Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Bonneville (Movie)

(Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Joan Allen and Christine Baranski)

This is an OK movie, not great but something nice to have on in the background while you are doing your stuff around the house.

The movie is formulaic with the typical best friends helping a grieving widow. After having been married for 20+ years, Arvilla has lost her husband. One of his dying wishes was to have his ashes spread over the places that he loved; this does not sit well Arvilla’s stepdaughter who wants her “daddy” to be interred next to her mother. Throwing salt in the wound, if Arvilla does not comply, nasty stepdaughter will take the family home away from her.

Instead of flying from Pocatello, Idaho to Santa Barbara, California they decide to take the late husband’s Bonneville on a cross county excursion stopping in the places that dear dead husband enjoyed. Funny, apparently there are no freeways from Pocatello to Santa Barbara since they seem to be in some rather out of the way gas stations.

After arriving late for the funeral with guilty looks on their faces, the ashes are finally presented to wicked stepdaughter only there is quite a funny surprise when the ashes are accidently spilled. Actually, that is the best part of the movie.

There are a couple of things that just did not make sense in this movie - Why was it necessary to make reference to a characters Mormonism when in fact they just made fun of the customs of that religion throughout the movie. How did the truck driver find them at yet another out of the way gas station driving a little blue truck instead of his 18-wheeler?

The little things here and there drove me crazy. I guess if you are looking for mindless entertainment this would suffice, but if you are hoping for something to dig your teeth into, this just is not it.

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