Powder Blue (film)

Powder Blue is a 2009 American drama film with an ensemble cast featuring several interconnected story arcs. It was written and directed by Timothy Linh Bui, and features Patrick Swayze's last film role before his death in September that same year. The film saw only limited theatrical release in the United States and was ultimately released principally on DVD in May 2009. The film was subsequently released in Kazakhstan and Russia and on US cable television premium movie channels in late 2009.

Plot
Several Los Angeles residents meet on Christmas Eve through chance, tragedy, loss and divine intervention.

Velvet Larry is the head of a corporate crime organization. He owns a sleazy strip club where Rose-Johnny, a single mother whose young son is in a coma, dances. Qwerty Doolittle is a young mortician who falls in love with her. Velvet Larry tries to convince Jack Doheny, his former employee, not to seek vengeance on his co-workers. Doheny later reveals to Rose-Johnny that he is her father. Charlie is a suicidal ex-priest. Lexus is a pre-op trans woman sex worker who shares an unexpected emotional bond with the priest.

Cast

 * Jessica Biel as Rose-Johnny
 * Forest Whitaker as Charlie
 * Eddie Redmayne as Qwerty Doolittle
 * Ray Liotta as Jack Doheny
 * Lisa Kudrow as Sally
 * Patrick Swayze as Velvet Larry
 * Kris Kristofferson as Randall
 * Alejandro Romero as Lexus
 * Sanaa Lathan as Diana
 * Chandler Canterbury as Billy
 * Jeffrey Adam Baker as "Slim"
 * Ravi Patel as Sanjay
 * Don Swayze as The Bouncer
 * L. Scott Caldwell as Nurse Gomez
 * Riki Lindhome as Nicole
 * Billy Wirth as David

Reception
According to Variety magazine, "the heartstring-pulling contrivances of the film, set during Christmastime, go way over the top... Biel often overacts even more than her role requires". The magazine calls director Bui's "trumpeting of the power of love in the city of lonely hearts ... both ear-splittingly loud and tone-deaf at the same time" with "Jonathan Sela's color palette of nightmarish reds and blues and blinding whites, simply enforc[ing] the pic's borderline hysteria".

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 25% rating from eight critic reviews with an average rating of 3.7 out of 10."