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Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Joan Allen, Christine Baranski, Victor Rasuk ... see more see more... , Tom Amandes , Tom Wopat , Tom Skerritt

A woman looking to fulfill her late husband's final wish sets out on a transformative cross-country road trip in director Christopher N. Rowley's warmhearted tale of friendship, self-discovery, and th... read more read more...e memories that make life worth living even after the ones we love have gone. Arvilla (Jessica Lange)'s husband Joe has recently died during a trip to Borneo, and his ashes have just arrived at her home in Pocatello, ID. Though Joe had previously specified in his will that he would like his ashes scattered by his beloved wife, the well-intending Arvilla soon becomes locked in a heated battle of wills with Francine (Christine Baranski) -- Joe's well-to-do daughter from a previous marriage. Francine is determined to see her father laid to rest next to her mother in Santa Barbara, and she's threatened to sell the house that her father and Arvilla have lived in since marrying to ensure that she gets her way. Now Arvilla has lost Joe's will, leaving no way to confirm either what he wanted done with his remains or what Arvilla is to receive upon her husband's death. Defeated, Arvilla sets her sights on Santa Barbara to surrender the ashes to Francine and attempt to come to terms with the loss of her husband. When Arvilla's sassy best-friend Margene (Kathy Bates) and uptight pal Carol (Joan Allen) agree to join their recently-widowed friend on her journey and offer some much-needed moral support, the trio soon sets out in Arvilla's vintage '66 Pontiac Bonneville for a journey of a lifetime. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

42% liked it

28,632 ratings

Critics

38% liked it

42 critics

PG, 1 hr. 42 min.

Directed by: Christopher N. Rowley

Release Date: September 11, 2006

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DVD Release Date: July 8, 2008

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Stats: 278 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (278)

  • romy861
    July 22, 2011
    romy861
    This is more a movie aimed at older women (no comments that I am not that far off. haha), but I didn't mind it. It follows Arvilla, (Jessica Lange), who has recently lost her husband. I thought it dealt very well with her grief and it felt very real and sad. She ends up in a s... read moreituation where she discovers her husband did not update his will and his old one specifies that his daughter, Francine, from a previous marriage, gets the house. Christine Baranski is horrible as Francine. I mean that in a good way, it is a horrible character - Christine does a great job with it! One of the things that made me laugh was the awful shriek ringtone Arvilla had set on her mobile for when she calls.
    Francine decides that Arvilla can keep the house, as long as she returns the ashes to her to be buried with his first wife. Arvilla is in turmoil as she knows this is not what her late husband wanted. She and her two girlfriends take a road trip to revisit some old memories and drop the ashes off to the Francine (or does she....).
    It is fairly slight on plot once the roadtrip stuff starts, but it is a nice female buddy movie. I think it has been compared to Thelma and Louise a few times, and I could certainly see that. I dare say T & L is the better of the two, but this is nicely acted and rings true.
  • LWOODS04
    October 17, 2010
    LWOODS04
    Cast: Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Joan Allen, Tom Skerritt, Christine Baranski, Victor Rasuk, Tom Amandes, Tom Wopat, Robert Conder, Jayson Creek, Arabella Field, Kristen Marie Hullinger, Ivey Lloyd, Bruce Newbold, Steve O'Neill, Laura Park, Jodi Russell

    Director: Christopher ... read moreN. Rowley

    Summary: This road trip yarn, follows three friends on a journey across the West after one of them is widowed. Along the way, they learn a thing or two about themselves, one another and life.

    My Thoughts: " This film has three very talented leading ladies in it, Kathy Bates being my favorite. Arvilla is the adventurous one, Carol is the goody two-shoes, and Margene is the free spirited one. Together they all make for a good watch. The acting is strong and the story is as well. But there is no action no great adventure. BUT, I still enjoyed it. I felt like I was peeking in on the friendship of three best friends and enjoying the trip with them. Christine Baranski plays the daughter to the deceased and is a very unlikeable character. She has no sympathy for Arvilla Holden and is quite cruel to her. But then you have to sympathize with her just a tiny bit cause she too, is also grieving. This movie is not going to be for everyone, especially those who don't really like character driven stories. But I enjoyed it and thought it was time well spent."
  • Redlats
    September 23, 2009
    Redlats
    This movie is Thelma and Louise with less theatrics. Not as good as T & L, but fun nonetheless.
  • jjnxn
    August 16, 2009
    jjnxn
    Three wonderful actresses working together is reason enough to see this road movie. The script is nothing special and at times doesn't make the most sense but the ladies make it worth seeing and the scenery along the way is beautiful.
  • fb1144932598
    October 4, 2008
    fb1144932598
    I thoroughly enjoyed this one. A gal-pal road flick. Three friends set off to deliver one woman's (Lange's) dead husband's ashes to the shrewish step-daughter (Baranski). Along the way, they bond, discover what is truly important, and learn to enjoy life all over again. Yes, it w... read moreas tame by Hollywod's standards, but it was interesting to watch the characters grow. So they went from spitting out coffee all the way to sipping vodka (!) and did not engage in drunken all-night orgies. The film felt real and the viewer feels priviledged to watch the interplay between these three great actresses. This film struck all the right notes and was a pleasure to watch. The story is what matters.
  • jeffboam
    August 13, 2010
    jeffboam
    Far be it for a man to stop and ask for direction but Bonneville charted this reviewer on a familiar but sometimes welcome course, diverted away from a tourist trap called popcorn blockbusters. The movie does not aspire to reverse the effects of Global Warming or end the conflict... read more in Darfur. Rather, in a film age brimming with expensively drawn superheroes and bullet-ridden sequels, it simply sets out to tell an original feel-good tale and does it kinda sorta well. This soul-searching road trip movie does, however, employ a lot of formula and not a lot of dramatic punch, focusing on a largely ignored demographic.

