Bonneville

Bonneville is a movie that is more like what Hollywood used to make for films. A movie with a real believable story and not all a bunch of digitized magic. Finally a movie where the actors can act like real people we can all relate to in our own lives.

Lange,Bates and Allan did a wonderful job of portraying three Mormon friends rebelling against her step daughters wishes to fulfill her late husbands desires. A wonderful film with feeling and happiness. Should be more like this..

Christopher Rowley did a wonderful job of directing this cast in a heart felt film. Drop of Water productions should go along way in the future.

Road movies with female leads are rarer than I thought. The only ones that come to mind are "Thelma & Louise" (which I never saw) and the 1965 sexploitation flick "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (which, despite being a hetero male, I could only take 20 minutes of). "Bonneville" is the only one I've seen all the way through, and it was an enjoyable experience.

The film is very tame by today's standards, and depending on what you're in the mood for, that could be a good thing or a bad thing. It caught me on a day when I was craving a break from the shocking, disturbing, edgy films of late. And if you're in the same mindset, I think you'll like it, too. It reminded me of the kind of film that might have been made in the late 40s, all about good values & morality. The 3 characters are portrayed as being Mormon which accounts for their "old fashioned" customs like not drinking coffee, no swearing, lying or philandering (if that word can be applied to women). But within those confines, we get the story of a bunch of chicks gone wild.

If you like this type of movie, I highly recommend "Ladies in Lavender" (2004) with Judi Dench. Another good one, though touching on a heavy subject (Alzheimer's), is "Away From Her" (2006) with Julie Christie. And for a morbidly good time, check out the classic "Arsenic & Old Lace" (1944). I seem to have a thing for wild & crazy grandmothers.

Bonneville The new film from unknown director is from Christopher N. Rowley and stars Academy Award winners Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and three time nominee Joan Allen. This is the story of three extraordinary women who go on a road trip to bring one of their dead husband's ashes to his spiteful daughter from his previous marriage.

Our film opens up with the introduction of our main character Arvilla who is played marvelously by Jessica Lange whom shows the audience that she still has it in her to be an acclaimed performer. After losing her husband, Joe, while on a vacation, she returns home to cremate her husband and to spread his ashes when his daughter Francine (played by Christine Baranski known for her roles in Chicago and Cruel Intentions) has a will from years prior and orders that his ashes be returned home with her. After Arvilla claims that her will is out of date and he had made a new one she searches all over her house and comes up empty. In Francine's will he leaves his house that Arvilla and Joe lived in to her daughter and Francine is willing to trade her father's ashes in order for Arvilla to stay in the house.

Enters her two best friends; rebellious party animal, Margene (Kathy Bates) and goody prude Carol (Joan Allen) give their two sense and suggest maybe it's better to give the ashes to his daughter in order to keep her home. Arvilla has a week to return the ashes to Francine and here starts our adventure. She decides to fly out along with her friends and half way to the airport in Joe's 66' Pontiac Bonneville makes a decision to drive from her small town in Idaho to a cross country adventure.

These three women are a true delight and a testament to what love, friendship and faith are all suppose to be. This is truly a film for an older crowd of people but as young man myself, I secretly wished for a happy life to come like the one's of these women. It's an uplifting feel which brings a concentrated confidence for all people. With a breakout performance coming from a young Victor Rasuk as Bo, the film plows down the walls of vanity and brings in the sense of adoration and tenderness.

Oscar prospects go for all three women with Jessica Lange going lead and Allen and Bates for supporting. But I have to say that it's Kathy Bates who is the standout of the women and completely steals each scene she speaks in. She'll bring you to tears from her speeches about life to her wishes about death, you can't leave that theater without holding her in your heart. Allen is also great and we all know she is long overdue for her Oscar and we cannot wait for her to make it to a podium soon.

The film is a "Grumpy Old Men" meets "Boys on the Side" with a powerful touch and courageous feeling. The film will likely not hit big the awards contention but could snap and go as awards season approaches. It's playing in Toronto as a gala and could be word of mouth hit.

Grade: ***/****

Three of the four leads have strong theatre backgrounds (Jessica Lange has been on stage, but not to the extent of the other actors), all have extensive movie and TV backgrounds, and all four were hung out to dry with a wretched script and inept direction. No surprises in the script - one knew where and how it was going after the first five minutes. The actors were reduced to playing one dimensional characters with no assistance or inventiveness from the director. I live in hope that when the actors signed on, it was done mainly to have the chance to work together and the expectancy that they could bring depth to a shallow work. No such luck. Hope the paycheck was good. For the audience, it was a loooooooong 90 minutes.

I have read some negative reviews around this movie, mainly based on a comparison with Thelma and Louise. I consider Ridley Scott's masterpiece one of the best movies ever, certainly the best dealing with women's friendship in the most authentic and sincere way. Bonneville is undoubtedly something different, we have three middle-aged women, we have a road trip, we have almost the same breathtaking scenery, but the whole context and the motivations are totally different, so that I find it totally useless to try make a comparison. The cast remains a talented one, and the only presence of Cathy Bates could not make a movie a bad one, and indeed it is a movie that with no pretension simply tries to reflect upon life, death, relationships, introducing some good entertaining and amusing moments. I have also read about an accusation of being too sentimental, on the contrary I appreciated its sentimental side. We are probably nowadays so used to insensitiveness around us, that whenever a movie with some feelings inside is released it risks an accusation of being a melodrama. This is not the case with Bonneville, it's a decent, pleasant road-comedy , with a good story inside, starring a good and cohesive cast.