Content Starts Here
The Banger Sisters film review
THE BANGER SISTERS
Running time: 96 mins
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon, Geoffrey Rush, Robin Thomas, Eva Amurri, Erika Christensen
If there is such a thing as growing old gracefully, then somebody forget to tell Suzette (Goldie Hawn) and Lavinia (Susan Sarandon), the middle-aged double-act who cackle and cavort through Bob Dolman's comical road movie. They bump and grind younger rivals off the dance floor of a packed nightclub, drink until they drop and, in one unforgettable sequence, pore over Polaroids of aging rocker's genitalia. It's Women Behaving Badly, in sensible footwear.
Some 20 years after the heady memory of her groupie days, Suzette is still working behind the bar of a hip West Hollywood club where she met and worshipped some of the world's most famous rockers. As she tells the club's beleaguered owner: "See that toilet? Jim Morrison passed out in there one night with me underneath him." Unfortunately, the owner isn't impressed he promptly fires her. With time on her hands and nowhere to go, Suzette seizes a chance to rekindle the memory of the good ole days and heads for Phoenix to reunite with best friend Lavinia.
Back in the '60s, the two women were legendary groupies christened The Banger Sisters by Frank Zappa. They were known far and wide for their "services" to the music industry and their outrageous antics on the road. Suzette hopes to recapture some of the glory of those crazy years, and maybe, in the process, decide what she is going to do with the rest of her life.
En route to Phoenix, her car breaks down and Suzette secures a lift from neurotic screenwriter Harry (Geoffrey Rush), who is heading south to shoot his kill his father. The pair form a fragile bond and Harry allows Suzette to share his hotel room while she tries to re-establish contact with her gal pal.
Lavinia has left behind her chequered past to become a wealthy and well-respected socialite with a handsome lawyer husband (Robin Thomas) and two spoiled, brattish teenager daughters, Ginger (Eva Amurri) and Hannah (Erika Christensen). She doesn't want to revisit her wild child days and ruin her image with the 'ladies that lunch'. Nor does Lavinia want to give her rebellious younger daughter any ideas. However, Suzette isn't exactly the model of discretion and the truth will invariably out.
The Banger Sisters is a wickedly foul-mouthed, rambunctious romp that proves women may be the fairer sex, but they are rarely the meekest. Hawn and Sarandon are hilarious as the kindred spirits who learn, in their own quirky way, that the only thing that endures (apart from Suzette's silicon implants) is sisterly solidarity.
There's a lovely chemistry between the lead actresses, with Hawn as bubbly as ever in a role that could have been written for her. Rush offers droll support as a man wrestling with the demons of his past, who sees salvation in the short skirts and open arms of fun-loving Suzette.
The plot is flimsy and some of the gags fall a little flat, but like its two lead characters, The Banger Sisters is hard to resist.
Font size
Mail
My account
Help
Community
Print now
Send to a friend
Related articles
Related products
