The Banger Sisters

Rating:
Summary: Lamer Than The Ugly Stepsisters
Review: It's clearly a disaster area when a movie that unites the triumphant days of noshing with Jim Morrison and Frank Zappa features poor remakes of Doors tunes and unknown synthesized concoctions, hardly a soundtrack that convinces us groupie-dom is all about free spirits and giddy fun. Neither is this movie. You'd think that the powerhouse pairing of Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn would be a shoo-in. No.

Even the most recent botched comdies had a few guffaw-worthy memorable moments (Zoolander, The Sweetest Thing). This one opens dead on arrival and the light at the end of the tunnel only arrives with the rolling of the credits.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Performances by the two leads makes this work.
Review: When a middle aged woman by the name of Suzette (Oscar-Winner:Goldie Hawn), who works in a bar and who was also an ex-groupie, when she gets fired from her job. When she misses her friend-Lavinia (Oscar-Winner:Susan Sarandon), Suzette decides to go see her in Phoenix but in the same time, she meets an unusual oddball Screen-Writer (Oscar-Winner:Geoffrey Rush), who also going to the City. Suzette gets there, which she hasn't change a bit and her best friend did, now married with a successful lawyer (Robin Thomas) and two pretty but spoiled teenaged daughters (Erika Christensen & Eva Amurri). Suzette gets her friend into remembering as her wild days as groupie and they relived thier friendship and how they missed it and times has changed.

Directed by first-timer:Bob Dolman and also written this film, which Dolman is best known for writing-Far and Away and Willow. DVD`s has an terrific anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer (also in Pan & Scan) and an strong Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD has an Commentary Track by the Director, Behind the Scenes featurette, Blooper Reel and Trailers. There's memorable performances by the lead, including Hawn at her best in years. Some of the film subplots seems out of place, involving Rush in the film (still he's quite funny), the film is a bit cold hearted at times and falls a little flat around the end. Still, it's a funny, touching, one of a kind movie, that it should not be missed. Panavision. Grade:A-.

Rating:
Summary: These "sisters" need to be banged upside the head!
Review: I feel compelled to review this movie because it has such burgeoning star talent and yet failed on many levels. The characters are all pretty irritating, from Susan Sarandon's stuffy, prissy housewife to Goldie Hawn's sulking, expired sex diva to Geoffrey Rush's neurotic, aimless writer. The characters seemed cut-and-paste and the resolution to legitimate problems too pat and insulting. The idea of a suicidal author who has years-old writer's block and suddenly is overwhelmed with ideas and narrative drive simply because he got... by Goldie is amazingly contrived. And Sarandon morphing back into her hippie persona after years of being a socialite simply wasn't very invigorating (probably because her change wasn't for the better). Her identity crisis and subsequent constume change spurred familial conflict that was never dealt with. Uptight, repressed mother suddenly became groupie goddess and the daughters and husband looked on in shock, but did they ever really deal with her need to be herself? All of a sudden they were okay with the fact that she had tousled hair, giggled at nude photos of private parts, and toked on a reefer, probably because the end was near and some resolution had to take place. The predictable speech at the end about "being true to you" was neither profound or hard-earned--it was a cliche. Honestly, I found Goldie's character to be sad and gloomy--a wilted flower bathed in polluted rain. How she inspired others to break out of their shells is a mystery I won't try to solve--or maybe I'm just underestimating the power of Hollywood to resurrect a star and have everyone believe she is capable of changing lives in bed or on the dance floor. As for comedy, the biggest laugh I had was when Geoffrey Rush dances around his typewriter to music he couldn't possibly hear--his movements reminded me of a man responding to internal stimuli who is frantically trying to hush the voices...a sensation shared by the viewer of this film...

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the theatre ticket price
Review: There's an old cliche that says "the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts." Well, this movie is the opposite - a situation where a wide range of components are merge and somehow fail to to measure up to expectations.

By now, everyone know the story: Goldie Hawn plays Suzette, an ex-bartender/groupie who looks up fellow ex-groupie Vinnie (Lavinia, played by Susan Sarandon). Along the way, she meets up with Geoffrey Rush's character, an aging, failed writer with father issues.

