Cloudburst

By: Noelle Reilly
In-House Review - Aug 06 2012

In this uproarious comedy-drama, Oscar®-winning actresses Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker star as Stella and Dot, a lesbian couple for over 30 years. When Dot's granddaughter schemes to take over her Maine home and send her grandmother to a nursing home, the two instead embark on a Thelma and Louise-style road trip to Nova Scotia to be legally married. Along the way they pick up an impressionable young hitchhiker. Will this new family be able to cross the boarder and tie the knot? As Stella, Dukakis gives a virtuoso performance as a crotchety old bull dyke, battling the narrow minded and cursing like a sailor. Adapted from director Thom Fitzgerald's own stage play, the film is riotous, poignant and profane and is a touching examination of the true nature of love and commitment.

By: Amos Lassen

It has taken me quite a while to get around to reviewing what is going to be regarded as our movie of the year, "Cloudburst" and I must admit that this was deliberate. I kept waiting for a time when I could use the review as a balance against some negative reviews but this year has been a really good year and we have had some really good movies. So I finally decided it was time to post my review so here it goes.

"Cloudburst" is the story of a lesbian couple that escapes their nursing home and tries to get to Canada to get married. This is a powerful and sweet story of two women have been together for thirty plus years and the reason they want to get married in Canada is so that family members cannot separate them. Stella (the wonderful Olympia Dukakis) is a loveable but gruff butch cowboy who is totally in love with Dottie (Brenda Fricker), her partner. We get a beautiful love story, a wild road trip and a love journey. Directed by Thom Fitzgerald, the simple story becomes a journey for love with wonderful performances.

Quite basically this is the same old story but with the added twist of gay marriage. There is another twist as well-our two heroes are in their eighties. Dottie's granddaughter tricked her into signing over her power of attorney and is now trying to have her put into a home. Stella, meanwhile, has learned that it is possible for same sex couples to marry in Canada and feels that this is an answer to their problems. They leave in a truck and pick up a young good-looking hitchhiker, Prentice (Ryan Doucette) and are on their way.

The humor is wild and coarse at times but there is a problem in that Dot is not well so there is an urgency to reach Canada. As we travel with the "dames". We see some of the most beautiful cinematography ever and we soon realize that Olympia Dukakis owns this movie. She is totally Stella and if nothing else, she lets us know that "old ladies" can be feisty. She gives the film attitude that you will not soon forget.

I understand that this is the first time that two Oscar winners have played a same-sex couple on screen and they are so different. Dot is blind and ailing while Stella is vulgar and filthy-mouthed. The humor here is the kind that makes us laugh aloud and it is, at times, quite crude. But putting the comedy aside, there are some important issues dealt with here-same-sex marriage, ageism and the elder LGBT population.

Guys, do not worry-there is something for us here as well and that is a scene with full frontal male nudity and then there is the hitchhiker but this is a movie for the girls and they certainly deserve it.