MOVIE - THE BANGER SISTERS - Review Rating $$$$$ $$$ (OUT OF 10)
STARRING - GOLDIE HAWN, SUSAN SARANDON, GEOFFREY RUSH, ERIKA
CHRISTENSEN, ROBIN THOMAS & EVA AMURRI
Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon player former friends / groupies who have gone their separate ways and reunite 20 years later.
Susan Sarandon previously starred in Thelma & Louise. Goldie Hawn's daughter, Kate Hudson, starred as a groupie in Almost Famous. The Banger Sisters cleverly answers two questions not previously posed. What would have become of Louise if she had survived her dive off the cliff and do groupies grow old gracefully? For the most part, The Banger Sisters, successfully exploits and expands upon its intriguing premise.
Sarandon's character is a composite of all the hippies who have abandoned their youthful idealism and have slavishly become Martha stewart clones and Pottery Barn customers. Hawn's character, has yet to grow up, having failed to recognize that "the times, they are a changing". You will recognize someone you know, or possibly even yourself, in these characters. It is this connection, that sustains the movie, when it resorts to tired clichés on more than one occasion.
Interjected into the mix is Sarandon's yuppie family and a neurotic screenwriter, played by, Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush. Rush's character has two roles to play in the film. He serves as a means to mock the excesses of the "Me" generation while simultaneously providing Hawn's character with the opportunity to demonstrate her inherent decency. Though not absolutely essential, to the story, Rush's character provides comic relief while helping to propel the plot.
The Banger Sisters is not as thought-provoking as Barbershop. But it has its own charms and is genuinely funny throughout. Both films also succinctly tell their story in a reasonable time and are better off for it. Length is not determinative of quality.
Yes, there is the requisite sappy, happy ending but The Banger Sisters stays true to itself and remains a well crafted, entertaining and funny escape from our daily grind. Simply put, that is what movies are supposed to do and The Banger Sisters succeeds admirably.
Alternative reviews:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-banger20f.html
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheBangerSisters-1116034/
Official website:
http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/thebangersisters/index.html
MY TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2002 LIST
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2003
David Schwartz.
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8/9/03; 11:05:57 PM.
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