The Banger Sisters

Banger Sisters
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bob Dolman
Written by	Bob Dolman
Produced by	Elizabeth Cantillon Mark Johnson
Starring	Goldie Hawn Susan Sarandon Geoffrey Rush Erika Christensen Robin Thomas
Cinematography	Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Edited by	Aram Nigoghossian
Music by	Trevor Rabin
Distributed by	Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates	September 8, 2002 (2002-09-08) (Deauville) September 20, 2002 (2002-09-20) (United States)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10 million
Box office	$38.1 million

The Banger Sisters is a 2002 American comedy film written and directed by Bob Dolman, and produced by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The film stars Goldie Hawn as Suzette and Susan Sarandon as Vinnie; two middle-aged women who were once best friends and groupies, reveling in 1960s/70s hedonism, before they lost touch and went their very separate ways. Suzette's decision to crash back into her former friend's current, and radically different, conventionally respectable life, is the basis for humor, with the clash of who they were and now are. The plot considers aging and how people alter with time, whether incidentally - Suzette realizing she's now older than the current musicians - or deliberately, to try to find a place in the world, as Vinnie has, but sometimes losing part of themselves along the way.

Released on September 20, 2002, the film was Dolman's directorial debut, and Hawn's last acting role until the release of Snatched in 2017, fourteen and a half years after the film's release.

Plot

When Suzette is fired from her job as bartender at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles by a younger corporate manager with no time for nostalgia, she feels alone, aware of getting older, and in need of money, so on a whim sets out for Phoenix, Arizona to see former best friend, Vinnie. Stranded at a service station without money to buy gasoline, Suzette picks up neurotic, agoraphobic, middle-aged writer Harry Plummer, heading to Phoenix to permanently deal with his father's negative influence over his life, and willing to pay for gas along the way.

On arrival in Phoenix, Suzette has a chance encounter with Vinnie's 17-year-old elder daughter Hannah, who she finds collapsed and abandoned by her friends after a bad experience with LSD. Suzette brings her to Harry's hotel room and cares for her, as Hannah starts throwing up. In the morning Suzette drives Hannah back to her parents' elegant suburban home, with a cover-story about the teenager having become ill after mixing red and white wine the previous night. But Suzette is shocked by what she sees, Vinnie - now Lavinia Kingsley - appears to be a radically different character to the one she knew 20 years ago; now with a conservative respectable lifestyle, portraying the conventionally "perfect" wife and mother—a role which prompts Vinnie's younger daughter Ginger to ask Suzette, "Did she ever do anything wrong?". Raymond, Vinnie's lawyer husband and aspiring politician, is also unaware about his wife's wilder past.

Initially horrified by Suzette's sudden appearance, even attempting to bribe her to leave quietly, Lavinia starts to reminisce with Suzette, and warm to her presence. Lavinia cuts her hair and casts off her expensive but boring clothes and, just for one night, relives the 'old days' by going dancing with Suzette. They return to Vinnie's home, and down in the basement she retrieves some memorabilia of their previous life, including a collection of Polaroids of the penises of numerous "musicians and a few roadies". They share a marijuana joint, which inadvertently sets off the smoke detector, waking up the household.

Ginger has a minor car accident, with everyone gathering at the hospital. Vinnie has an identity crisis during a family argument, where Hannah blames Suzette for disrupting their lives. Suzette leaves and calls Harry telling him she's going back to Los Angeles. Vinnie follows Suzette and they have a heart to heart that ends up with them sitting atop a "Got Milk?" billboard sign to watch the sunrise.

The pair go to the hotel room to find Harry has left. Suzette fears the worst as Harry has taken a gun with him. They find Harry going to see his father - deceased in a cemetery. While Suzette tries to talk sense into Harry, Vinnie loses her patience and bumps into him with the car. Suzette takes the gun and shoots the single bullet into the air. Harry finally comes to grips with his dead, absentee father.

In the end, both Lavinia's husband and her two daughters have understood that she is only human after all. In her graduation speech, Hannah speaks out against anything that is "fake" and urges her schoolmates, teachers and the parents present to "do it true".

The following day, Suzette returns to Los Angeles together with Harry, who has come to consider her as his muse.

Cast

• Goldie Hawn as Suzette
• Susan Sarandon as Lavinia "Vinnie" Kingsley
• Geoffrey Rush as Harry Plummer
• Erika Christensen as Hannah Kingsley
• Robin Thomas as Raymond Kingsley
• Eva Amurri as Ginger Kingsley
• Matthew Carey as Jules
• Andre Ware as Jake the Bartender
• Adam Tomei as Club Owner
• Sal Lopez as Pump Attendant
• Kohl Sudduth as Hotel Clerk
• Tinsley Grimes as Prom Girl
• Larry Krask as Man in Bar
• Marlayna Garrett as Young Groupie
• Buckcherry as Themselves

Reception

The film was released on September 20, 2002. It opened at #2, in 2,738 theaters (setting a record as Fox Searchlight's largest-ever theatrical release, which it would hold until their release of Ready or Not in 2019 at 2,820 theaters), grossing $10,037,846 during its opening weekend. It went on to gross $30,307,416 domestically and $7,760,937 from international markets, for a worldwide total of $38,068,353.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 48% based on reviews from 143 critics. The site's consensus states: "Hawn and Sarandon are terrific together, but the hoary plot is predictable and contrived." On Metacritic the film has a score of 48% based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3 out of 4, calling it "Pretty thin, but you grin while you're watching it."

Soundtrack

The Banger Sisters Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released	September 10, 2002
Genre	Soundtrack
Label	Sanctuary Records

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Artist	Length
1.	"The Red Road"	Chris Robinson	Chris Robinson	5:35
2.	"Fame 02"	Carlos Alomar / David Bowie / John Lennon	Tommy Lee	3:39
3.	"Home"	Scott Alexander / Rodney Browning Cravens / Dishwalla / Pete Maloney / J. R. Richards	Dishwalla	4:46
4.	"Burning Down the House"	David Byrne / Chris Frantz / Jerry Harrison / Tina Weymouth	Talking Heads	3:59
5.	"One Last Goodbye"	Blair Daly / Chris Farren / Richie Sambora / Gordie Sampson	Richie Sambora	4:57
6.	"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"	Bennie Benjamin / Horace Ott credited as Gloria Caldwell / Sol Marcus	Trevor Rabin	4:08
7.	"Doctor, My Eyes"	Jackson Browne	Ben Folds	3:11
8.	"Hour Of Need"	Peter Frampton / Gordon Kennedy / Wayne Kirkpatrick	Peter Frampton	5:19
9.	"Trippin'"		JP (John Paul Lourence)	3:33
10.	"Child Of Mine"	Roger Daltrey / Gerard McMahon	Roger Daltrey featuring G Tom Mac	4:01
11.	"Crushed"	Keith Nelson / Josh Todd	Buckcherry	3:40
12.	"Burn Out"		Slack	2:38
13.	"Rock Me"	John Kay	Steppenwolf	3:44
Total length:				53:10

External links

• The Banger Sisters at IMDb
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› The Banger Sisters at AllMovie
• The Banger Sisters at Box Office Mojo