    In this PG-13-rated drama, a newly widowed Idaho woman (Lange) sets off on a road trip with her friends (Bates, Joan Allen) to deliver the ashes of her deceased husband to a mean-spirited stepdaughter (Christine Baranski).

    It begins amidst death, yes. But debut writer/director Christopher N. Rowley quickly (and smartly) whisks moviegoers away from this maudlin fog and sets the wheels a-turning early on. Humor proves to be the best medicine and the script injects the action with just enough to douse the funereal setting. The story ultimately conveys that honoring life is, perhaps, more important than honoring death. But the age of the characters makes this lesson timelier. Though far from ?old,? the mature casting rejects any notion that road tripping is only for the young. All involved drive home the point that the search for oneself is a lifelong quest. Unfortunately, the standard material sometimes makes this viewing experience FEEL like a lifelong quest.

    Bottom line: A road to nowhere special.
  • panta2
    August 31, 2008
    panta2
    [size=6][size=5][color=red][b]BONNEVILLE (2006)[/b][/color][/size] [/size]

    [i][img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/coverv/27/1881127.jpg[/img]

    [/i][color=blue][b][i]Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates i Joan Allen su nerazdvojne drugarice koje re?avaju da, pod rediteljsk... read moreo-scenarijskom palicom Christopher N Rowley-ja krenu na putovanje koje će svima doneti razre?enje ?ivotnih dilema. Ne znam za?to su distributeri u Australiji čekali cele dve godine da nam predstave ovaj film... ba? bih hteo da znam koga da pitam!

    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1192441/photo_07_hires.jpg[/img]

    Nakon smrti svog mu?a avanturiste koji iznenada umire u Borneu, usamljena i upla?ena Arvilla Holden (Jessica Lange) se vraća svojoj kući u Pocatello-u, gde joj ćerka njenog mu?a iz prvog braka saop?tava da će izgubiti kuću ako ispo?tuje zadnju ?elju svog mu?a...

    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1192441/photo_05_hires.jpg[/img]

    Razma?ena bogata?ica Francine Holden Packard (Christine Baranski), postavlja ultimatum koji posle du?eg vremena bude prihvaćen... ali neće ba? sve da ide kako se očekivalo!

    Umesto leta do Santa Barbare u Kaliforniji, tri drugarice kreću Bonneville-om, prelepim kolima pokojnika na ?ivotno pute?estvije...

    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1192441/photo_02_hires.jpg[/img]

    Film koji mo?e da se smesti u drame, ali sa veoma toplom notom koja će vas ispunjavati polako, kao neka dobra stara prepečenica i ?iriti se lagano do srca!

    [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1192441/photo_01_hires.jpg[/img]

    Mo?da ocena 6-10 jeste malo previsoka, ali nisam mogao odoleti , a da ne poklonim bar pola ocene... za prekrasnu glumu!
    [/i][/b][/color]
  • Yinali
    August 2, 2008
    Yinali
    Loved it!
  • wbgoose13
    March 5, 2008
    wbgoose13
    Thelma & Louise + The Bucket List + P.S. I Love You + Mormon sensibilities = a movie your grandmother should find positively raucous.
  • irisheyes686
    June 20, 2010
    irisheyes686
    It was cute, but not great. Good cast, but it wasn't really anything special.

View All Bonneville Reviews

Critic Reviews

David Rooney
October 18, 2008
David Rooney, Variety

It's depressing to see a deluxe cast wasted on such by-the-numbers material. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
May 30, 2008
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Bonneville is scarcely original and in no way earthshaking, but its notable cast is a pleasure to behold. Full Review

David Wiegand
April 11, 2008
David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle

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 happenin... Full Review

Lou Lumenick
February 29, 2008
Lou Lumenick, New York Post

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 challengi... Full Review

Elizabeth Weitzman
February 29, 2008
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

There's no avoiding the fact that Christopher Rowley's feature debut is as uninspired and predictable as your average Lifetime movie. Full Review

Tom Long
February 29, 2008
Tom Long, Detroit News

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 ... Full Review

Matt Zoller Seitz
February 29, 2008
Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times

Except for Jessica Lange's silent, expressive close-ups, the women's journey in Bonneville is aesthetically and dramatically unremarkable.

Jan Stuart
February 28, 2008
Jan Stuart, Newsday

The kind of comfy, reassuring take on human relations that makes cynics want to growl at the stranger sitting next to them. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
February 28, 2008
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

It took brass hubcaps to make Bonneville, a midlife-chick-road-trip movie starring a '66 Pontiac convertible and a trio of middle-aged driving girlfriends in cool sunglasses, and not once have the gal... Full Review

Bill Goodykoontz
February 28, 2008
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

In Bonneville, a talented cast is wasted, falling victim to a tired, cliche-ridden story. Full Review

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  • Name the movie that stars Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent, Kate Winslet and Hugh Bonneville.   Answer »
  • The life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle -- a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.   Answer »
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