Cloudburst

source: Cloudburst

Cloudburst is a 2011 Canadian-American adventure comedy-drama film by American-Canadian writer and director Thom Fitzgerald. This hilarious foul-mouthed, lesbian road movie co-stars Oscar (R)- winning actresses Brenda Fricker and Olympia Dukakis as Dot and Stella, a crackerjack lesbian couple on the run from a nursing home. You'll laugh so hard you'll cry. Stella and Dot have been together for 31 years and have faithfully accompanied one another through life's ups and downs. Now in their seventies, Stella is hard of hearing and Dot is legally blind. Dotty's prudish granddaughter, Molly (played by Genie Award-winner Kristin Booth), decides the best place for Dot is a nursing home that will provide all the necessities. This forces Stella and Dot to make a bold decision: they will leave their hometown and make their way to Canada, where same-sex marriage is legal. It's a last-gap bid to stay together. En route to Canada, they pick up a young hitchhiker, Prentice, played by newcomer Ryan Doucette. A small-town boy turned modern dancer, he is returning to Nova Scotia to visit his dying mother. Despite his bravado, Prentice is a confused and wounded soul who has much to learn from Stella and Dot as they wage their own unexpected battle - after three decades, can they keep their family together? One of the most sweetest love story which will bring tears n smile in the same time.

Olympia Dukakis is a beautiful old lady, miscast in this part. She delivers lines one would expect to hear from Alex of Orange is the New Black, and it just doesn't work for her -- or for this old lady writing this review. Now that same-sex marriage is the law of virtually all of the land in North America, even down here in Old Virginny, the movie does feel a bit dated. The fact that there is no resolution for Prentice in his relationship to his parents is disappointing. The writer seems to take the easy way out rather than seeing the situation to its probably more interesting ending than this treatment gives it. The movie at times descends to farce, though it has some touching moments. Prentice and Dot give excellent performances despite the weak, undeveloped script and immature directing. The cinematography in Maine and Nova Scotia are incredibly beautiful. I would not recommend this movie despite the three leads' terrific acting.

*No spoilers until the end of the review* (no explicit spoilers in the end either, but you can easily guess what it's about) Two elderly lesbians, Stella and Dotty, on a road trip to Canada to get married. On their way they pick up a hitchhiker, Prentice. Cloudburst is a beautiful and funny movie with great pacing and good actors. I liked the characters and their stories, they were funny and interesting and each character brings their own personality and complexity into the movie. The one thing I disliked about this movie is the ending, on which I elaborate below. All in all, definitely worth watching. ***spoilers (not explicit)*** The ending could have been better. I don't have a problem with sad or tragic endings, but it was absolutely unnecessary here. It didn't add emotional depth or anything good into the movie. It could have just as easily ended happily and it would have been just as great if not better.

Horrible in script, film, direction, acting.... awful.. absolutely a waste of my film loving moments on this Earth.

I created an account just to write this review. This is like a Lifetime movie as far as quality goes. I am 15 minutes in and can't believe the high ratings. It is literal trash. It is over the top, unfunny, and extremely obnoxious. If I met somebody who liked this movie I would cease all contact with that individual indefinitely. This is easily top in the 10 worst movies I have ever seen, and I have seen many thousands. I am flabbergasted.

But they can't save this movie from a poorly thought through script and its many plot holes. The border crossing was a joke with a cavity search for drugs and then followed in quick succession by a release into Canada. And then a back track back to the US to pick up Dukakis and go through the border again in the same truck? Hello? And the granddaughter not realizing her granny and her partner of 31 years are not lesbians? Too much slapstick, and the ending had to end in a punishment for the lesbian theme. Always that same old cliché at the end of such movies. Most disappointing as the set up of the male * and the old couple settling down together had far more appeal. Too bad, it started really, really well and finished with such a whimper. 4 out of 10.

