The awkward goodnight kiss Rachel (writer-director Hannah Pearl Utt) shares in front of the rickety playhouse she calls home trumpets an indie romance. Sit tight. Love will have to wait. Rachel still lives at home and is embarrassed to invite her date inside for a nightcap. One branch below on the family tree hangs little sis Jackie (co-scenarist Jen Tullock) a chichi single mom currently being cared for by her teenage daughter Dodge (Oona Yaffe). Dad’s (Mandy Patinkin) a swollen-headed thesp who found fame in the ‘70s (only to lose it) while mom (Judith Light), a wealthy doyen of daytime soaps, is long-presumed dead by both her daughters. From the outset, urbane, fast-paced dialogue flows off the tongues of characters who sweat eccentric. In no time, three generations of assertive women come rushing to the fore. Toss in a dash of class conflict — the one ingredient missing from most modernized variations on the genre — and the stage is set for a full-dress screwball comedy. Like a female impersonator navigating a perp-walk in their first pair of heels, Light’s performance as the cosmetically over-layed diva is the funniest of the year. (2019) — Scott Marks
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