Top Box Office Movies - The Banger Sisters

The Banger Sisters (2002) Fox Searchlight
1 hr. 38 mins.
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Goldie Hawn, Geoffrey Rush, Erika Christensen, Robin Thomas, Eva Amurri, Matthew Carey
Directed by: Bob Dolman

The Banger Sisters

Rating:

E-MAIL FRANK OCHIENG

Photo: Fox Searchlight

Ah, we haven't had a good nostalgic movie dedicated to rock star groupies since Cameron Crowe's wonderfully 2000 semi-autobiographical offering Almost Famous. Well, writer-director Bob Dolman (who scripted 1988's Willow) tries to continue the same whimsical spark with the cheeky but exasperating dramedy The Banger Sisters. Dolman's first feature direction shows his knack for providing a spry and frothy chick flick that exudes excitement and attitude. Plus showcasing the aging beauties in the Oscar-winning tandem of Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn is a marvelous gesture indeed. But The Banger Sisters is a relentlessly lightweight and underdeveloped vehicle that wants to evoke the feminist frivolity of Thelma and Louise (interestingly enough a previous Sarandon cinematic vehicle) with the introspective loony touch of the wistful aforementioned Almost Famous. However, Dolman never manages to gel this jittery jam session together in sufficient fashion. Instead, The Banger Sisters sitcom-y feel comes off as a transparent knockoff reminiscent of a series of female-bonding films we have all sat through numerous times before. The sexual wackiness is somewhat inspired but it cannot keep up with the sporadically flimsy screenplay.

It's liberating and intriguing to see desirable fiftysomething movie maidens Sarandon and Hawn strut their stuff in material that's meant to release their uninhibited energy usually reserved for their horny male counterparts. However, the film ultimately succumbs to yet another banal farce featuring the self-discovery exploits of modern-day women seizing their independence through unconventional means. There are a handful of feature films that can say they've been there and done that. What's so agonizing about the fluffiness of The Banger Sisters is that the comedy isn't as savvy and observant in its sexual politics as one might imagine. With actresses such as Sarandon and Hawn who've demonstrated their brand of saucy sexuality in far superior cinema than the lackluster and derivative Banger Sisters, you would think that this movie would take more liberties in challenging these veteran vixens.

Back in their heyday, the promiscuous pair of Suzette (Hawn) and Lavinia (Sarandon) was quite the swinging best buddies. They in fact were former rock groupies that new how to party hearty and rub shoulders with the raucous music-makers of yesteryear. They basically started out taking snapshots of rock stars and their "private parts". In fact, both Suzette and Lavinia were deemed "the banger sisters" courtesy of that mad dog musical spitfire Frank Zappa. The free-wheeling galpals thought it nothing to be wild and accepted their untamed role as musical mistresses to demanding rock stars looking to "ease their artistic tension" on any willing bouncing-boobed bimbo looking to score their own cheap thrills. Well, the lascivious leanings of Suzette and Lavinia certainly were evident and these rock-n-roll rag dolls certainly wore their sexual trysts on their sleeves as if it were a sacred ritual of sorts.

As we flash back to the present day surroundings of Suzette and Lavinia's world, we find something rather unique about the estrogen-induced odd couple. Suzette is remarkably still clinging onto her past as a carefree Whiskey A Go Go girl (or should it be "Golden" girl?) and has never abandoned that phase in her life. Then reality sets in as Suzette loses her job therefore causing her to irrationally reminisce about the good ol' glory days of parallel parking with sweaty sex-starved musicians. Hence, she sets out on a field trip to visit her friend Lavinia whom she hasn't seen in twenty years. The destitute Suzette needs money and maybe her partner-in-crime from the past can come through financially for her.

In the meanwhile, her friend Lavinia has completely turned the other cheek by assuming the responsibility of becoming an uptight, conservative housewife. In fact, Suzette is quite surprised by her pal's transformation into a straight-laced and no-nonsense prototype. The movie somehow suggests that Livinia has lost her real true self...you know...the "groove" that previously triggered the empowerment of these spontaneous women set against the landscape of lyrical emancipation?

And before you can say the phrase "Jenny Jones makeover", the movie predictably shifts into transformation mode as the bubble-headed Suzette works on gradually reviving her "Banger" buddy Livinia into the loose-goose gal that she was during the prior rollicking times. Thus, we get the typical session of "Hot Hags Gone Bad" as the terrible twosome revisit their raucous roots. Both Suzette and Livinia go out clubbing while jamming to the Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House". They both get stoned and recollect good times by checking out the "cock" shots of the rock stars they mingled with years before. Suzette even gets frisky enough in eyeing some young stud she takes a considerable fancy to.

The running gag of the film is realized thanks to the obviousness of the movie's premise. The movie's premise the audience to contemplate the following: are we slaves to our simplistic past where taking raucous chances is the real learning experience or are we handcuffed by our present day cynicism where there's a tendency to sellout in the unctuous world of corporate selfishness? The movie does pose an interesting dichotomy regarding these conflicting points of view. But this narration is too perfunctory and graceless to meet the challenge of the very forethought it's trying to present with awkward results.

Dolman fails to provide much insight and reverence to The Banger Sisters. One can tell in the way he helms this plodding comedy dedicated to tapping into the various stages of fragile womanhood. But that's the darn problem because Dolman merely trivializes the concept of counterculture female-friendly freedom without once conjuring up a sturdy commentary on how these women may have been exploited or in some cases enhanced by their roving rock-themed tendencies. The film wants to give off this ribald vibe and show us the connection of these women and their boundless boisterousness versus the suffocating restrictions of today's tight knit society. The Banger Sisters only scratches the surface as a tawdry examination of mature females trying to identify with their true inner selves as a sense of feminine fearlessness.

Although the performances by Sarandon and Hawn are well-intentioned and possess a heartfelt heartiness that elevates certain parts of this mockish movie, the stars were literally compromised at times by the stagy and pandering roles that draw out the forced chemistry. Sarandon's Lavinia is adequate as the wet blanket looking to let loose emotionally and rekindle the lost spirit of her funky past soul. But at times she also overplays this character with a bit of needless stiffness. And Hawn is intermittently over-the-top as the ditsy Suzette, a caricature that surely will recall the actress and her humble beginnings as the curvy kook of TV's Laugh-In. As for Academy Award-winning Geoffrey Rush's participation in this film, he was about as unbalanced and out-of-place as Beethoven at a volatile Sex Pistols concert! Rush's Harry is a down-and-out writer with suicidal notions whom Suzette picks up in a long distance car ride. The intriguing concept of having the frustrated Harry fall for a free-spirited flake like Suzette had possibilities but Rush's manic scribe feels so monotonous as an added afterthought.

Even the skepticism behind Livinia's lawyer hubby Ray (Robin Thomas) and teen daughters Hannah and Ginger (Erika Christensen and Eva Amurri) imaging that their dear loved one was once "rebellious and a rip-roaring renegade" doesn't come off as all that hilarious or ironic. If anything, Christensen and Amurri (Sarandon's real-life offspring) serve as the youthful comparison to the older and naughtier version of Sarandon and Hawn's wry "been around the block before" duo.

The Banger Sisters occasionally exhibit a raw sense of sexuality that compliments the alluring maturity of bombastic babes Sarandon and Hawn. This movie had the making of something refreshingly distinctive and daring. Still, these ravishing relics just couldn't pull off a noteworthy tune to the same old song and dance that continues to play the run-of-the-mill cliched notes.

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Frank Ochieng
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