The Dress Code

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Dress Code, called Bruno when it debuted on cable, is Shirley MacLaine's first feature as director. Like many of the movies in which she has appeared, it's a drama that uses humor to get its message across. Bruno (Alex D. Linz) is a gradeschooler who lives with his mother and likes to wear dresses. It's one more thing that makes him stand out at Catholic school. Even before his secret gets out, the other kids tease him because he's small and smart--a spelling whiz that reads the dictionary for fun with a mother that is, as he puts it, "flamboyant." His estranged father (Gary Sinise) notes that Angela also weighs 450 pounds, which makes her flamboyance even harder to miss. She means well, however, which can't be said for most of the other people in Bruno's life, with the exception of new girl, Shaniqua, who likes to dress up as well (as a cowgirl). Dress Code raises more questions than it answers (like why Angela doesn't remove her son from a school that shows him so little support), but MacLaine keeps the action moving and the cast rises to the occasion, although it would have been nice if Gwen Verdon's role had lasted more than a few seconds. It should be noted that the film contains some profanity (mostly from Bruno's tormentors), and it isn't until the end that the nuns are depicted in a less-than-negative light (including Kathy Bates as a cigarette-smoking Mother Superior). --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

Great Movie.......2005-01-30

I have seen this movie several times and purchased it as gifts for friends several times. This movie has all the pathos of New York City people with their quirks, heartbreaks and growth through understanding. It depicts how one child can change his world when there is a need to change it. The movie is filled with comedy and pathos. It has quite a group of renowned stars such as Gary Sinise, Brett Butler, and of course Shirley MacLaine. It is worth watching again and again as each time you see it, you will learn a little more about human nature!

alex d linz great as always.......2002-09-24

alex d linz is my fave kid actor and here he shines in a role where he plays a boy who likes to were dresses.the boy bruno thikns of them a reglous vestments. this mvie explores brunos problems at school and with his father. i thought all the perfomances where grat. the only problem i had was that the dvd could have use dsome extras.

Great Movie for the equality of the sexes.......2002-06-05

This is a great movie!

I found the portrayal of the nuns to be disturbing, yet accurate, but puts the nuns in a good light in the end, with even the most harsh nun cheering for the boy in a dress at the end.

Shirley MacLaine provides great subconsious contrast to the little boy who likes to wear dresses, because she is very "butch" in this movie. Shirley dresses in pants, teaches boxing, and is not afraid to fight anyone, verbally or physically. Shirley's butch look is the counterpoint of the story, as no one seems to care that Shirley takes on the male appearance and mannerisms.

Thus, in my opinion, the major question this film raises, is why cant boys wear dresses, when girls can wear pants? Why are feminine attributes considered lower status, but male attributes higher status? I think the answer is that most people still think of females as being inferior, and any male that does anything feminine, wears anything femininm, is degrading himself, so it is unfavorable. Females that imitate the masculine and wear pants, are upgrading themselves, so that is acceptable. Men and women will never be truely equal, until this kind of subconsious prejudicial thinking ends.

The film clearly states that the boy is not homosexual, nor does he want to be a girl. The film is harmless viewing fair.

For every woman who has ever put a dress on a boy(who hasn't?), or a man, this is a movie to see. Any male who does not feel degraded in a skirt, is a male that truely sees females as equals. I have had personal experience with boys and men that like to wear dresses, and find them facinating.

Happily, the story ends well, with everyone accepting a boy in a dress, the nuns redeeming themselves, and the fat woman throwing away her chocolate cake. A nice enjoyable movie in spite of its serious subject matter. A victory for womankind where feminitity is no longer considered degrading.

A Good Drama with a Message Directed by Respected MacLaine.......2002-05-10

Bruno (Alex D. Linz of "Home Alone 3") is a boy in a Catholic school. Other boys, however, always picks on him, and his superior nun (Kathy Bates) is not particularly kind to Bruno and his mother, considering them just another troublemakers. And his estranged father (Gary Sinise), a local policeman now dating with another girl (Joey Lauren Adams, "Chasing Amy") avoids his ex-wife and son, also thinking them as a disgrace when one day Bruno is hit by a car, sent to hospital, and found ... wearing girl's dress. The last point represents the message of this film directed by Shirley MacLaine, who also appears as Bruno's grandmother. (This is her debut as a director of feature-length film though she once co-directed a documentary film "The Other Half of the Sky" in the past.) A boy Bruno loves wearing girl's clothes, and he finally shows the people around him that to be different is OK.

Alex D. Linz portrays Bruno's gradual recognition of his true self-esteem with charm, and Shirley MacLaine, as always, shows her gifted comic sense as his plucky grandmother who comes to understand him. Though I found Gary Sinise overacting, trying to give stress on father's anguish, the acting is uniformly good, including newcomer Stacey Halperin playing Bruno's "Diva" mother. There is also a cameo appearance of Jennifer Tilly, but it was a too short one for me as Joey Lauren Adams's.

The film proves that Shirley MacLaine has a talent as a director, always keeping the ball rolling, but at some places the film suffers from its inefficient script that clearly needs re-writing. Some viewers might feel dismayed at the negative descriptions of the teaching nuns, one of them played by Kathy Bates, who, after Bruno was picked on in school, unaccountably preaches and scolds Bruno, not his bullies. And that happens more than once, which makes me wondering why his mother doesn't think of sending him away from such a horrible place. But the film's has a more fundamental problem with the way of presenting Bruno's wish of wearing girl's clothes, which is not developed enough to convey the fiim's precious message. At one place, Bruno narrates that he watched a dream of being chased by angels, and clad in white, he insists in front of the angry superior nun that what he is wearing is holy vestment. But later he is dressed in a cowgirl costume, which confuses the point he made before. Does he just want to be dressed like a girl? Or an angel, which he sees several times in his visions?

This could be a minor thing if I didn't see an European film dealing with the same topic, Alain Berliner's "Ma Vie en Rose," which, with all respect to Ms MacLaine's work, should be considered better made. As a whole "The Dress Code" is a promising work from a respected actoress, whose name, however, deserves a little better treatment of the theme.

"The Dress Code" was given a theatrical (though limited) release in Japan in 2001 with its original title "Bruno," prior to American release.

What a movie!.......2002-04-13

I agree with the other two reviews that this movie does send a great message to both children and adults. Alex plays an amazing little boy who is picked on at school and has a very different kind of home life. This movie shows you that everyone is unique in his or her own way, but this does not necessarily make them strange or different. Another topic touched upon in this movie is the importance of family. Family and friends are the two most important things in life and this movie makes that abundantly clear. I loved it and think that everyone should watch this heart-warming movie.

Average customer rating:

Great Movie
alex d linz great as always
Great Movie for the equality of the sexes
A Good Drama with a Message Directed by Respected MacLaine
What a movie!

The Dress Code
Starring: Alex D. Linz
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: Video
Binding: VHS Tape

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ASIN: B00005NGD5
Release Date: 2002-06-04