DVD of the Week: Bonneville

Week four of my DVD of the Week post is.....

So, there is this website i found called Listia.com, and it is pretty much like Ebay, except you don't get money for what you auction off...you get credits. You use these credits to bid on things other people are auctioning off. It's pretty much just trading. "Another man's trash is another man's treasure" is what they always say ;-) And this is how I came upon this movie.

This 2006 movie has some incredibly huge stars in it. Jessica Lang as Arvilla, Kathy Bates as Margene, Joan Allen as Carol, Tom Skerritt as Emmett, and Christine Baranski as Francine. 

Arvilla's husband, Joe, has died and Francine(Arvilla's step-daughter) has came to take her father's ashes back from Idaho to be buried with his first wife(Francine's mother). Francine threatens Arvilla by telling her that if she doesn't bring him to her home in California, Francine will sell the house that was left to her in the will. The whole movie Arvilla thought that Joe had made another will somewhere and that he had just misplaced it, but Francine convinces Arvilla that Joe was just forgetful and that the new will was never made. Arvilla doesn't want Joe to be buried with his first wife, since Joe asked her to scatter his ashes. So, Arvilla has no choice, she has to take Joe's ashes to California. She decides to take Joe's Bonneville in honor of Joe. Arvilla's two best friends, Margene and Carol, decide to come along for the ride. However, they decide to take a pit stop at the salt flats Joe loved so much, they get a flat tire, spin out, and the top of Joe's urn comes off and some of his ashes fly out. This causes them to "lose their flight", which was later found out to be Arvilla's plan all along. So, the three take a road trip in Joe's Bonneville, and along the way they spread Joe's ashes. Margene falls in love with truck driver Emmett. Arvilla leaves a little for Francine in the urn, but when they get the urn to her, Francine trips and the urn breaks revealing that Carol had replaced the missing ashes with random junk in hopes that Francine wouldn't find out. Francine freaks out. The three woman go to Mexico to spread the last of Joe's ashes. They then leave on their way back to Arvilla's home, as long as Francine doesn't sell it, this little detail is never resolved. 

I was very unhappy with the ending. The whole time I was expecting Joe's will to be in the Bonneville saying that she got that house and he wanted his ashes spread so Arvilla wouldn't have to go through all this trouble, but I guess that's kind of good since that would be your typical happy ending. And this movie was more about finding yourself after a part of you is lost. And Christine Baranski is an amazing antagonist. I've only seen her as Martha May in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, so I wasn't really used to her mean side. I hated her character from the moment she too Joe's urn out of Arvilla's living room during the visitation/funeral. The story was good, the actors were amazing. Too bad this was a box office disaster back in the day. Go watch it. Now.