What happens when you take 3 of the best dramatic actresses of all time and put them together in a road movie? Pretty much a movie that should have wound up on Lifetime.
Comment
07/22/08
Bonneville (2006)
42 %
Reviews Counted: 33 Fresh: 14 Rotten:19 Average Rating: 5.2/10
Consensus:
The amazing cast of Bonneville is paired up with a basic, predictable script and lackluster direction.
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Synopsis: Writer-director Christopher N Rowley makes a strong directorial debut with BONNEVILLE, a different kind of road movie. After her adventurer husband, Joe, suddenly dies while they are in Borneo, a lonely and scared Arvilla Holden (Jessica Lange) returns home to Pocatello, Idaho, where her... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Joan Allen, Christine Baranski, Victor Rasuk
Director: Christopher N Rowley
Screenwriter: Daniel D. Davis
Story: Daniel D. Davis, Christopher N Rowley
Producer: Robert May, John Kilker
Composer: Jeff Cardoni
Screenwriter: Daniel D. Davis
Story: Daniel D. Davis, Christopher N Rowley
Producer: Robert May, John Kilker
Composer: Jeff Cardoni
Reviews
Bonneville gets by - barely - on the strength of its three leading ladies.
06/28/08
Bonneville is scarcely original and in no way earthshaking, but its notable cast is a pleasure to behold.
05/30/08
Top Critic
Clearly, this fatiguing femme drama is Lifetime, Oxygen or straight-to-DVD grade level. To put it in theatres is a gross overreach.
05/12/08
The characters, situations and resolutions all are predictable and fit like a warm, stretched-out sweater with holes in the elbows.
04/25/08
... to see all that potential wasted on what's little more than a washed-out, milquetoast road trip comedy for the soon-to-be senior set is just a travesty.
04/12/08
When you've got three of the nation's best actresses in leading roles, it doesn't matter if your script is only adequate and the audience really has to squint here and there to believe what's happening on the screen.
04/11/08
Patronizing an underserved audience with this kind of half-baked fare is a cinematic crime not easily forgiven.
03/21/08
A heartfelt drama about a grieving woman who embarks with her two best friends on a pilgrimage across the West seeking meaning and closure.
02/29/08
... sticks to a soothingly familiar itinerary, providing a welcome showcase for Jessica Lang, Kathy Bates and Joan Allen. As expected, they prove mighty good company along the way %u2014 which is fortunate, because there's nothing much else that qualifies
02/29/08
It's a shame that it's such predictable pablum, full of easy lessons and obvious sentiment. The prodigiously talented Allen, Bates and Lange give it their all, but there's a limit to what even they can do with platitudes and prefabricated homilies.
02/29/08
It's just great to see these three in sizable roles instead of being stuck in Hollywood movies where they pop up briefly to wash the dishes and dispense advice to the hot actress who's the star of the thing.
02/29/08
There are zero surprises in the road comedy Bonneville, sadly including the fact that three middle-age actresses with three Oscars and nine nominations among them couldn't find anything more challenging to do.
02/29/08
There's no avoiding the fact that Christopher Rowley's feature debut is as uninspired and predictable as your average Lifetime movie.
02/29/08
Bonneville is so bland and predictable, it literally takes two Oscar-winners and a multiple nominee to give it any real entertainment value.
02/29/08
Yes, the film deals with women of an age who are usually ignored in film, and it further deals with questions of mortality and loss, which are equally overlooked. The problem is, it doesn't deal with them very well.
02/29/08
It's the three leads who really make this material work. Lange is very sympathetic and relatable as Arvilla, while Bates injects some needed humor. And Allen is pitch-perfect as usual, as the film's moral center of sorts.
02/29/08
Except for Jessica Lange’s silent, expressive close-ups, the women’s journey in Bonneville is aesthetically and dramatically unremarkable.
02/29/08
Top Critic
The '66 Bonneville was a great car, but these talented ladies deserved a better vehicle.
02/29/08
The actresses make certain you understand their motivations and quirks. It helps Bonneville step away from Lifetime Television treacle into something palatable. Perhaps even charming.
02/28/08
Pictures
News
Critics Consensus: Semi-Pro is Semi-Good, Boleyn Girl Not Quite Movie Royalty
posted by Tim Ryan February 28, 2008
This week at the movies, we've got hapless hoopsters, snouted socialites, and scandalous siblings. What do the...
posted by Tim Ryan February 28, 2008
This week at the movies, we've got hapless hoopsters, snouted socialites, and scandalous siblings. What do the...
TORONTO: "Away From Her," "The Prisoner," "El Cantante," And More Purchased at Fest
posted by Jen Yamato September 16, 2006
Picturehouse led the pack of acquisitions at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, nabbing North...
posted by Jen Yamato September 16, 2006
Picturehouse led the pack of acquisitions at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, nabbing North...
Around the Network
• Bonneville at Rotten Tomatoes
IGN RSS Feeds