User reviews

My subject line sort of sums up my views on this movie. The plot is not particularly original. Once you know hook, you can predict much of the rest of the movie. The difference is that they stir the pot a little in this one, and the cast seems to really enjoy working together and is fun to watch. There are a few minor surprises, but who cares. This is a movie about the charisma of it's stars, and they all shine. This is not a movie that will go down in history, it will not change your life, but it is not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.

"The Banger Sisters" tells of two middle-aged women, once best friend rock groupies, who have taken different paths through life. Upon reuniting after 20 years they rediscover each other and, most of all, themselves. A fun and funny chick flick with summa-dis and summa-dat in lieu of a story, this light hearted comedy runs the gamut from silliness to poignancy to middle-aged romance to sentimental stuff with only an occasional speed bump along the way winding up with a message about being true to yourself. An enjoyable three star flick for more mature audiences, especially the distaff. (B)

In Los Angeles, when the bartender Suzette (Goldie Hawn) is fired from the club where she works, she decides to travel to Phoenix and visit her friend and also former groupie of twenty years ago Vinnie (Susan Sarandon) to borrow some money. While on the road, she runs out of gas and without any money, she accepts to bring the stressed loser writer Harry Plummer (Geoffrey Rush) and in return he would pay for the gasoline. When she meets her old friend, now Mrs. Lavinia Kingsley, she finds a very conservative and traditional housewife, married with the successful lawyer Raymond Kingsley (Robin Thomas) and mother of two complicated teenagers, Hanna and Ginger. Their interaction along a few days improves their lives.

"The Banger Sisters" has a good premise, that some people never change while others repress their feelings, but it is badly executed. The idea of how people change their behavior when raise a family could be deeply developed based on the past of the two "banger sisters", but the way the forgotten and unknown past of Vinnie is disclosed to her family is absolute shallow and without any purpose. I believe Bob Dolman was lazy or afraid to shift to a profound drama, and preferred the easiest and most superficial way to make the confrontation between two exaggerated sides: the one who lives in the past and the other that does not use her experience to improve her relationship with her daughters and husband. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Doidas Demais" ("Too Crazies")

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who recognized parts of myself in this movie. It's a real feel good film. You either know someone like or were yourself like either Suzette or Lavinia. Suzette living in her past and never growing up and Lavinia growing up and trying to forget her past. I LOVE Goldie Hawn!!! She's one of those actresses that I really believe is as adorable in real life as she is in movies. Goldies free spirited character and Susan Sarandon's up tight character played off each other so well. Jeffrey Rush was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!! Who knew he was so funny!!!!!!! I'd love to see him in more comedic rolls in the future. Run, don't walk to your nearest video store and rent this one tonight!!!!!!!!!!

Suzette (Goldie Hawn) and Lavinia (Susan Sarandon) used to be groupies with the Doors, but they've since parted ways: Suzette still acts like a groupie, Lavinia lives a laid-back existence in the suburbs. That is, until Suzette decides to come visit Lavinia. Then, all bets are off. Big time.

If absolutely nothing else, "The Banger Sisters" shows that Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon still have the talent that they always had (of course, neither one ever lost talent). Geoffrey Rush has a great supporting role as uptight Harry Plummer, with some strange plans.

I gotta say, autumn 2002 put an interesting spin on chick flicks, with "The Banger Sisters", "Far from Heaven" and "The Hours".

There is a good deal of decent dialogue in this movie, and Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon know how to make the most of it. As a fan of old movies, I could never fault a script for being "formulaic." Let's face it, if you've seen a thousand movies, you've seen it all. As long as the writer gets it right, a movie can, at the very least, be admired. In this case, it can be appreciated. This movie is fun, it doesn't take itself too seriously, and there are some important messages: remember the importance of being supremely sure of yourself, of having a best friend, and of hearing Led Zeppelin in concert. It shouldn't be relegated to the category "chick flick." It is about a person who seems to drift aimlessly through life, and winds up portraying someone who makes a positive impact on many peoples' lives. Watching Goldie's/Suzette's face as she and Susan/Vinnie start to dance for the first time in 20 years also made me remember something important: when women friends dance together, it's different than men and women dancing. They enter into a partnership that says, for the next few minutes, we will do something cool together, and, sometimes, that's an important thing to do.