Olympia Dukakis is amazing as Stella. Brenda Fricker is incredible as Dot. Ryan Doucette is wonderful as Prentice. There are spoilers in there. I checked the spoiler box. This is your last chance to skip my review. If you are offended by foul language don't watch the movie. Olympia plays an old lesbian with a mouth that would make the saltiest sailor blush. Fabulously funny! Sort of like a lesbian version of Ouiser Boudreaux. I don't know why some writers think that movies with homosexual characters in them have to have a tragic component. I loved the movie up until just before end ... why couldn't they have just gone back to Maine and lived happily ever after? The movie hit home. I am gay and have been in a relationship for 22.5 years as of this review. My hubby and I live in a state where gay marriage is not recognized, Alabama. With the right wingers pushing laws to outlaw gay marriage (or recognition of it performed in other states) it is very scary. We have no rights. Even armed with a folder full of legal paperwork things are not certain. One of the main characters, Dot, is shipped off to an old folks home by her granddaughter. The granddaughter tricks her into signing over her power of attorney ... Dot is blind and so she can't read what she is signing. No, this is not just fiction. There are some terribly nasty people in the world. One of my favorite scenes is where Stella is hitch hiking the last part of the way to Canada. A guy picks her up and she goes off into this bit about the C-word ... it reminded me of George Carlin's bit about the F- word. I was howling with laughter watching Olympia do this scene. Blast - was going to give the movie a 9 because of the writer's desire to put another tragic spin on a story with homosexual characters but the rest of the movie is definitely a 10. Oh, I did find the scene where Dot got into bed with the naked man very funny ... I loved when she started whacking him with her walking stick - very much like something that Diana Trent (Waiting for God) would have done ... but she would have whacked to permanently damage. Really, this is a great movie. Very engaging. The acting is great. The characters are wonderful.

I loved the light-hearted banter of this movie. It was sometimes a little slapstick and over the top but it made me laugh. It was refreshing to see lesbian characters who weren't in their twenties. The only criticism I have of this movie is in the ending - Dot's death seemed totally unnecessary. I half expected her to wink and say 'Just kidding'. Another reviewer thought this might be part of a tendency to make lesbian stories tragic. Personally, I interpreted it as more of a mistaken belief that stories about the elderly have to end in death. Death happens but I dislike the constant portrayal that the elderly aren't doing anything with their lives except waiting for it to end. The enjoyment the two of them got out of life gave most of the movie it's charm. I will admit, however, that it did give Olympia Dukakis' character an opportunity for a brilliant last line! Almost enough for me to forgive the way they ended it.

The irrepressible Olympia Dukakis has really broken ground in her relatively short time as an Oscar winning celebrity. Playing a transsexual apartment owner who left new tenants home made joints, the mother of a transsexual lesbian and the seller of tickets at the "Let's take a wack at Ouiser" booth was already a respected stage actress when she struck gold as Cher's mother. Now, she's Stella, a no-nonsense self confessed dyke who is determined to hold onto the love of her life, and she will do all she can to marry her. A tickling game results in her lover Brenda Fricker being sent to a convalescent home. Practically beating up Fricker's uptight granddaughter and the local sheriff, Dukakis sneaks Fricker out and heads up to Canada, and like Thelma and Louise, they pick up a hunky hitchhiker, but there's no hanky or panky going on. "You're barking up the wrong fire hydrant", Dukakis tells him as he shows off his goods. "If that skirt was any shorter, you'd need another hairnet" is perhaps the mildest comment Dukakis says, shocking a very Christian Canadian who picks her up hitchhiking. Certainly, some people will take offense to what she says, but Dukakis refuses to betray who this broad is. Fricker is the more gentle of the two, but equally tough underneath her grandmotherly demeanor. Underneath her masculine exterior, Stella actually beats a heart of gold even though she can be at times very brusk. Delightfully non-politically correct, it is also extremely romantic in the sense of what Dukakis strives to achieve. Call this a gay "On Golden Pond" as seen through the eyes of Miss Apley, the old lesbian next door to Ethel and Norman Thayer. It is a triumph of determination that gets these two women through their ordeal, with Ryan Doucette in fine support as the surrogate son they find along the way. He's on his way home to see Hus dying mother and seems to be carrying his own secrets. Together, these three opposites share some dynamic adventures, and it ultimately is both bittersweet and funny, but never short of being amusingly human.