Welcome back, Goldie Hawn.
It's about time she stepped back onto the scene with a movie
that isn't completely horrible, i.e. "Town &
Country" and "The Out-of-Towners". Sure,
this is not the best work she has ever done (i.e. "Seems
Like Old Times" and "Death Becomes Her"), but
it is pretty damn funny and extraordinarily bizarre.
Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon star as Suzette and Lavinia,
two former groupies so famous that rocker Frank Zappa gave
them the name 'the banger sisters'. Alas, many years
have past, and after being fired from her bartending gig in
West Hollywood, Suzette finds herself driving to Arizona to
reconnect with Lavinia. Along the way she meets Harry
(Geoffrey Rush), who is on his way to Arizona with a gun and
one bullet to kill his father. There's a nice plot twist
we don't see in the trailer. Upon arriving, Suzette
learns that Lavinia has developed an extremely laid back
lifestyle, spoiled and somewhat dignified, with her husband unaware
of her older, wilder side. Enter the usual turn of
events that you can probably already predict.
This movie made me laugh.
"Stealing Harvard" tried to make me laugh, but
failed.
This movie is humorous throughout, thanks largely to three
hilarious performances from Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon, and
Geoffrey Rush. It was nice to see the sharp contrast
between Suzette and Lavinia and see how, after all those
years, Hawn was still clinging onto her groupie days. I couldn't' help but notice how Hawn's daughter Kate Hudson was a
rock groupie in "Almost Famous" and could have been
the same character her mother portrayed in "The
Banger Sisters".
Sure,
the plot twists are contrived and the screenplay is paper
thin, but there are enough genuinely funny moments to make me
forget all of that. This film reminded me of those old
comedies, like "Seems Like Old Times" that use to be
made back in the late seventies and eighties, films that were
fall-down hilarious, even though they were paper thin
otherwise. I miss those films, classics like
"Stripes" and "Private Benjamin" and
"Roxanne". Where have those good old fashioned
comedies gone? I won't them back.
"The Banger Sisters" is one of the brightest
comedies of the year and I would recommend it to just about
anyone. I had a friend tell me this was going to be
'just another chick movie', and it is so much more than that.
This is anything but a chick movie, though the trailers are
aimed at a female audience. Goldie Hawn rocks.
Geoffrey Rush rocks. This movie rocks.
