The Banger Sisters

My subject line sort of sums up my views on this movie. The plot is not particularly original. Once you know hook, you can predict much of the rest of the movie. The difference is that they stir the pot a little in this one, and the cast seems to really enjoy working together and is fun to watch. There are a few minor surprises, but who cares. This is a movie about the charisma of it's stars, and they all shine. This is not a movie that will go down in history, it will not change your life, but it is not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.

There is a good deal of decent dialogue in this movie, and Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon know how to make the most of it. As a fan of old movies, I could never fault a script for being "formulaic." Let's face it, if you've seen a thousand movies, you've seen it all. As long as the writer gets it right, a movie can, at the very least, be admired. In this case, it can be appreciated. This movie is fun, it doesn't take itself too seriously, and there are some important messages: remember the importance of being supremely sure of yourself, of having a best friend, and of hearing Led Zeppelin in concert. It shouldn't be relegated to the category "chick flick." It is about a person who seems to drift aimlessly through life, and winds up portraying someone who makes a positive impact on many peoples' lives. Watching Goldie's/Suzette's face as she and Susan/Vinnie start to dance for the first time in 20 years also made me remember something important: when women friends dance together, it's different than men and women dancing. They enter into a partnership that says, for the next few minutes, we will do something cool together, and, sometimes, that's an important thing to do.

I didn't expect the movie to be this good, to be quite honest, but it definitely impressed me. Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon make a good team as Suzette and Lavinia. Suzette and Lavinia were known as the "Banger Sisters" when they were teenagers/early twenties (they were groupies). Suzette, who was just fired from her job as a bartender at the beginning of the movie, is still trying to live the groupie life while Lavinia moved to Arizona and has gone on to marry a rich man and have 2 kids. She is basically the "perfect housewife". Suzette decides to visit Lavinia after she's fired and on the way meets a bitter, obsessive-compulsive man named Harry (Geoffrey Rush...I did a double take the second time I saw this movie...after I saw Pirates of the Caribbean...I couldn't believe it was the same man! He had gone from one extreme to the other! In POTC he was a dirty, rotting, crude pirate while in the Banger Sisters he was this immaculate, obsessively clean, almost virginal man!). Well the initial visit with Suzette and Lavinia doesn't go over too well but Lavinia comes back the next day to apologize to Suzette (Lavinia was a tad rude the day before). The movie's about the two women revisiting their past and rekindling their friendship. I like the storyline, it wasn't an overdone one. It wasn't your typical chick flick. I enjoyed it more than I expected to. 8/10.

"The Banger Sisters" tells of two middle-aged women, once best friend rock groupies, who have taken different paths through life. Upon reuniting after 20 years they rediscover each other and, most of all, themselves. A fun and funny chick flick with summa-dis and summa-dat in lieu of a story, this light hearted comedy runs the gamut from silliness to poignancy to middle-aged romance to sentimental stuff with only an occasional speed bump along the way winding up with a message about being true to yourself. An enjoyable three star flick for more mature audiences, especially the distaff. (B)

Suzette (Goldie Hawn) and Lavinia (Susan Sarandon) used to be groupies with the Doors, but they've since parted ways: Suzette still acts like a groupie, Lavinia lives a laid-back existence in the suburbs. That is, until Suzette decides to come visit Lavinia. Then, all bets are off. Big time.

If absolutely nothing else, "The Banger Sisters" shows that Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon still have the talent that they always had (of course, neither one ever lost talent). Geoffrey Rush has a great supporting role as uptight Harry Plummer, with some strange plans.

I gotta say, autumn 2002 put an interesting spin on chick flicks, with "The Banger Sisters", "Far from Heaven" and "The Hours".