Cloudburst

Really! Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker portray lesbians that have been in my life, foul mouth and all. To those who says this movie is not 100% realistic, well, thank heavens for that! These characters are real enough and the humor is great. The real life consequences of getting old, living as unmarried, unrecognized partners is very real and can be very painful. And those issues are brought forth with irony, clarity, raunchiness and loving tenderness. Just like life.

The young hitchhiker character was endearing, bringing another additional layer of the complexity of human relationships into the mix. This movie is lighthearted at times, laughing out loud funny here and there, and dramatizes the struggles of being homosexual, elderly, and being authentically out of the norm.

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.

Loved this movie. Contrary to the other reviewer who found Olympia Dukakis' character offensive I thought she was wonderful. She was playing a character. She wasn't representing all lesbians. Yes it was over the top but I think the humanity of her character came through in spite of the swearing and 'bull dyke' representation. I think that the other character's grand daughter not realizing she was a lesbian was a bigger stretch than Olympia's character. I also thought that the relationship between the two main characters was very realistic whether you wanted to accept their characterizations or not. I actually went to this movie not expecting much and really just wanted to see Olympia Dukakis. I came out of the movie laughing, crying and uplifted by a story of love that is universal and eternal. I am sorry if you didn't want to accept a lesbian who wears vests, cowboy hats, drinks tequila and swears like a sailor but they do exist and so what? Who cares? Love is love. If you want to laugh and cry and believe that everyone should have the right to marry the person they love no matter what then go see this movie. If you are easily offended by a bull dyke characterization of an elderly lesbian then you may want to skip it but you will be missing a real treat.

This marvelous little, independent flick somehow escaped me for years. At first sight it's just a typical road movie. Two old ladies, a lesbian couple for 31 years, escape from the indignities of a nursing home and drive to Canada to get married. There is a hitchhiker, a modern dancer/stripper, and people and situations one encounters on a road trip. What makes this movie a jewel are two fantastic actresses, two Oscar winners, Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker. Their chemistry, their ease with which they just put on a skin and soul of their characters makes this flick a treasure. Farewell Ms. Dukakis, you'll be missed.

(TLDR: I definitely recommend watching this.)

The title sums up my initial thought about the movie - a lesbian COMEDY? A lighthearted lesbian movie where nobody goes to conversion therapy camp and nobody cheats on their husband? Nobody goes through a traumatic coming out to their family and friends which then Have a Hard Time? Wild, unbelievable.

Hold your horses if you got too excited by this crazy occurence though - we couldn't do without at least one typical lgbt-movie thing - It's an lgbt themed movie so of course someone dies (not tagging as spoiler because honestly - you most likely already knew that, this is how common this is).

Also there's a weird ammount of naked men in this for a movie about lesbians.

I liked the raunchy over the top, brainless humor - it's just really not something you get enough of for this type of movies. Something you Also don't get a lot of is portrayals of gay people which are older than like, 20, and actually had a decent life in a stable relationship. We need more movies like this, more normal movies which are not all striving to be High Art and talking about how being gay is a tragedy that will Ruin Your Life Forever. Not because those grim movies are not relatable - they ARE relatable for most lgbt people and that's the problem.

This is a cute movie that's just something random you can watch with a popcorn and not have an existential crisis over. So cheers to that and I'm hoping for more movies like this. Taking away the two stars for some cringy moments, and the "wait it's gay so someone has to die".