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Poster for Dirty Laundry

Dirty Laundry

2006 · 1h 40m · PG-13 Comedy, Drama
Directed by Maurice Jamal

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Overview

After ten years, Sheldon returns from New York City to Paris, Georgia. His mother Evelyn, a laundress who is stubborn, ornery, opinionated, mean-spirited, insulting, and inflexible, has sent a ten-year-old boy who says he's Sheldon's son up to see Sheldon. Sheldon comes home to straighten things out. Old arguments flare up - between mother and son and between brothers. Sheldon wants no part of fatherhood or family. Then, someone else from New York shows up at Evelyn's door, bringing a new set of challenges. Will this family ever stop airing its dirty laundry? And what of Sheldon: where is his pride? Can he, in the words of James Baldwin, go where his blood beats and live the life he has?

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
50%
Tomatometer
Rotten

The tone is good-natured enough to make a simple movie semi-watchable.

Kyle Smith, New York Post
Fresh

Looking for plot holes? You can't miss them. But if you go in hoping for a good time, you'll find that, too.

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
Fresh

Mr. Jamal's direction ranges from clumsy to competent. Fortunately, even as Mr. Jamal's characters hit notes reminiscent of a half-baked television pilot, they disclose eccentricities that his cast spins into comic gold.

Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times
Rotten

Overwritten and under-directed by Maurice Jamal, the movie contains several honest moments but remains too awash in clichA (C)s and stereotypes to take seriously.

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times
Rotten

Cheesy crockpot of a film.

Julia Wallace, L.A. Weekly

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