Tammy’s Always Dying: Hamilton-Shot Dramedy Explores Filial Love in a Time of Crisis
By Kim Hughes
Rating: B
A bittersweet dramedy about an exceedingly fraught mother/daughter relationship and the ties that nevertheless bind, Tammy’s Always Dying is buoyed by a superb cast and a palpably stark setting (mostly Hamilton, Ontario with forays into Toronto) that combine to elevate the film above its more predictable aspects.
When we first meet Tammy (Felicity Huffman), she is teetering across a bridge. After ditching the not-very-sensible hooker heels, Tammy prepares herself on the ledge to jump. Daughter Cathy (Anastasia Phillips) arrives just in time to avert disaster.
It’s clear this is not a one-off event but a frequent (and symbiotic) part of the women’s codependent relationship where the alcoholic, bad-seed mother acts like a brat and beleaguered daughter plays the role of rescuer and grownup.
Read our interview with Tammy’s Always Dying director Amy Jo Johnson
Caught between the pair is kind-hearted Doug (Clark Johnson) who serves as confidant as well as being Cathy’s employer at the dive bar where she works when not sleeping with another woman’s husband and scraping the Tammy off the floor.
Two events dramatically change the course of Cathy and Tammy’s lives: a terminal cancer diagnosis and Doug’s sudden death. As Tammy comes to grips with the possibility of actually dying, Cathy sees a way of using reality TV to transform her own pain into gain, a plan that goes awry. Somewhere in the middle, the pair learn to genuinely love one another.
Huffman’s scenery-chewing performance as the foul-mouthed, embittered, and intransigent Tammy is terrific, and pivots gracefully in the film’s final third as her character’s illness cruelly narrows her options. She also spits out her lines in a credible Canadian drawl.
But Phillips’ Cathy is the movie’s soul. She is the crushed flower, bereft of dreams and spirit, beholden to a playbook she can’t rewrite. Johnson is also excellent, precisely the guy you’d desperately want as a friend.
Tammy’s Always Dying — which premiered at last year’s Toronto Film Festival — doesn’t deviate much from the outcome you’d expect, especially if Terms of Endearment is on the radar. But it is played sincerely and for keeps. In this case, that’s enough.
Tammy's Always Dying. Directed by Amy Jo Johnson. Written by Joanne Sarazen. Starring Felicity Huffman, Anastasia Phillips, Clark Johnson, Lauren Holly, Aaron Ashmore, and Kristian Bruun. Available May 1 on Demand and Digital across Canada.