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Aging groupie, hack writer, pretentious PTA yuppie phony, spoiled rotten teenagers and clueless self-centered husband; pretty much sums up The Banger Sisters starring Goldie Hawn (Town & County) and Susan Sarandon (Stepmom). Okay I guess there would have to be a little more to the story than a bunch of losers thrown together, if Hollywood is going to pay big dollars to make this picture. It would be easy to say this picture is all about revisiting your past to find your present, but it is much more complicated than that. In fact the transformation of Sarandon’s character Lavinia is so fast, believing her last 20 years was impossible. The movie begins in LA where Suzette (Hawn) is a bartender that is antagonizing her boss, the owner, so he fires her. Broke and desperate she jumps into her ancient pickup and begins a quest to Phoenix to find her former best friend Vinnie, and borrow some money. Vinnie and Suzette were famous groupies in the 60’s and 70’s and roommates. Suzette picks up this neurotic writer Harry Plummer (Geoffrey Rush, The Tailor of Panama) in the desert, in exchange for a tank of gas. The reunion does not happen as planned when the perfect Lavinia gets angry that this person from her past could upset her carefully balanced, perfect world so she offers her five grand to leave and never come back. Suzette, deeply offended, walks away. Only later Lavinia shows up at the hotel with flowers and an offer for lunch so she can explain herself. The two travel down memory lane, although the start of the trip is a little rough. Only Lavinia, who has made it clear she is not that person Suzette used to know, and her family knows nothing of her past. The woman who spends so much time putting together colorful flower arrangements owns all beige clothing so she can blend right in, nothings like the flamboyant Suzette. By dessert though, Vinnie had shed her perfectly coifed hair, and is dressed like a 17 year-old ready for a night of drinking. If you worked so hard for 20 years to be someone else, how do you just abandon that person in one evening? Because of this, the story doesn’t work for me. Now on the other hand Suzette, with her attitude, how could she have held a job bartending so long and lose it like that. Not to mention she told Vinnie she has a cat, where the hell was the cat when she was home and what did she do with the cat when she took her road trip? Why mention the cat at all? Also appearing in this Bob Dolman written and directed picture is Sarondon’s daughter Eva Amurri as Vinnie’s daughter Ginger, Robin Thomas (Clockstoppers) as Vinnie’s husband Raymond. This movie might be just about friendship on the surface, but since the real message runs much deeper than that more time developing these characters would have made a better story and movie. But for being 50 something, we all know why Kurt Russell is so happy, that Goldie Hawn has one tight ass, but the boobs are not hers, she borrowed them for the movie. I give The Banger Sisters six couches. Peace
Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:47:54 AM Click Here to get back into frames.
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