Moon Pies and Movie Stars

Wallen's charming, homespun debut follows lovable, resilient widow Ruby Kincaid, a Devine, Tex., bowling alley proprietress and mother to restless Violet, who ran away four years ago and left behind her husband and two rambunctious children, Bunny and Bubbie. It's 1976, Violet's husband is remarrying, and a television commercial featuring long-lost Violet sparks a feverish reaction and a spontaneous recovery mission to L.A. for Ruby and her sassy sister, Loralva. Dismissing the townsfolk's warning that, in California, she'll end up "with transvestites licking her ear and stealing her dresses," Violet's outspoken mother-in-law, Imogene, joins the journey, but her focus is more on becoming an audience member on The Price Is Right . Surviving truck stops, tacky motels and minor domestic chaos, the trio begin their hilarious culture clash with the locals on Hollywood Boulevard. The much-anticipated game show appearance becomes a windfall, but will Ruby have the same luck locating Violet? Though the antics feel forced at times, Wallen's bighearted confection rounds itself out with a bittersweet zinger of a conclusion. (Jan.)