It is a 10 million dollar film, with three Oscar-winning leads, Joan Allen, Jessica Lang and Kathy Bates. It is the story of three women who go on a road trip to bury the ashes of one of their husbands. All three characters are Mormon, based on scripwriter Daniel Davis's family and friends from his youth in Idaho. Davis appears to have grown up in a Mormon family. It is his and director Christopher Rowley's first film. Rowley is a recent USC film grad, and I think Davis is too.
Mormonism is apparently not central to the film, but it is factor. They offer a BoM to a hitchhiker at one point. It was screened at a Toronto film festival in 2006, and received poor reviews in Variety and elsewhere. The word sappy was used a lot. Apparently it was retooled, and is getting a wide release next week. Sounds interesting.

Opened today. The press releases speak of screenwriter Daniel D. Davis basing the story on his Mormon relatives and friends in Pocatello. But they do not indicate whether Davis considers himself a Mormon. He is not a USC film grad like the director, as I guessed earlier. He is a lawyer who decided to get into screenwriting.

The reviews have been mixed so far. The Utah papers are positive, but the overall reception is mildly negative. 43% (mildly unfresh) rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with an average 5.1 (out of 10) stars. Here are a few reviews, and a feature story.

Open Country for Women of a Certain Age
New York Times
By MATT ZOLLER SEITZ

The synopsis of “Bonneville” makes it sound like “Thelma and Louise” in first gear: A recent widow named Arvilla Holden (Jessica Lange) and her two best friends, Carol and Margene (Joan Allen and Kathy Bates), hit the road in Idaho in a 1966 Pontiac convertible to deliver an urn full of ashes to a funeral in Santa Barbara, Calif., bickering, bonding and facing hard truths along the way.

The 50-something leads and meandering pace distinguish “Bonneville” from other movies of its type. But the film’s most striking characteristic comes to the fore when the women pick up a hunky young hitchhiker named Bo (Victor Rasuk).

Not only is there no furtive hookup, we sense that none of the travelers would seriously consider having one. When the women sit in a diner watching the shirtless hitchhiker wash their car in the parking lot, they’re just window-shopping. We learn the source of their restraint when Bo and the ladies part ways, and Carol offers him a parting gift: her copy of the Book of Mormon.

As it happens, Carol, Margene, Arvilla and many other major characters are devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The film’s screenwriter, Daniel D. Davis, and its director, Christopher N. Rowley, treat their characters’ faith as a given — as merely one characteristic among many. It’s the Mormon flip side of a typical Hollywood movie set in a world in which no one ever mentions God, prays or enters a house of worship. The movie’s no-fuss treatment of religion is as deft as it is unexpected.

Good thing too, because the film has many tiresome elements — starting with Arvilla’s brittle antagonist, Francine (Christine Baranski), her dead husband Joe’s daughter by his first wife. Because Joe never amended his will, Francine, who always disliked her stepmother, is set to inherit the couple’s longtime home. She gives Arvilla an ultimatum: Deliver Joe’s ashes to Santa Barbara for burial next to his first wife, or pack and get out. Despite Ms. Baranski’s sharp performance and a few last-minute nuances, Francine remains a resentful killjoy.

Except for Ms. Lange’s silent, expressive close-ups, which render flashbacks unnecessary, the women’s journey is aesthetically and dramatically unremarkable. The three pass through spectacular terrain, cross paths with a charming trucker named Emmett (the silver fox Tom Skerritt) who joins them for dinner in Las Vegas, and visit a casino floor, where Carol obliviously chats with a young female slot-machine player waiting on a client who pays by the hour.

Yet the film’s worldview lends charm, even excitement, to moments that would seem dull or awkward in a Hollywood road movie. When Margene says she and Emmett went dancing, Ms. Bates’s incredulous, delighted tone makes the act sound as reckless as a one-night stand. When Carol offers Bo her Book of Mormon, he politely declines because it’s clearly a keepsake, and because he already has two.

3 leads make 'Bonneville' worth the trip
By Jeff Vice
Deseret Morning News
BONNEVILLE — *** — Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Joan Allen; rated PG (mild profanity, vulgarity, violence)

Like an aging vehicle on a lengthy road trip, "Bonneville" starts with fits and spurts, stalls out a couple times and is forced to run on fumes at one point.

Furthering the automotive theme, this character-heavy comedy-drama becomes lost along the way and gets stranded.

These all might be insurmountable problems. But the film is smart enough to tell its story with more honesty than many others of its kind — "The Bucket List," for example. And it features a terrific cast of middle-aged actors.

Jessica Lange stars as Arvilla Holden, an Idaho woman who's just lost the love of her life. And now she stands to lose much more.

Arvilla's husband has left everything to his daughter, Francine (Christine Baranski). And she is threatening to take away the couple's house if Arvilla doesn't allow her husband's remains to be buried in California.

It's a long trip to Santa Barbara. But rather than take a jet, Arvilla opts to take to the road in a classic car (which is partly where the film's title originates).

And for strength and support, she takes her best friends, the free-spirited Margene (Kathy Bates) and the more conservative Carol (Joan Allen), along for the ride.

First-time screenwriter Daniel D. Davis' tale goes almost exactly where you'd expect. The three women encounter weirdness and kindness in equal measures, from a helpful hitchhiker (Victor Rasuk) and a truck driver (Tom Skerritt) with an eye for Margene.

Also, audiences may have quibbles with some of the character depictions, especially since the three friends are all supposed to be LDS. It is noted early on that only Allen's Carol is really very devout and faithful.