I'm a big Hawn and Sarandon fan but this movie was a mistake for both of them. It's just got nothing going for it. The acting isn't particularly bad, it's just not that that special, the performances realty aren't memorable. The script is lazily written, I was so immensely disappointed that it was so lazy because this film had so much potential to be a fun, entertaining film that really worked. But I'm sorry to say that the potential the film had was wasted big time. The characters are boring and there isn't nearly enough time devoted to developing them well so that we can feel more about them. The film also has little to no chemistry between the characters, it just doesn't work. The dialogue is weak and unimportant all throughout the film. I really wanted this film to be a funny, sweet, entertaining movie exploring the wild friendship between Sarandon and Hawn. The movie just doesn't do a very good job at accomplishing that. It explores it to do a degree, but lazily. The one single scene I liked in the entire movie was when the two were looking at old photos and reminiscing. That was the one scene that worked, nothing else. 2/10 for The Banger Sisters. I wanted to like it but it was just so bad.

With a title and a poster like that I hadn't high hopes for this movie but I was wrong as it was much better than I expected. For this genre it's certainly not the worst. It's easy entertainment, sometimes a bit quirky with some funny moments. Maybe not hilarious but good enough to make me smile every now and then. I like the high pace in this movie, never or almost never a slow moment, but instead a constant pace that makes The Banger Sisters enjoyable to watch. Susan Sarandon is elegant as usual, Goldie Hawn playing the more thrashy woman but still with a perfect body for her age. It's all relaxing and a bit fun to watch.

Suzette (Goldie Hawn) gets fired from Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles. She decides to go to Phoenix to reconnect with Lavinia Kingsley (Susan Sarandon) who used to be her best friend as "The Banger Sisters". On the way, she picks up peculiar writer Harry Plummer (Geoffrey Rush) who claims to be going to Phoenix to kill his father. Lavinia is now a conservative mother to valedictorian Hannah (Erika Christensen) and driving-impaired Ginger (Eva Amurri Martino) and wife to lawyer Raymond (Robin Thomas). Suzette is staying with Harry at a hotel when she encounters Hannah freaking out after dropping acid during prom. None of her family knows Vinnie's former wild life.

Hawn and Sarandon are good together. Rush and Hawn are even better together as opposites. The girls discovering their mother is compelling. It would be better to have them have more heart-to-heart scenes with Vinnie. A girls' sit-down could be a powerful emotional talk. This movie is much better than expected although my expectations were extremely low.

The plot is quite generic and very routine with nothing exciting or out of the ordinary taking place except a poor performance from the usually brilliant Susan Sarandon. Geoffrey Rush was great, Goldie Hawn was pretty ok but the ever reliable Sarandon didn't meet the high expectations I have for her. In most scenes she looked uncomfortable and out of sorts and the 'wild side' that her character shows looks incredibly unnatural whereas Goldie Hawn is very beleivable in her role. The movie overall was pretty average, didn't completely waste my time but didn't exactly provide stellar entertainment either.

I wasn't expecting much from this movie, but ended up enjoying it! Susan Sarandon plays a character like a lot of mothers. She's been so busy bringing up a family, that she forgets who she is and what she stands for and Suzette, Goldie Hawn brings her "back". This movie reminds you to be true to yourself. Remember who you were at 18? Well, some of that teenager, some of her beliefs and dreams are still inside you. And I love how neurotic the 16 year old daughter is --"Ginger, open your throat." She has a little phlegm problem. This movie has some very real moments. I think that most women could appreciate it!

I saw a preview for this on TikTok and it looked soooooo good but it was actually the most boring, lame, not even funny movie in the world. I actually asked my cable company to refund the purchase because it was that bad.

Finally, not another unrealistic or action packed movie, but rather a movie that captures more of the women's attention. Of course, any male could probably enjoy this film. Although, some men are probably thinking, `Where is the baseball in this movie?' Or `Can't wait for the game.'

`The Banger Sisters' is a film about two close friends who shared a wild and reckless past. As they grew up, one tried to change completely and live a so-called `normal' lifestyle with two kids and a wealthy husband; the other one, unashamed of her past, is still wild. The one who changed so much, Lavina or Vinnie (Susan Sarandon), takes one look at Suzette (Goldie Hawn), for the first time in twenty years and doesn't want anything to do with her. With the help from Suzette, Lavina discovers her `old' self and makes some changes for the better.

