Cast: Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon, Geoffrey Rush, Erika Christensen , Eva Amurri , Robin Thomas
Director: Bob Dolman
Producers: Elizabeth Cantillon, Mark Johnson
Screenplay: Bob Dolman
Cinematography: Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Music: Trevor Rabin
U.S. Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures
There are many things that solid acting can do for a movie, but crafting something promising from a mediocre screenplay is not one of them. The Banger Sisters is a prime example of how performances can elevate sub-par material to a watchable level, but do little more with it. Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon are pros – they know how to bring a character, no matter how underwritten, to life. Unfortunately, stranded in a sketchily-written story where potentially-rich, unexplored side streets are ignored in favor of wide, cliché-strewn avenues, there’s only so much that the actresses can accomplish. One might reasonably ask why Hawn and Sarandon would agree to appear in such a lackluster motion picture. The reason probably has something to do with the lack of roles available for women in the 40-plus age range, regardless of their skills.
20 years ago, Suzette (Hawn) and Vinnie (Susan Sarandon) were rock groupies, and, like all rock groupies, their lives were centered around sex, drugs, and music. Fast-forward two decades. Suzette hasn’t changed much – working behind a bar in a California drinking establishment, she still lives life hard and fast. Vinnie (now going by her full name of Livinia), on the other hand, has found respectability. Married to Raymond Kingsley (Robin Thomas), an important man in the Phoenix community, Vinnie presides over the American dream – a wonderful house (complete with a gorgeously landscaped in-ground pool), an expensive wardrobe (all in beige), and two teenage children – 18 year-old Hannah (Erika Christensen) and 16 year-old Ginger (Sarandon’s real-life daughter, Eva Amurri). When Suzette drops by for an unannounced visit, Vinnie is horrified at the sudden appearance of a random element in her well-ordered life. For her part, Suzette decides that Vinnie desperately needs a shock to the system, and she intends to provide it.
If the material sounds drab and familiar, that’s because it is. Director Bob Dolman, embarking upon his first feature, accepts no risks, never allowing his picture to veer away from the formula. If not for the high profile of the two leads, this would have had difficulty making it to the small screen as a made-for-TV movie. Viewed as a comedy, The Banger Sisters has moments that successfully tickle the funny bone. Seen as a drama, however, it’s almost a complete failure. I bought into Suzette and Vinnie as individuals who, despite a shared past, had gone in different directions, but I did not accept the sudden transformation that “resurrected” Vinnie, lifting her out of her stagnant existence. It feels forced and contrived, and the movie takes it for granted that being a rootless free-spirit is fundamentally more satisfying than pursuing a stable lifestyle.
It’s virtually impossible to watch Hawn’s performance as Suzette and not think of Almost Famous' Penny Lane as a middle-aged woman. The resemblance goes beyond the common facial features shared by the actress and her Oscar-nominated daughter, Kate Hudson. The characters share a variety of traits – so many, in fact, that one might be tempted to think that Dolman scripted Suzette with Cameron Crowe’s muse in mind. Sarandon has no trouble playing Felix to Hawn’s Oscar, although she actually seems more at home in a conservative suit than in tight jeans. Geoffrey Rush, playing a troubled, emotionally-repressed hitchhiker picked up by Suzette, is awkward (intentionally) and forgettable (not intentionally). For Erika Christensen, the promising young actress who impressed as Michael Douglas’ drug-addicted daughter in Traffic, this is a step up from Swimfan.
The intent of releasing The Banger Sisters at this time of the year is, I’m sure, an attempt to inject a little estrogen into the box office. This is a chick flick to the core. Unfortunately, the movie’s ambitions appear confined to its target audience. Instead of exploring such issues as the roads not taken and how children view their parents, The Banger Sisters is content to disappoint by ambling down Familiarity Lane.
© 2002 James Berardinelli