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Bonnevillex$9.13
  (15 reviews)
Best Price: $9.13
Faced with the decision of a lifetime, Arvilla Holden (Jessica Lange) hijacks her two best friends (Kathy Bates, Joan Allen) and sets off in a vintage '66 Bonneville convertible across the great American West to deliver her husband’s ashes to her step-daughter. What begins as a simple trip, will end up becoming a chance to rediscover themselves, their friendship, the importance of promises - and of living life to the fullest. Sentimental, but not too sugary, Bonneville proves there's a road movie for every taste and demographic. While the testosterone-fueled Easy Rider took aim at the young and the disaffected, this female-centric offering targets a more mature, less cynical audience. After her husband, Joe, passes away, Arvilla (two-time Oscar winner Jessica Lange) faces the prospect of homelessness as he neglected to update his will. Her single-minded stepdaughter, Francine (Christine Baranski), now in possession of the property, intends to sell their Pocatello home if she doesn't hand over her father's ashes, so Arvilla and Mormon best friends Margene (Kathy Bates) and Carol (Joan Allen) pile into Joe's refurbished 1966 Bonneville Pontiac convertible with the urn and head to Santa Barbara. On their trip through Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, the Vegas Strip, and other Western wonders, they meet helpful skateboarder Bo (Victor Rasuk, Raising Victor Vargas) and chivalrous trucker Emmett (Tom Skerritt), who takes a shine to the widowed Margene. Though nothing goes quite as planned, friendship helps smooth the bumpy ride from Idaho to California--and beyond. The characters in Bonneville may be older and wiser than the women of Thelma and Louise or Fried Green Tomatoes, in which Bates appeared, but this smaller-scale effort shares the same sisterly values and the central trio establishes a touching rapport. Supplements include a making-of featurette, deleted and alternate scenes, and a short gag reel. --Kathleen C. Fennessy Beyond Bonneville on DVD 
Watch Little Miss Sunshine on DVD | 
Check out Imagine Me & You on DVD | Stills from Bonneville (Click for larger image)
MPN: FOXD2251192D - UPC: 024543511922
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Customer Reviews
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A Little Film with Heart: Appreciating Fine Actors
By A328S9RN3U5M68 on 2008-07-03
BONNEVILLE creeps up on the viewer. It is a solid marriage of light comedy and sentiment and the somewhat slight story is brought to life by the natural gifts of a trio of superb actors. Why it did not find popularity in the theaters is probably due to the topic of death and the cast of 'older actresses', but it is a solid little film that deserves more attention.
Arvilla (Jessica Lange) has lost her husband of 20 years and promised to scatter his ashes over places the couple loved. Her step daughter Francine (Christine Baranski) demands the 'ashes' be buried next to her mother's grave in Santa Barbara, threatening her stepmother with eviction from her Pocatello, Idaho home if Arvilla doesn't comply. Two of Arvilla's friends - the restless widow Margene (Kathy Bates) and the oh-so-Mormon Carol (Joan Allen) support their friend and plan to fly with Arvilla to take the ashes to Santa Barbara. But circumstances begin to change when the threesome bond tightly and decide to take Arvilla's husband's old Bonneville on a road trip to California. From here on the film is a Road Trip - a time when the three women learn lessons about life and death and love and compassion from each other - and from a young hitchhiker Bo (Victor Rasuk of 'Saving Victor Vargas', 'Stop-Loss' etc) and trucker Emmett (Tom Skirrett). The trip from Idaho to California passes through some of the Southwest's most beautiful scenery, places once shared by Arvilla and her late husband, and slowly the urn of ashes is distributed along the way to the dreaded Santa Barbara funeral.
Christopher N. Rowley directs this sweet story by Daniel D. Davis with great respect for the gifts of the three fine actors, allowing them to show us just why they remain some of our finest talent on the screen. It is not a great film, but it has such a fine heart that we can relax and just ride along with it. Grady Harp, July 08
A Rare Gem
By A2BIRHGYKKEM9V on 2008-06-22
Bonneville is that rarest of gems; an intelligent, wonderful movie that stars women over the age of 50. Jessica Lange plays Arvilla, a recently widowed woman who has promised to deliver her husband's ashes to her hostile step-daughter, Francine (Christine Baranski) in California. Her two friends, played by Kathy Bates and Joan Allen, won't let her make the trip alone. They set out in Arvilla's late husband's Bonneville convertible intending to drive to the airport, but Arvilla changes her mind and decides to drive to some of her late husband's favorite places. This is a great road trip/female buddy movie with flawless performances, beautiful scenery, laughter and tears, even a little romance mixed in along the way. Bonneville only recieved limited release in theaters apparently because of the common Hollywood belief that people only want to see movies that are loaded with special effects and violence. So, even if you've never heard of this movie, buy it! You won't be disappointed.