The director Bob Dolman's most obvious intention is to pull off a movie that deals with a variety of real life issues ranging from relationships with friends and family to making changes and rediscovering the past. The director does an incredible job of making this movie realistic. First of all, he chose Susan Sarandon to play the part of the mother and house wife. Sarandon is a well known, well liked actress, who really helps bring this role to life. Also not to forget Goldie Hawn, now, who can really say they don't like Goldie? The director chose her to be the `wild' one. Goldie's petite body and sense of humor portrays this image perfectly. Also her 1960s wardrobe and tattoo on her arm prove she is no settled house wife. To help along with the whole `making changes' intention, the director throws in the `perfect' daughter, known as Hannah (Erika Christensen). Susan Sarandon's daughter is `Miss Valedictorian.' The director of the film allows Sarandon to come home to find that her daughter is no princess. Hannah's major performance in this film definitely brought about change in her `mother.'

`The Banger Sisters' is an excellent film. It brings in realistic situations and deals with them in its own way. This movie is recommended to anyone who likes comedies.

Well i was surprised by this movie. I thought it was going to be a boring movie that was just about the past and how they friends grew apart. Well i guess i was wrong and i judged how the movie was going to be wrong. This movie was a nice fun movie. It shows you cant always change yourself for something else and sometimes yourself is better than who you wanna be. I think Goldie hawn acted very well in this movie. It showed another side of her. I would encourage you to watch it or have a different mind set while watching it. It also shows high school fun and sometimes you need to have the drive yourself and not others while they should just be guider's.

No, sorry, didn't work on any level for me. Not funny in any way. The script felt like it as it was written from the male perspective about the way 2 male buddies would act if they had been put in the same situation as Suzette and Vinnie in this film. I am a big fan of both Susan S. and Goldie H. and find that these roles were embarassing for both of them. I thought G. Rush did a great job as did Susan S.'s daughter. But there was very little resolution and very little depth to all the events that took place. Why is it that Suzette is such a positive influence on everyone around her yet can't hang on to a loser job and an apartment? What makes Vinnie decide to finally accept Suzette in her world? What makes Vinnie decide to go back to the way she used to be? What makes Vinnie's family decide to "be true" all of a sudden? What make her husband suddenly accept that the woman he married had personal interaction with all of the genitalia in the rock world? Maybe it will all be explained in "The Return Of The Banger Sisters."

Goldie Hawn is an ex-groupie who never grew up; she loses her job and hits the road in search of her best girlfriend from the '60's, now a lawyer's wife with two teenage daughters. Routine serio-comedy begins well, with quirky Geoffrey Rush joining Hawn on her journey, but the movie runs out of ideas soon after Hawn meets up with uptight Susan Sarandon (well-cast but not quite in the swing of things). There's the obligatory learning-how-to-loosen-up dance scene at a crowded bar, this just after Sarandon gives herself a hip new 'do--another cliché. Near the finish, when Hawn and Sarandon chase Rush down in a cemetery, the film comes to a complete stop. However, the nicely-done final chain of events almost makes up for the flaws in "The Banger Sisters", a movie so slight it doesn't require much thought or commitment from the audience. It just wants to be a little sassy and silly and at that it succeeds--for about an hour. **1/2 from ****

I rather enjoy this film. Geoffrey Rush (as Harry) made it worthwhile beyond just watching Goldie Hawn (as Suzette) and Susan Sarandon (as Lavinia aka Vinnie). It's a comedic turn for Rush here and no less colorful being opposite the talented, ever so humorously in control Hawn. It was rather an ingenious pairing. The storyline may not be deep per se - come to think of it, there's quite a bit of psychological situations involved, in spite of its dramatic comedy format. The movie touches on parenting and teenage daughters (portrayed by Erika Christensen of "Traffic" and Sarandon's daughter Eva Amurri ), of the self-effacing predicaments of a well-to-do suburban wife & mom, of the endearing lasting friendship of two women and their crossroads to life beyond 40 - one in self-deceiving fashion, the other in self-depriving mode. Somehow through cascading events in the course of a few days, yes, things change. People change. You might say Rush's character Harry, who is self-conscious and direly needs to build self-confidence, in a way bridges and complements the reunion of the two women, and adds meaning to Suzette's life, vice versa. It's a decent Hollywood movie with drama and comedy, and there's a few lines here and there that can be life lessons, should you see it so. It meets the entertaining quotient for a first feature film written and directed by Bob Dolman.