The themes the movie tries to tackle - basically, being true to oneself and finding a sense of identity - are good ones. The script just isn't all that interesting. This should be a character driven movie, but it isn't. The director and writer just never create the tension needed to make me invest in these people. It takes too long for Suzette and Vinnie to hook up, and when they do, the time that Suzette's actually back in her life is too short to realistically cause the supposed chaos it does. The relationships just weren't developed enough to make me care.

I have to say that the best thing about the movie was the acting. Susan Sarandon, as always, was brilliant. She did her best to make Vinnie real. That's quite an accomplishment, given how little was written for her. It's frustrating, because this role really could've been a twenty-first century statement about feminism, and where women are in society, and where we'd still like to go.

The rest of the cast was equally impressive. Hawn was a great deal better than I expected - I'm not a fan of hers, yet I thoroughly enjoyed her performance. She gave Suzette depth, soul and layers. Geoffrey Rush was great; a wonderful mix of comedy and pathos. Still, I almost wish his character wasn't in the movie, because all his scenes took away from the time Hawn had with Sarandon and co. I really liked the teens who played Lavinia's daughters - both seemed realistic to me. Robin Thomas, as Lavinia's husband, was fine, although he didn't have much to do. He's a good actor, actually - he deserved a more well-defined role.

In general, this movie gets a low rating from me not because it's bad, per se, but because it had the potential to be so much better. If you're a fan of Hawn, Sarandon, or Rush, it's worth it for the performances alone - just wait for the video/dvd.

Rating:
Summary: Letting go is good at any age and any time!
Review: This movie was good in that it showed how when we get older we don't have to become super responsible, overly stuffy and uptight people. That life can be fun just like it had when we were younger. Its really up to us! Goldien Hawn plays Suzette and really gives a great performance on how to be free and wickedly happy without guilt. Of course she is not without hangups but she has chosen to live her life more in the moment and with an openness that is great! She plays a different hippie type not the wide eyed naive innocent. Suzette has been around, hence the name Banger Sister. Some might find her a little crude, but never dishonest. Sarandon plays the other sister who has lost her playfulness and has immersed herself in mommyhood and being the best wife on the block syndrome. Suzette comes back to remind her of who she really is and how to get back in touch with it. Mainly reeducating her about how to let go and just breath, enjoying the moment for what it is. Rush is an obsessive compulsive personality who relishes his role in the film. The acting was great, thats why I liked the film. The film's development was to rushed and made the story line seem a little unrealistic. But the characters were such fun and lots of pretty colors and scenary. Isn't Goldie Hawn still so pretty! Same goes for Sarandon. Its really nice to see older female actors burning up the big screen with lead roles, cheers to them!!!

Rating:
Summary: The Angel of Mercy
Review: Like an Angel of Mercy, Suzette (Goldie Hawn) descends upon Phoenix, AZ with a freaked-out, suicidal Hollywood screen writer (Harry played by Geoffrey Rush) in tow: to do good, spread her cheer, change lives and maybe borrow some money from her erstwhile fellow 60's groupie, Lavinia (Susan Sarandon) who she finds living the good, but boring life with her lawyer husband and two spoiled daughters (Erika Christensen and Eva Amurri).
Suzette is the party girl we all knew in high school and college always willing to lend you her last dollar or to let you sleep it off on her floor, who only showed how vulnerable and caring she was to a few of us lucky enough to become her confidant.
Suzette and Lavinia ("Vinny") were groupies in the 60's but whereas Lavinia grows up and marries well, Suzette clings to those by gone Hollywood music scene days when The Doors, Led Zeppelin and Love ruled the Sunset Strip. Suzette may be a bit down on her luck but she's not a loser due to the fact that she possesses the Wisdom of Solomon and a good amount of street smarts as well. More importantly, her heart is filled with love and compassion and this she offers to Vinny and her family and Harry.
"The Banger Sisters" is extremely well written and superbly acted by all especially Hawn and Sarandon. And this is a marvel considering how preachy, silly and trivial this film could have turned out.
As opposed to recent do-gooder movies like "Amelie," "The Banger Sisters" does not have a mean bone in it's body and it is refreshing for a so-called popular Hollywood film to be non-judgmental and more to the point, empathetic towards it's characters all of whom definitely have problems. Director Bob Dolman, Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon have produced a film that is as light as a crepe yet as deeply insightful, knowing and rib-sticking as a roadhouse beef stew.