Bates, Lang, Allen, Baranski....a great movie with the top down!
By A3II7VQOJ0Q1XD on 2008-07-14
I picked up this movie through Netflix as a recommedation for liking Kathy Bates. I'd never heard of it, but I'm a sap for "Thelma and Louise" type movies so I gave it a try. And I'm glad I did.
Thelma and Louise fans will definitely relate to this one, despite there being three ladies in the convertible this time. The similarities are astounding...right down to them picking up a cute hitch hiker and coming into possession of a lot of money, and wearing the signature scarves and sunglasses with the top down. But, Bonneville definitely stands on its own and has it's own completely different storyline.
Yeah, it's a bit of a sappy movie. Two women driving cross country with their recently widowed sister to deliver her dead husband's ashes to his demanding daughter (a small part played by Baranski). But anyone who has lost a loved one, or possibly had to deal with overbearing family members who weren't always around when the person was living, will definitely relate.
The ending is completely predictable, and plays out just as I expected it would but with a nice simple twist at the end. But just as the overall theme of the movie resonates, sometimes it is more important to just throw up your hands, shrug it off, and accept what life hands to you today. You'll always have your memories, and no one can take that away from you.
A true gem of a movie that will make you laugh and cry, and an all star cast that does it justice!!
Charming Film
By A1EHTFVSD0H7I6 on 2008-05-23
Armed with an amazing cast and a sweet story line, Bonneville, hits the road with the sudden death of Arvilla's (Jessica Lange) husband and the demand by his snotty daughter that his ashes be delivered to his memorial ceremony several states away. Arvilla is not ready to give him up and feels a little overwhelmed so her friends insist on flying with her. Plans change enroute and the journey becomes a road trip in Arvilla's classic convertible. Arvilla and her friends discover far more about each other and themselves and begin to glimpse that there is hope even when the summer of life turns into autumn.
A definite girlfriend flick with a more mature angle than the usual offering. Flashes of giddiness, heartfelt conversation, poignant situations, horrible moments and sweet acceptance fill the film. The slower pace and the people along the way, the experiences that cement the friends, and the resolution make for some thought-provoking viewing. Bonneville is squeaky clean and entertaining. After all two Mormon ladies and a recent widow can't get into too much trouble, right?
The scenery makes the trip worthwhile...
By A3FDEI5P21XX6S on 2008-06-22
A road trip film with three ladies finding their way to the California coast from Utah. The audience appeal on this one is apparent and I don't think it will disappoint my "lady-flick" customers in any way. The performances are fine, the story is fair - but I have to say the strengths of this film are the locations and the car.
Lake Powell, the salt flats and Bryce NP, coupled with the desert vistas and Calif. coast make for great backdrops, especially when visited in a classic convertible. Technically, the movie is flawed in a variety of ways, including strange plot points; the hitchhiker seemed like he was hiding something else but never alluded to it, the unanswered actions of Joan Allen's character re: the phone, the obvious car changes, unended or walked-into dialogue points, dialogue errors (eulogy made him over 80 years old but in the deleted pics he was obviously 50-60), Skerrit's magical truck change, etc.
The deleted scenes help with some of those issues, I wish they would have all been in the film. The alternate opening was much better and would have helped the film make more sense regarding their marriage. The docu is another "I loved working with everyone" cut, and did provide a little into the Mormon angle for Joan's character. The alternate endings had much more closure, but overall they were having fun making the film and it shows.
Good for a Sunday sit down or ladies night watching feel-good movies.
- Movie Is A Gift To Baby Boomers
By A3P7B79S7FQ50P on 2008-06-26
I loved loved loved this movie and don't know how I missed this in the theaters as I knew it was coming out had seen a preview of it and was excited to see it..but it was never advertised anywhere so I missed it. Out shopping last night and there it was for sale and I just knew with the cast of these 3 wonderful actresses I had to buy it. My husband and I watched it last night and loved is so much...we are sadly lacking movies like this...also reminds me of the movie Upside Of Anger which Joan Allen also starred in and was another fantastic movie that was hidden away in small out of the way theaters and was so well done. Is the movie industry embarrassed at putting out movies geared towards the over 40 year old??? as each time a well written movie like this comes out with a baby boomer cast it's only in select theaters....I want more of this...This was a really wonderful movie and I laughed so much watching 3 women have a blast together at a very sad but supportive time in their lives. I can't wait to watch this with my daughters who are in their 20's they will love it as the scene with them dancing and singing in the car to the song "Cha Cha" is so funny..but the scene in the hotel room with Kathy Bates on the bed looking for more quarters was hysterical...I could have watched her character all night...she is amazing. We need more movies like this and please don't hide them away in tiny theaters as this movie would have made a lot more money had it been advertised and shown in our local theaters.
