FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
Susan Sarandon, left, and Goldie Hawn star in "The Banger Sisters."
Someone in Hollywood must have been watching "Almost Famous" and wondered what would happen if they tracked down Penny Lane 30 years later. Then, in running the numbers through a studio calculator, put two and two together and said, "Let's get Kate Hudson's mom Goldie Hawn to play an aging groupie in search of herself -- you know, one for the boomers." ‘Banger Sisters’
no bang-up job
By Nadine Kam
nkam@starbulletin.comMany high-fives, frenzied phone calls and Ivy lunches later, the result is "The Banger Sisters." At best it's a harmless bit of chick-buddy fluff. At worst it goes for easy laughs with a predictable, paint-by-number women's-empowerment plot that demeans the issue, managing to make older women look desperate, silly and pathetic.
And, considering the film's title and premise promise of a hint of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, this Hollywood product is devoid of all of the above -- unless you consider that the older she gets, the more Hawn looks like her daughter, who is herself a ringer for a very young Robert Plant.
The film seems designed primarily to give Goldie Hawn a job, and considering the dearth of women's roles in Hollywood, that's not a bad thing. But Goldie, honey, listen to me -- there are other ways for older women to appear sexy. Please study Bebe Neuwirth's performance in "Tadpole."
"THE BANGER SISTERS" opens promisingly enough inside Sunset Strip's Whisky a Go Go with the current crop of rock 'n' roll boys on stage and Hawn, as Suzette, tending bar. Her days there are numbered as neither today's golden gods or the club's corporate culture have much use for an aging, if legendary, groupie.
Retreating to her hippie den of incense, candles, velvet and patchwork, Suzette pulls out old Polaroids of the good ol' days, and out pops a photo of her buddy in the sport of bedding rock stars, Lavinia (Susan Sarandon). It's enough to send Suzette heading out to Arizona to hook up with 'Vinnie for some girl talk and, possibly, $5,000 to tide her over in her new Whisky-less existence.
FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
Harry (Geoffrey Rush) plays a failed, neurotic writer en route to Phoenix to kill someone.
It's all pretty much downhill from there. On the road, Suzette picks up a failed, neurotic writer played by Geoffrey Rush, who's en route to Phoenix to kill someone. Such is the Oscar winner's presence that you expect Rush's Harry to be a pivotal character, but no, first-time screenwriter/director Bob Dolman just wants to bland you to death with cop-outs all the way.
Once in Phoenix, Suzette is a blemish on 'Vinnie's perfect life. She married a lawyer with political ambitions even though he seems dumb as dirt (has that ever stopped anyone from entering politics?) when it comes to knowing his family. Given the family's emphasis on appearances, the free-wheeling 'Vinnie has become a total priss and control freak, which causes her daughters to wonder, "Did mom ever have any fun?"
The rest of the film is devoted to Suzette's task of helping 'Vinnie -- whose clothes are as drab as the paint job at the DMV -- find herself again with rote scenes devoted to smoking pot, a nightclub visit (warning: old people dancing!), giggling over photos of their old flames' appendages (which the audience isn't privy to) and getting busted by the family.
There are scattered references to musicians such as Jimmy Page, Ginger Baker and Jim Morrison, but given the subject matter, cameos by rock stars are not part of the equation.
Hawn is her usual perky, over-the-top self -- an excuse for boob enhancement jokes -- and Sarandon gives a perfect comic performance in her makeover from staid, society matron to fun-loving rock 'n' roll mom. That this lame script shows any signs of life at all is a tribute to these stars. But it's Eva Amurri as Lavinia's daughter (Sarandon's daughter in real life) who nearly steals the show with her portrayal of 'Vinnie's bratty daughter Ginger, who has a nasal condition that causes her to wheeze, squeak and grunt under duress.
Those who love Hawn and Sarandon and don't mind taking their films at face value may enjoy "The Banger Sisters." Everyone else can wait for the DVD, or better yet, the USA Network.
Rated R "The Banger Sisters"
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