Rating:
Summary: "Bang" Up Performances by Hawn and Sarandon
Review: As you go about the business of living your life, no matter who you are, where you go or what you do, things have a tendency to get lost; not material things, mind you, but the important things, the ones you keep-- or should keep-- in your heart, as well as tucked away safely in your memory. But human nature being what it is, that's not the way it works. So we lose things; and the sad thing is, when it happens we're not even aware of it. And that's what's known as the human condition, which is exactly what writer/director Bob Dolman examines in 'The Banger Sisters,' a poignant comedy/drama about what can happen when 'life' happens, then realizing it, discovering what's really important and finding those things that have been lost along the way.

Suzette (Goldie Hawn) is a bartender, as well as a fixture since the '60s, at the famous Whiskey A-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip, where she once had a memorable 'encounter' with the Lizard King, himself, Jim Morrison. But as the song says, 'time goes by,' and when-- due to circumstances within her control-- Suzette loses her job, she finds herself, in the immortal words of Ulysses Everett McGill, 'In a tight spot.' No savings, no prospects, no job; what's an aging 'groupie' to do?

Look up an old friend, that's what. An old friend she hasn't seen for some twenty years, but with whom Suzette shared the best times of her life, when they cut a swath across the rock scene in L.A., 'rattling' every rock star that came to town, as well as a good number of "roadies.' But Vinnie (Susan Sarandon) now lives in Phoenix, Arizona, is married, has a couple of kids and is apparently living the American Dream, having been absorbed, mind and body, into the mores and morals of the textbook dictates of 'proper' society. The truth of the matter, however, is that Vinnie (make that 'Lavinia' now) is living a lie; she's so caught up with trying to be a Donna Stone/Carol Brady that she's forgotten who she really is. All of which is about to change with the arrival of her old friend, who like Marley with his chains, sweeps in unannounced bearing enlightenment.

And enlightening it is for the audience, as well; but more than that, Dolman has crafted and delivered an enterprising, thoroughly infectious, engaging and entertaining film that sweeps you along with it, while making you laugh and think about some things at the same time. It's one that will be most appreciated, though, by those 'mature' enough to be able to identify with Suzette and Vinnie; those with some 'experience' under their belts. There are elements here that will appeal to everyone, but decidedly, the real message of the film will be lost on a youthful audience, in general. Dolman does provide another, and very succinct perspective, however, through Vinnie's teenage daughters, Hannah (Erika Christensen) and Ginger (Eva Amurri), whom he places in situations to which everyone in the audience, young and old alike, will be able to relate. So in the end, Dolman has something to say, he says it well, and pretty much covers all the bases in doing so. He sets a good pace, and through his vibrant characters he displays some real insights into human nature. All of which makes his film ring with a zeal for life and for living, and for a greater understanding of the human condition.

With her portrayal of Vinnie in this film, Susan Sarandon once again demonstrates that she can more than hold her own with the best actors in the business. There's a defining moment in this film, when Vinnie realizes what she's been doing in her life-- not that it's 'bad,' or anything she regrets, but that she's been dishonest with her family, and especially with herself, about who she really is-- and you can see it in her eyes when it happens; the awareness, the sudden understanding and the instant acquiescence even before she reacts to it outwardly, and it's brilliant. It's one of those rare cinematic 'moments' that are absolutely real and transporting, albeit in their brevity (or maybe even because of it). And it takes a truly gifted actor to create and capture such a moment, which says everything that needs to be said about Sarandon's performance here.

Goldie Hawn, meanwhile, is a total delight as Suzette. Entirely convincing, she manages to create a character who is both elegant and trashy at the same time, and to whom she lends a quirky charm and earthiness, wherein lies Suzette's real appeal. Hawn and Sarandon play well off of one another, too, which makes a significant impact on the contrast between the up-tight and edgy person Vinnie has become and the grounded, free spirit Suzette will forever be. Hawn ferrets out the complexities of her character and effectively intersperses moments of restraint amid Suzette's generally exuberant effusiveness, which makes for a complete package. Interestingly enough, Suzette is effectively a look twenty years later at Penny Lane, the character Hawn's real life daughter, Kate Hudson, played in 'Almost Famous.' It's as if Hawn and Hudson have struck a vein of gold; Hudson was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Penny, and with Suzette, Goldie Hawn gives one of her best, most mature and memorable performances ever.

