3441. The Banger Sisters (2002)

Starring: Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon, Geoffrey Rush

Director: Bob Dolman

Running Time: 98 mins

The Banger Sisters is an American film about two former best friends who, having taken wildly different paths in their lives, reunite in middle age where they discover the truth behind their personalities and their friendship.

While this isn’t necessarily a ‘banger’ film (ba-dum-tss), I was pleasantly surprised by The Banger Sisters, a comedy that might not do all that much in terms of laughs, but tells a likable and touching story, growing in depth and maturity as it unfolds throughout.

Although the film starts off in a fairly messy state, with a rather murky characterisation of Goldie Hawn and Geoffrey Rush’s relationship, once we see Hawn reunite with her former best friend Susan Sarandon, who is now a world away from their former groupie lifestyle, The Banger Sisters really starts to shine.

For one, Hawn and Sarandon are absolutely wonderful together, with a fantastic rat-a-tat that makes their surprisingly at-odds personalities all the more convincing, but with an underlying chemistry that means you’re always rooting for them to make up and live like they were as young friends.

While things can be a little screechy in the early stages of their reunion, once The Bangers Sisters really calms down and focuses almost entirely on the two leading ladies, along with Geoffrey Rush as a side anchor for the story, it turns into a really touching film about friendship and being who you really are.

With the odd sweet joke here and there, the film’s latter stages are a wonderfully calm and genuinely soothing path to the finish, as we see the rekindling of an old flame in the pair’s friendship, and Sarandon inspiringly shaking off the shackles of a boring suburban lifestyle that seems to have consumed her for so long.

The film might not be a comedic masterpiece or a brilliant watch from start to finish, but The Banger Sisters is genuinely heartfelt in a way a lot of other films aren’t, and as such does more than enough to put a smile on your face come the end. So, that’s why I’m giving it a 7.2 overall.