BroadcastChic
Excellent, a Must See
Tedfoldol
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
BelSports
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Lela
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
cokramer
I wish there were more films like this. Anders, the director, is a very wise person, especially in how she sees human relationships and treats them in this film. People call this an intelligent film and I'm not saying it's not, but that comment says a bundle about a lot of the other films that have been out there lately, where characters just don't seem human and act more like plot robots, void of any recognizable human feelings or dimensions. Evil and good in absolute black and white strokes. No, most people are more complex than that, even if mass media doesn't seem to want to poke much beyond the surface that they present to us. This movie is intelligent because it's very intuitive in its understanding of how most real people relate to one another. There are two particular scenes that I especially love. One is with the younger daughter bringing home purely by coincidence the ex-lover of her mom for a supposedly blind first date with the mom. She and the ex play it cool and ironically pretend they don't know each other and by the end of it, the lover comes to understand the mom's maternal love for her daughter and why she can't continue with him as her lover, which is all spelled out without anyone saying anything directly. The second scene is slightly less poignant, but also shows the unspoken understanding between good people. It involves the satellite cable installer and the mom and how they communicate indirectly and in a silly smart way the nature of their newfound relationship with one another and what they want from it. Their conversation in bed after the first time doing "it" was a gem. Very strong recommendation!
paul2001sw-1
Will three feisty women, a single mother and her two daughters, find love and fulfillment in small-town Laramie? Allison Anders' debut film 'Gas, Food, Lodging' aims at a low-key, indie feel but the characters struggle to acquire more than a single dimension: Brooke Shields makes a reasonable stab at Mum, but the teenage characters are little more than outlines. The result is a film that is no better than it ought to be, never going anywhere unexpected. The soundtrack has a nice feel but is used to unsubtle effect; the film touches on America's racial divide, but quite shallowly; the teenage fashion on display has period interest for those who remember it at first hand. Otherwise, it's all a bit dull and obvious.
george.schmidt
GAS FOOD LODGING (1992) *** 1/2 Brooke Adams, Ione Skye, Fairuza Balk, Donovan Leitch, Robert Knepper, James Brolin, David Lansbury, Jacob Vargas. Delightful and at times melancholy story of a single mother raising her troubled daughters as a truck stop waitress. Balk is winning as the introverted younger sibling who has a penchant for Spanish melodramas and '70s nostalgia. Directed nicely by Allison Anders, her debut.
Mandy-38
Warning: Need to reveal some crucial plot elements, but if you have seen this movie already, please read on.Are there 2 versions of this movie?I swear we saw a version where the little girl and her Latino boyfriend broke up, and I think the satellite guy ran off on her mother too. On TV, this was left out, which could have been due to bad editing, but I asked a friend to rent the video too, and she said the above didn't happen. Which totally changes the movie to be less realistic and bittersweet. Anybody?