Geoffrey Rush also gives a performance of note, as Harry, a twenty year aspiring Hollywood screen writer who has finally thrown in the towel and is heading home to Phoenix to settle some scores and exorcise some personal demons.

Christensen, and especially Amurri (Sarandon's real life daughter) give convincing performances, as well, as does Robin Thomas as Raymond, Lavinia's husband. Entertaining and insightful, more than anything else, 'The Banger Sisters' points up the importance 'knowing thyself,' understanding who we are as individuals, and living accordingly; a philosophy one would be wise to embrace. And that's the magic of the movies.

Rating:
Summary: See this with an old girlfriend - you won't be sorry
Review: This movie is a very enjoyable way to spend a few hours, especially if you are of a "certain age" (40 or above) and can see it with a good friend. Just think back to the times you had in high school or college with your best friend - weren't they great times? Didn't you laugh and have fun and just end up acting crazy and wild and then real life arrived on your doorstep and you grew up? How many mothers really tell their teenagers how they really acted in high school or college? Especially if you went to college in the 70's? Life was different then and this movie brought back some 60's and 70's nostalgia in a sweet way.

In this movie, Lavinia (Susan Sarandon) grew up. She left behind her wild and crazy days of being a groupie with her best friend (Goldie Hawn) and became the wife of an aspiring politician, a mother to two daughters and the absolute pillar of society. Along the way, she also lost herself and basically lives her life for her family - being a doormat - being taken for granted and letting her kids walk all over her. Goldie Hawn's character has never grown up and continues to live day to day - partying, drinking, having a good time, but not acting like what most people would call a responsible adult. However, she brings truth and honesty to everyone in this film that she comes into contact with. She is adorable (and looks fabulous).

Both actresses give great performances as do the girls who play their daughters. I really liked this movie - it was entertaining and made me want to call up some old friends! I saw "Sweet Home Alabama" the day before Banger Sisters and there was no comparison - skip Alabama and see this movie - much more fun for an adult.

Rating:
Summary: How can you go wrong with Goldie and Susan.
Review: You can always count on great performances from those two actors. My only comment is the beginning. For some reason the first reel (20 minutes) is a bit boring and i thought a better segway could have been provided for the two main stars to reunite. But when the film gets going it's wonderful talented comedy the rest of the way. The story also has a wonderful moral aspect which is basic and true. You ALWAYS meet people for a reason.This is a fun film to watch and Goldie and Susan have never looked better. They are ageless.

Rating:
Summary: Funny and Poignant
Review: I was surprised to be viewing this movie with an audience of white haired senior citizens who responded with knowing laughter to the film in all the right places. Just goes to show you that appearances are definitely deceiving as relayed as part of 'The Banger Sister's' tried-but-true message.
Vinnie, played by Susan Sarandon, is a perfectly coiffed and meticulously dressed suburban matron with two spoiled teenaged daughters and a harmless husband she devotes her entire life to keeping in line. Her groupie 'Banger Sister' from 20+ years earlier is Suzette, (Goldie Hawn) who basically has nothing to show for her life other than the fact that she has maintained her persona as rock and roll groupie---with her you pretty much get what you see--and then some.
The plot revolves around the culture clash that occurs when the two cross paths again. The resulting scenes are funny and at times poignant, causing us all to remember our own good times with old friends. Unfortunately, the film's overkill trailers on television and theatres showcase all of the funnier moments, causing them to be less funny as they are already anticipated. Nevertheless, the duo pull it off with Sarandon finally snapping out of her suburban fantasyland with a few tantrums that work and a few that don't work, transforming herself into more of what you would expect her to be with such a wild past and rediscovering what is really 'fun' in life: friends, family and being true to oneself. Especially laugh-out-loud funny was a scene where Vinnie and Suzette explore their former conquests by looking through an old box of 'photographs.' Very amusing, particularly when Vinnie's husband catches them in the act.
Although the film is a comedy, Vinnie's suburban dilemma is quite realistic as there are so many women that instead of evolving, lose themselves in some cardboard representation of morality and pretention.
I recommend the film for its sheer fun factor--go in wanting and expecting to laugh and think of all the stupid things you did as a teenager and young adult with pleasure, not shame.