Dress Code
Dress Code, calledBrunowhen 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  Coderaises 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