Really appreciate Rush's performance in "Tailor of Panama, The" 2001 as Harry Pendel the tailor (opposite 'James Bond' Pierce Brosnan in a handsome sleaze No. 1 role, and Jaime Lee Curtis). He's good in every role: be it playing the manic uninhibited genius of The Marquis de Sade in "Quills" 2000 (opposite Kate Winslet), or the bereaved father and taciturn husband in "Lantana" 2001 (opposite Barbara Hershey).

Sarandon has three recent film releases: besides "Banger Sisters, The", she's part of a wickedly cool ensemble cast in yet another debut film, "Igby Goes Down," a dark comedy by writer-director Burr Steers, with Kieran Culkin turning in a strong leading performance as Igby. She co-executive-produced and again in a sensitive Mom's role in "Moonlight Mile," written and directed by Brad Silberling, with Jake Gyllenhaal ("Donnie Darko" 2001) as lead character Joe opposite Sarandon and Dustin Hoffman. She looked so radiantly approachable when appeared on NBC's Last Call hosted by Carson Daly on her birthday Oct. 4.

Hawn was also looking fabulous for her age when she appeared on PBS's Charlie Rose Show. She has down to earth viewpoints on living. Besides the very successful "First Wives Club, The" 1996 with Diane Keaton and Bette Midler, some of her many enjoyable movies are: "Housesitter" 1992 with Steve Martin, "Overboard" 1987 with Kurt Russell, "Foul Play" 1987 with the incomparable Chevy Chase, "Butterflies Are Free" 1972 with Edward Albert and Eileen Heckart, and "Private Benjamin" 1980 with Armand Assante and Eileen Brennan.

It's a shame that two such talented actors as Sarandon and Hawn would allow themselves to be cast in such a dreadful movie. The basic premise of two former sluts getting together again after many years is pretty sad. I assume the writers felt it was funny to have the "sisters" keep a collection of photos of the penises of old time rock stars. This film should not have made it past the idea stage.

I just saw this movie, and all I can say is that many of the critics don't `get it'-this is a fun romp, especially because of the efforts of the extremely gifted actors in it. Sarandon as an "uptight" matron is a hoot. Hawn giggles a bit, but shows us a force of nature as well. And Geoffrey Rush's character is a wondrous "mess."

Basically, a best friends story, with a few twists and turns. Yes, I'd love to see more of a back story on how Vinnie becomes Lavinia and more of the Bangers' `history,' but for an afternoon of memories and joy, this is it.

I really appreciate the central question Bob Dolman seems to be asking.what happened to us? Kids, for those of us living before AIDS changed the sexual revolution and the greed of the '80s turned most of us into yuppies, we were `free-er.' Gee, it's a chick flick. The theatre was filled with women when I saw it, and they were all laughing at the jokes and sighing at common experiences. The Harry Plummer character? Just think about his reaction to Suzette's caring for her friend's child. The scene shows her `real' character, not just the `floozy.'

If you want great meaning and angst, rent a Bergman DVD; for a fun romp, SEE THIS MOVIE!

Whatever was Susan Sarandon thinking when she decided to become involved in this inane comedy? Did she need to remodel? Did she need to get money to have a full page ad in the New York Times about her favorite cause? We can only hope she got a lot of money for it because a "Thelma and Louise", this is not.

Goldie Hawn, at least comes out a little better because she's not a high brow actress and this comedy won't hurt her. Her character is more believable, which isn't the case of Ms. Sarandon's Lavinia. She's a phony through and through. We can't believe that after being a groupie, she would end up in Phoenix married to this loser. Well, no wonder the union produced two retarded daughters.

Hello, Bob Dolman, who do you take us for? Just tell me who you pitched this film to. I'd like to sell him the Brooklyn Bridge!

... another movie in which white people are shown to be uptight, twisted amoral morons needing a 'natural force' to show them the error of their ways. In this case, though, it's not Whoopi Goldberg, it's Goldie Hawn who breezes into town (Phoenix, in this case), teaches everyone who their true self is (in less than 24 hours - quite a trick!), and breezes out again. It's an old story (these days), and not very well told.

The only real character (despite the title) is Goldie Hawn's Suzette. Nobody else really gets to enunciate what the heck is wrong with them (though they all know it, which is quite a trick in itself), or gets to say anything interesting at all. So what we're left with is Goldie Hawn and a bunch of cardboard cutouts of unhappy people whose problems are so skin-deep that they can be solved more or less instantaneously (heck, even the guy with father issues, who intends to shoot himself over his father's grave is cured with the equivalent of "snap out of it" and a little -- very little -- sex.)

So give this one a pass; it ain't worth your time. 2/10