|
|
|
|
  |
Hawn and Sarandon sink their teeth into well-written roles in this wry
and entertaining mid-life comedy-drama. They play Suzette and Vinnie,
respectively, best pals from the 1960s when they were groupies
extraordinaire, named the Banger Sisters by Frank Zappa himself. All
these years later Suzette is still working as a barmaid in a West
Hollywood rock club, while Vinnie ("Call me Lavinia") is an uptight
suburban housewife in upscale Phoenix with an ambitious lawyer husband
and two teen daughters (Christensen and Amurri) of her own. When
Suzette loses her job, she heads east to see her old friend for the
first time in 20 years, along the way picking up a nebbish writer
(Rush) afraid of life itself. Basically, Suzette's love-life mentality
infects everyone.
But there's more to it than that. Suzette is living in the past while
Lavinia is living only for the future, and of course both of them
discover the present as the film progresses. This is an important
message, and writer-director Dolman knows that, but he never hammers his
point in. Instead he just concentrates on the characters and lets Hawn
and Sarandon do what they do best: light up the screen with sharp,
witty and clever performances. Their chemistry is terrific--why they've
never made a film together before is anyone's guess. Rush even manages
to make his initially cartoonish character come to life. And
Christensen and Amurri (Sarandon's real daughter) are superb, dealing
with their own issues and struggling with the idea that their bland,
self-righteous mother has a torrid past. Essentially, this film touches
on many of the same themes as Thelma & Louise, but in a much more
off-handed way. It's thoroughly enjoyable and only falters in its
overly touching climax. But at least Dolman and his cast continually
undercut the sappy moments with snappy irreverence.
|
|
|
|
|
|