- A Trio of Superb Actresses Try to Keep a "Thelma & Louise & Louise"-Inspired Road Movie Afloat
By A13E0ARAXI6KJW on 2008-07-29
Casting three powerhouse actresses of a certain age in a road movie may sound like a promising concept, but I was disappointed by how insular and monotonous the film feels for a shared journey supposedly focused on self-discovery. Director Christopher N. Rowley and screenwriter Daniel D. Davis, both first-timers to feature films, don't really offer the intimidating trio of Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Joan Allen much to work with in terms of character or story development, and were it not for the three actresses, this little-seen 2008 movie would have surely ended up on Lifetime TV where it most obviously belongs.
The plot focuses mainly on Arvilla Holden, who just lost Joe, her husband of twenty years while on vacation in Borneo. Back home in Pocatello, Idaho, it doesn't take long for her resentful stepdaughter Francine to stake a claim on her father's ashes to transport them back for a funeral service the following week in Santa Barbara where she lives. Arvilla, however, promised Joe to scatter his ashes at various places that meant something to them. Francine threatens to take away Arvilla's house unless she complies. Under emotional duress, Arvilla agrees but only if she can deliver the ashes herself. She then turns to her friends, sassy Margene and uptight Carol for support as they head out on a road trip to California taking Joe's beloved `66 Bonneville convertible. The rest of the movie follows their various adventures, which include picking up a young hitchhiker looking for his birth father, flirting with a smitten truck driver, and making the typical stops one would make west of the Rockies.
With her shopworn beauty compromised a bit by surgery, Lange is still able to convey the tethered fragility of her early-career work in Frances and Tootsie. She inhabits Arvilla with that lost, Blanche DuBois-like quality that fits the character's delusional aspects very well. Bates (About Schmidt) is in familiar territory as Margene, supplying comic relief and surprising poignancy through her trademark salt-of-the-earth persona. As the hopelessly prim Carol, a devout Mormon, the versatile Allen (The Bourne Ultimatum, The Upside of Anger) uses her vast arsenal of talent to bring life to a relatively cardboard role. Doing a 180-degree turn from her surgically-inclined cougar in Mamma Mia!, Christine Baranski is saddled with a no-win role as Francine. Tom Skerritt relies on his familiar toothy charm as the truck driver, while Victor Rasuk (Raising Victor Vargas) appears to be channeling early Brad Pitt as the low-key hitchhiker.
While the various locations - Bryce Canyon, Bonneville Salt Flats, Joshua Tree - are nicely filmed by Jeffrey L. Kimball, those expecting a post-menopausal version of Thelma & Louise will likely be disappointed since the film's energy level sputters with every curve of the road, especially as it veers toward a predictably drawn ending. At the same time, when are you likely to see actresses of this caliber share the screen again? The 2008 DVD is short on extras - a standard ten-minute making-of featurette with gushing testimonials by the actresses, several deleted/alternate scenes of varying quality, a one-minute gag reel, and a promotional spot for The Red Hat Society, a social organization for women over fifty.
- Shoulda Been a HIT!
By A25RA7AD7315GU on 2008-06-26
You Would Think that a Film starring Such Powerhouse Actress's as JESSICA LANGE(Oscar Winner), KATHY BATES(Oscar Winner) and JOAN ALLEN(Oscar Nominee) would have had people flocking to the theaters, well THINK AGAIN! I just looked up the Box Office Gross for this film and it took in just $488,000 and was only released in 160 theaters, a HUGE FLOP! Hopefully this DVD release will give the film a second life and give film fans a chance to discover the film because it is a very good film. I enjoyed the comaraderie of all three actress's the chemistry between them is excellent and each actress brings her own brand of uniqness to the film! The Film is a fun road film that I know is mainly appealing to women but I think guys would enjoy it also(I did). The scenery is BREATHTAKING, we really do have a beautiful country! I hope this film does get a second chance, it really deserves it!
- Bump in the Road
By A2A8I8TBN0FBXA on 2008-07-10
I preordered this DVD approx. 2 months in advance. The story line sounded very promising and the cast was wonderful. Some of the best actresses we have. I feel guilty saying I was disappointed but the movie could have been so much more. It certainly wasn't the fault of the cast or story line but there wasn't much to the story. Whoever wrote &/or edited the film didn't do a very good job. Certainly not worthy of the cast that was present.
- A Breath Of Fresh Air
By A185QFJRTB5W93 on 2008-07-17
While I did not seek this film out, I ended up watching it when I had little else to do. I think that is a shame. This turned out to be a wonderful film that didn't hit the viewer over the head with some "age old" message. Instead, this film presented a well delivered story that was touching and unapologetic. Baby-boomers will find many of the themes familiar, as will anyone with a little life experience. Hit the road and watch this film...or vice versa. Recommended!
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