Cloudburst
Cloudburst
| 23 September 2011 (USA)
Cloudburst Trailers

When Dot's granddaughter puts her into a nursing home, Stella stages a breakout, and takes Dot to Canada so they can get married. They pick up a hitchhiker along the way.

Reviews
Irishchatter

I absolutely loved hearing what came out of Dukakis' mouth. Seriously my jaws were hurt with laughter with the amount of curse words she was using on people. Man she really did play a butch lesbian really well and like it wouldn't be hard to love her character. Frickers character was brillant too, omg I absolutely laughed at the scene where she accidentally hit the hitchhikers fathers balls with her head, when she thought that she was sleeping with her partner. Seriously Brenda Fricker can play a blind person really well, especially with a lot of humour! I even thought Doucette's character was super good as the hitchhiker and of course, he was very handsome which is a bonus ;P Really though, he was brillant too!All actors were brilliant including Kristin Booth as the granddaughter. I have to admit though in the end, it was sad and unexpected when Frickers character died and the fact that both women didn't get a chance to have a proper wedding ceremony but it taught us that love never died with those two women! I give this 9/10!

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ira -

*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.

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brighthillsbear

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.

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steven-leibson

The brief synopsis of this story is that it's about two old lesbians living in Maine who pick up a hitchhiker. That's not a very good synopsis. This movie is about two people who have loved each other and lived together for 31 years. Age and a selfish granddaughter threaten to end the relationship so these two octogenarian ladies decide to run away in an old, red pickup truck through the back roads of Maine to Canada where they can be married. Along the way they pick up a young, male hitchhiker who happens to be a modern/exotic dancer from New York. This trio then takes an unlikely road trip with a series of misadventures and adventures through the beautifully photographed landscape of eastern Canada.Olympia Dukakis plays a role you might never expect to see: a crusty old lesbian with the mouth of the saltiest sailor. She is magnificent. Brenda Fricker plays the blind, wise old woman. You root for her every step of the way. A very funny Ryan Doucette plays the hitchhiker. You'd never know this was his first movie.This movie places everything you expect from a romantic comedy/drama and pours it into new vessels not previously used to hold this vintage. The movie has already played in theaters in every country but the US. In the US, the Lifetime cable channel purchased it, so the language is not likely to survive un-bleeped. Not to worry, it appears on DVD in July, 2013 so you can see it as the author intended: sweet, salty, and well done. (We just saw this movie in San Jose, CA as part of the Camera Cinema Club.)

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