Written by Bob Dolman
Directed by BoB Dolman

All of us past forty probably have some good stories from when we were younger.  Some embrace those stories and some do their best to try and forget about them.  I recently got into an explanation of one part of my past with my middle child, and it was an interesting conversation to say the least.  Perhaps my own recent experience explains why I liked The Banger Sisters so much.

Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon star in this film about two former groupies who used to be best friends.  They years have seen them grow apart.  Suzette (Hawn) is a waitress working in a rock -n- roll bar. Lavinia (Sarandon) is a wealthy society woman in Phoenix, having married well.

Suzette gets fired from her long-time job and makes a road trip to see her old friend.  Along the way she picks up Harry Plummer (portrayed by Geoffrey Rush), who is a writer also on his way to Phoenix.  Things don’t go as planned, and when Suzette is crashing in Harry’s hotel room, she happens to cross paths with Lavinia’s daughter as her clique of friends are walking down the hotel hallway.  Hannah (portrayed by Erika Christensen) is having “side effects” from her prom .

Suzette has arrived back in Lavinia’s life just when it seems to be falling apart.  Hannah, her older daughter, not only was drinking and drugging at the prom, but gets caught having sex in the pool.  Ginger (portrayed by Sarandon’s real-life daughter Eva Amurri), her younger daughter, fails her road test and displays what seems like a cross between emotional difficulties and a spoiled brat.

The acting is pretty good.  Sarandon and Hawn are great in the roles.  Sarandon has enough of an uptight manner to be convincing as a woman who wants to forget her past.  At the same time, it’s not so overdone that it’s unbelievable that she could have been the person she was earlier in life.  Hawn is fine as someone who is lost in another way.  She’s been the party girl her entire life and doesn’t know how to be anyone else.  The character is something of a one-note character who grows a bit in that she’s able to cultivate a relationship of sorts with the messed-up Harry.  Rush is excellent in this role as a neurotic, obsessive-compulsive foil to Hawn’s free-spirited character.

The main problems I had with the film had to do with the script.  For one, you would think someone whose husband is contemplating dabbling in politics would come clean about her past in this day and age.  No one, not Lavnina’s husband nor anyone else seems to have a clue about her life before she met him.  There are other moments like this, where the implausibility of the script just stands up and slaps you in the face that are hard to get by.

Then there is the problem of little resolution to the film.  Lavinia seems to have lost something of herself while turning herself into the perfect wife and mother.  Suzette helps her rediscover that, as well as helping her see that her daughter’s success in life won’t be doing what everyone expects them to do, but doing what they want to do.  This is great for Hannah, but Ginger is left hanging in a way.  I can’t see how Lavinia learning how to “lighten up” is going to magically help a daughter who seems to have some emotional difficulties.  There was no hint at a resolution to anything in Lavinia’s life, just that she was going to stop worrying about what everyone else thinks.  I don’t see that as a magical cure for anything.

At the same time, I laughed a lot during this film.  Most of the laughs are at the expense of Sarandon, who spends the first half of the film trying to chase Suzette away.  Her distress at being found out is milked for all it’s worth.  When the two of them head to Lavinia’s basement to dig out some old photographs, it’s when the fun begins.  Lavinia has lost the edge she once had and Suzette takes her out to a night club.  Where Suzette is comfortable in that environment, Lavinia is now out of place.  At the same time, there were funny scenes that showed how Suzette was still trying to act like she was twenty years old, and not successful at doing that.

The trailer for The Banger Sisters seemed to indicate there would be a lot more music in it than there really was.  If you’re looking for a good soundtrack, you’ll get a few good sound bites here and there, but that’s it.  Mostly this is a story of two friends reconnecting, and one of them embracing the past she’s spent a lot of energy trying to forget.  I liked it a lot as I could relate in a way.  Had I watched it six months ago, I’m not sure I would have been as generous.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Commentary with Director Bob Dolman
• Blooper Reel
• Theatrical Trailer