LA Times:   Friday, August 23, 1991
Home Edition
Section: Calendar
Page: F-12

MOVIE REVIEWS; 'American Blue Note' Not Jazzy Enough;

By: PETER RAINER
TIMES STAFF WRITER

The operative word for "American Blue Note" (at Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) is mild . Set in the early '60s, this "Diner"-style drama about a bunch of guys in a jazz quintet never threatens to become exciting, but it doesn't try to make a "statement" either.

Currently playing on the same bill with "American Blue Note" is "Mother, Mother," a 35-minute drama directed by Micki Dickoff about a young man (John Dye) with AIDS and the mother (Polly Bergen) who has rejected him for his homosexuality. Also prominent in the cast are Bess
Armstrong and Piper Laurie, playing the mother of Dye's deceased lover.  Earnest, dutiful, plodding, it has the look and feel of an inspirational TV problem drama. The currency of this particular problem gives it an immediacy that, as in a confrontation scene between Bergen and Laurie, sometimes lifts the film out of its class.