But director Christopher N. Rowley and his camera crews are smart enough to make use of the scenic locations — which include the Bonneville Salt Flats, various Salt Lake spots and Las Vegas.

Still, it's the three leads who really make this material work. Lange is very sympathetic and relatable as Arvilla, while Bates injects some needed humor. And Allen is pitch-perfect as usual, as the film's moral center of sorts.

"Bonneville" is rated PG for scattered mild profanity (religiously based) and other suggestive language, as well as some brief violence (a scuffle, including violence against women).

Review: High-octane stars fuel 'Bonneville'
By Sean P. Means
The Salt Lake Tribune
3 stars
Like the classic convertible in its title, "Bonneville" occasionally sputters on the way to its destination, but it's a classy vehicle that runs more on charm than on speed.
The charm comes from the movie's three leading ladies - Jessica Lange, Joan Allen and Kathy Bates - and the way director Christopher N. Rowley and writer Daniel D. Davis throw Hollywood demographics aside to highlight these women.
Lange's character, Arvilla, has just lost her husband of 20 years, Joe. Her stepdaughter Francine (Christine Baranski) is demanding that Joe's ashes be returned to her for burial in Santa Barbara, Calif., alongside his first wife. Arvilla at first
refuses, determined to follow Joe's wishes to scatter his ashes around the West - but relents when Francine threatens to take away Arvilla's house if she doesn't comply.
Arvilla loads Joe's 1966 Bonneville convertible for the trip to the airport, accompanied by her best friends, Carol (Allen's character), a stiff-necked Mormon devoted to her husband (Tom Wopat), and Margene (Kathy Bates), a salty tough-talking spinster. But on the road, Arvilla changes the plan, opting to drive from Pocatello to Santa Barbara, taking in some of the places she and Joe visited 20 years earlier - including the Bonneville Salt Flats, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell and Las Vegas. (The movie was largely filmed in Utah, and the state's natural beauty really comes through on the screen.)
Rowley and Davis (making their feature debut) closely follow the contours of the road movie as the three women share adventures and encounters with interesting strangers. These include an earnest young backpacker (Victor Rasuk) and a truck driver (Tom Skerritt) who takes a shine to Margene. None of these moments feel spontaneous or surprising - as if the filmmakers were afraid of startling the audience with anything unpredictable.
There are pleasures in the comfortable, though, and they include the lived-in performances of the three leads. Lange's unflappable dignity, Bates' easy laugh and Allen's depiction of Carol's slow blossoming are all delightful, and their gals'-night-out camaraderie makes "Bonneville" an enjoyable ride.

Deseret News feature:
Road show: New movie stars Jessica Lange as LDS widow traveling in Utah
By Jeff Vice

Roles are hard to come by for actresses who are Jessica Lange's age. Or as the 58-year-old actress put it, "When our youth and beauty fades, the script offers dry up as well.

"It's quite sad, really," she continued. "We definitely get better, more confident, as actresses as we age, and yet we aren't given nearly enough opportunities to prove that to anyone." But, Lange added sarcastically: "I'm not bitter about this at all, as you can probably tell." Still, all kidding aside, Lange has been as selective as she can be with movie projects, considering the circumstances. So when the script for "Bonneville" was passed along to her, she says it was something she "really couldn't say no to."

"It was such a breath of fresh air. Here was a story filled with strong female characters who are all my age or in the neighborhood," she said by telephone from New York City.

"Plus, it was a road movie, and those are always such fun to do," she said, laughing.

"Bonneville" opened in a handful of cities today, including Salt Lake City. The PG-rated comedy-drama stars Lange as Arvilla Holden, who is joined by her best friends, Margene (Kathy Bates) and Carol (Joan Allen), on a road trip to transport her late husband's ashes from Idaho to California.

It offered her an opportunity to work with Bates, with whom she worked on "Men Don't Leave" in 1990. And it also gave the two-time Oscar-winner screen time with Allen, an actress about whom, Lange says, she "had so much respect for her abilities and her depth as an actress."

"I've wanted to work with Joan for years, but we could never find the right project," Lange said, noting that the three actresses "got along famously. You'd think we'd really been friends all of our lives."

Also, all three characters are supposed to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which presented a new challenge for Lange and the others.

"I've known a few Mormons in my time, but I really wasn't that familiar with the religion or their beliefs," she said. "I just had to assume that our screenwriter (Daniel D. Davis) had done his homework."

Still, Lange and the other two actresses did spend time alongside LDS crew members during the film's Utah location shoots.

"I've been to Utah before, but this was the first time I've gotten to work there," she said. "And I have to say that I had a great time. Everyone was so wonderful to work with, so kind and so generous, and they all seemed to be as interested as we were in making a quality movie."

In addition to Salt Lake City, which served as the film headquarters, other "Bonneville" filming sequences took took them to Idaho, Nevada and the Bonneville Salt Flats.

"We had such fun, traveling and going to all these incredible places," Lange said. "It would have been like going on vacation if we hadn't had to do all that pesky acting."

Lange and the cast wrapped up work on "Bonneville" in 2006, but post-production has taken considerable time. ("They had to make sure they were completely happy with the film before releasing it in theaters," she said.)

And since then, she completed shooting a new television version of "Sybil" and is currently working on two films.

In the fact-based drama "Grey Gardens," she plays the eccentric aunt of Jackie Kennedy. (Jeanne Tripplehorn and Drew Barrymore co-star as the former first lady and her equally eccentric first cousin, respectively.)

And she's set to star in an adaptation of the Brenda Walker novel "One More River." "I've been very fortunate in terms of my recent work schedule," she said. "And I'm grateful. I'm going to working as long as these terrific offers keep coming my way."