and Louise, they pick up a hunky hitchhiker, but there's no hanky or panky going on. "You're barking up the wrong fire hydrant", Dukakis tells him as he shows off his goods.
"If that skirt was any shorter, you'd need another hairnet" is perhaps the mildest comment Dukakis says, shocking a very Christian Canadian who picks her up hitchhiking. Certainly, some people will take offense to what she says, but Dukakis refuses to betray who this broad is. Fricker is the more gentle of the two, but equally tough underneath her grandmotherly demeanor. Underneath her masculine exterior, Stella actually beats a heart of gold even though she can be at times very brusk.
Delightfully non-politically correct, it is also extremely romantic in the sense of what Dukakis strives to achieve. Call this a gay "On Golden Pond" as seen through the eyes of Miss Apley, the old lesbian next door to Ethel and Norman Thayer. It is a triumph of determination that gets these two women through their ordeal, with Ryan Doucette in fine support as the surrogate son they find along the way. He's on his way home to see Hus dying mother and seems to be carrying his own secrets. Together, these three opposites share some dynamic adventures, and it ultimately is both bittersweet and funny, but never short of being amusingly human.