The Banger Sisters Movie

The Banger Sisters
Rating:
Run Time: 98 min
MPAA Rating: R
Released: 2002
Directors: Bob Dolman
Genre/Type: Comedy Drama
Odd Couple Film
Reunion Films
Buddy Film
Producers: Elizabeth Cantillon
Mark Johnson
Plot Synopsis by Mark Deming
For some folks, the 1960s never really ended, and one woman still cheerfully stuck in the Summer of Love discovers her one-time best friend has left that decade as far behind as humanly possible in this comedy. In the late '60s and early '70s, Suzette (Goldie Hawn) and Vinnie (Susan Sarandon) were two of Southern California's most celebrated groupies. Affectionately nicknamed "The Banger Sisters" by Frank Zappa, best friends Suzette and Vinnie partied hearty with practically every rock star of the era who mattered, and kept a collection of Polaroid snapshots documenting their randy exploits. In 2001, Suzette is still her free-spirited self, and after losing her job as a barmaid at an L.A. rock club, she decides to look up Vinnie, whom she hasn't seen for 20 years. Suzette hits the road for Phoenix, AZ, to pay Vinnie a surprise visit, and en route picks up Harry (Geoffrey Rush), a novelist with writer's block who can't drive and hasn't had sex for a decade. Upon her arrival, Suzette discovers Vinnie isn't quite the same person who used to chase any man with long hair and an electric guitar. Now going by her given name of Lavinia, she's a straight laced social worker with a lawyer for a husband, Raymond (Robin Thomas), and two teenage daughters, Hannah (Erika Christensen) and Ginger (Eva Amurri), none of whom know a thing about her wild and crazy past, and have a pretty hard time imagining Lavinia even attending a rock concert. Eva Amurri comes by her role as Susan Sarandon's daughter naturally enough -- Amurri is Sarandon's daughter in real life.

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Cast

Actors Character Born
Goldie Hawn Suzette Nov 21, 1945 in Washington, DC
Susan Sarandon Lavinia Oct 4, 1946 in New York City, NY
Geoffrey Rush Harry Plumber Jul 6, 1951 in Toowoomba, Australia
Erika Christensen Hannah Aug 19, 1982 in Seattle, WA
Eva Amurri Ginger Mar 15, 1985 in New York, NY
Robin Thomas Raymond Kingsley
Matthew Carey Jules

Back to the topReview

Review by Brian J. Dillard
After the plastic-surgery hilarity of Death Becomes Her and the prominent collagen jokes in The First Wives Club, it seems like Goldie Hawn would want to draw less attention to her lips. Nevertheless, they're all over The Banger Sisters. As Suzette, an aging rock chick out to reconnect with a former fellow groupie, the actress constantly applies glistening coats of girlish gloss to her smile. The effect is almost as amusing and unsettling as watching the matronly Susan Sarandon pour herself into animal-print spandex during the film's fairy-tale climax. It's this ability to highlight the absurdities and indignities of aging that allows The Banger Sisters to overcome its frictionless script and say a thing or two while it's delivering its easy, bawdy laughs. Time may not be kind to the face or the body, but it rarely leaves one's sense of selfhood intact, either, and it's this deeper sense of change and loss that the film hammers home. Beyond an unbelievably happy ending, writer/director Bob Dolman doesn't succeed in bringing much resolution to the thorny issues he raises. But in an industry that regularly turns older actresses into campy grotesques (see everyone from Bette Davis to Faye Dunaway), it's refreshing to see a major Hollywood film that pauses to think about the real issues at the heart of growing older. Geoffrey Rush has lots of fun as Suzette's obsessive-compulsive beau, while Eva Amurri's precocious performance suggests that she could corner the market on Liza Minnelli-style ingenues if Tori Spelling tires of them. Ultimately, such spot-on casting and that hint of something deeper excuse The Banger Sisters for its feel-good formula.
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