Oh, My God!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mary Kay!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I Don't Mean The Cosmetics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               "Well, I never will fergit, the first time that we met,
                                                  Dancin' square dance back to back, at the D.A.R....."
                                                --Mary Kay Place as Loretta Haggers, singing "Baby
                                                   Boy" on 'Mary Hartman'."

                                         I am talking, of course, about that wonderful actress, Mary Kay Place.  How I wish she had worn her Loretta Haggers wig in "Diane."  I mean, if Graham Jarvis had still been alive, I have no doubt he would have ended up in this movie.  You had to love him as ol' Charlie Haggers!!!!!!!  He may have been a nerd, but Loretta loved him, because every night he gave her four minutes of "skyrockets plus!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Now, girls, when was the last time you had even thirty seconds???????????  Does anyone remember?????????????????????

                                          I was a little put off when I read this was about aging baby boomers, because most of the actors cast are way older than I.

                                           Mary Kay Place plays Diane, a Christian martyr, if there ever was one.  She is not Catholic, but guilt ridden, so this widow fills her days with all sorts of volunteer work--from church donations to soup kitchens.  And if anyone, family or friend, is in the hospital, Diane is sure to be beside them, visiting.

                                            The film is hard to sit through, the ending a downer, but the film is brightened by a list of young and old character actors--Estelle Parsons, Andrea Martin (who, though playing dramatic, still manages to inject a comic liveliness into her role),  Deirdre O'Connell, Glynnis O'Connor (My God!  Where has she been?  And has she aged!!!!!!!!!!), Joyce Van Patten, Phyllis Somerville, Jake Lacy, as Diane's drug addicted son--Oh, yes, she copes with this, too!--Brian, and Phyllis Somerville, now on Broadway as Mrs. Dubose in "To Kill A Mockingbird."

                                               And don't forget Danielle Ferland, who originated the little girl in "Sunday In The Park With George," on Broadway, in 1985, and went on to do the same with Little Red Riding Hood" in "Into The Woods," back in 1987.  She has morphed into a fine fatty of a character actress, who works more than I thought.  When her name appeared on the cast list, I could think back, and recognize her, though I did not, at the present moment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               

However, THE highlight, THE reason to see the film, is the actress who is currently the toast of Broadway in 'Mockingbird.'  That is right, darlings, Celia Keenan-Bolger!  CELIA KEENAN-BOLGER!!!!!!!!!!  Everything she does in this movie is magic.  She plays Brian's wife, Tally, who is despicable in a unique way, and that is her phony niceness.  Her Uriah Heep like approach in helping addicts to their seat at a meeting, her bird monologue, and when she passes the vegetables at the dinner table are all high points of Celia's gifted acting magic.  One loves her servitude, without losing sight that she is one of society's most annoying characters--the reformed addict, bursting to proselytize, but never gets a chance to because Diane and her son go at each other from the get go. What is remarkable here is without a raising her voice, or shifting her tones, one gets that double edged blend of nice and nasty from Celia.  Is there anything this actress cannot do?  I cannot wait to see what she does next!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That this film held my interest was some feat, being that I saw it following a night where I got no sleep.  Maybe that is why I found all the Diane driving scenes nausea inducing, and was confused about the fluidity of time, not knowing Diane's dream sequence with the young man was a look back into her past misdeed, and that the moments leading up to Diane's actual death were something else.

May Kay Place triumphs as Diane, making this not so uplifting film worth seeing!

But Celia, and that cast--DIVINE, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!