Bridget Everett Stars in HBO’s Somebody Somewhere: The Heart of Manhattan, Kansas

First aware of Bridget Everett as a mother in Patti Cake$, an indie hit of 2017, I met her on two occasions: she was a flamboyant speaker at the Nantucket Film Festival that year receiving an award. Trust me, you never want to follow her onstage. Second, at the Athena Film Festival, she attended with her pal Murray Hill, so named for the Manhattan, NYC neighborhood. Both make a big impression, HUGE, and now you can see for yourself as Everett stars in an HBO series, Somebody Somewhere, with Hill in a supporting role, directed by Robert Cohen and Jay Duplass. So full of heart, I would say, the series is a gift for Valentine’s Day.

Rural America is a foreign country to me, but Manhattan, Kansas is both strange and ironic given that you cannot imagine a place more remote from Manhattan, New York, ground zero for misfits seeking personal expression. And guess what, looks like Bridget Everett feels the same way. She’s from there, and as Executive Producer of the series featuring autobiographical details from her life, she’s crafted this location, and at least fictionally, finds a voice there. Manhattan, Kansas is to Bridget Everett as Baltimore is to John Waters.

Everett’s character Sam is grieving the loss of a sister. Her mom (Jane Brody) is battling alcoholism, cared for by her dad (Mike Hagerty) who is losing his farm. Another sister Tricia (Mary Catherine Garrison) co-owns a tchochka shop in town—you know, scented candles, cutsie pillows, potpourri. Everyone has an opinion about everyone else. Everyone needs a life.

Enter Sam’s co-workers at a nothing job, especially Joel (Jeff Hiller), a lovable optimist with a gift for healing. And because this is rural America, enter the church, which in this community might look more like a tricked-out barn. Everett, aside from her brilliant comedy, has major singing chops, sampled in each of the seven episodes. Especially great—seriously great—is her rendition of Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart,” complete with the eye-popping visuals of Everett baring her ample chest. It’s an unexpected gesture ripped from her onstage performances at places like Joe’s Pub, in eh, Manhattan, NYC, I know, but it’s emblematic of finding presence in a world too narrowly defined, and to Joplin, who gets double homage this season as Penelope Cruz’s character in the superb Almodovar film, Parallel Mothers, is named for her. But that’s another story.