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An early Buscemi movie. And one of his best.
I saw Steve Buscemi at a party last year, and told him that "Ed and His Dead Mother" was one of my all-time favorite comedies. I said I was surprised that it didn't take off. He said, "Some films just don't make it." Attribute that more to the marketing than the nature of the film or its provacative title. Watch it a couple of times. A little dark comedy is good for the soul.

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So very, very... something.
Ed and His Dead Mother (Jonathan Wacks, 1993) <
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>Jonathan Wacks knows funny. Any guy whose name is listed as a producer for Repo Man, one can safely assume, knows funny. And while you have to have a particular sense of humor to really find this film amusing, you had to for Repo Man as well. <
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>Ed Chilton (Reservoir Dogs' Steve Buscemi in an early role) is the owner of a hardware store left him by his mother, Mabel (Miriam Margolyes), who died a year before. He now lives with her brother, Benny (Ned Beatty), and his social interaction is restricted to Benny, who prefers spending his time watching Storm Reynolds, the curvaceous new neighbor (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' Sam Jenkins, who went on to marry Kevin Sorbo), through a telescope, and Big Lar (Dead Man's Gary Farmer), seemingly the hardware store's only regular employee. Until, that is, Mr. Abner (Blood Work's Roberty Harvey), a salesman from the Happy People Corporation, shows up and proposes to Ed that perhaps he'd be happier were his mother home from the grave. <
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>As with Repo Man, Ed and His Dead Mother is not knock-down drag-out comedy-- it's mostly ninety minutes of "WTF?" with a couple of really, really funny lines thrown in for good measure. In the hands of most folks, this would not work. Wacks, however, plays it for all it's worth, aided by a stellar cast (Beatty, especially, is in career form) and a cracking script. The only thing one can put in the minus column for this one is that it was Wacks' first feature as a director, and there are some first-time director mistakes (pacing, mostly). However, it wouldn't be too hard to see this becoming as a big a cult film as Repo Man now that it's gotten a decent DVD release. *** ý

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Night of the Living Dead Overly Protective Mother
Not a bad flick, Ed and His Dead Mother is a bit too fey to be great, but it's fun to watch anyway. Steve Buscemi is the title character (Ed, not his mother), someone whose emotions are very clearly mixed up as he struggles to reach maturity. He's the manager of a hardware store whose mother and father have both passed on. And he's definitely attached to his mother. <
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>Steve is very good but not great in this role. The casting is a smidgen off. The script is, as well, good but not great. Some of the scenes are right on the money; some are weaker than they should be. Ed's approached by John Glover--the best cast role in the film; Glover is perfect here--who's a salesman for Happy People, a firm that brings dead people back to life. He promises Ed to bring his mother back for only a thousand bucks and Ed agrees. <
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>One of the best scenes occurs soon after she returns from the grave when Uncle Benny--Ned Beatty in a role that, again, is just a bit off in its casting (he's good but not great)--points out to Ed that his mother is inside an appliance. (don't worry; not giving anything away here). There are a number of black comedy moments like this which work, but there are a number that don't work either. Or at least, not quite. <
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>Miriam Margolyes is, as well, good but not great in the role of Mother. If there is any problem, it's the script which is not consistently strong. The ideas are there and sometimes well executed, but almost as often, don't quite make it. Leaving the fantasy element aside, can we actually believe that a really hot babe would fall for Ed? I don't think so. <
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>This is really not a bad flick at all. It's just not as good as it could and should have been.