Customer Reviews

Riding The Bus With My Sister - Gold Crown Collector's Edition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Heroic! Courageous! Brave! Daring! These are all words I would use to describe you, if you were able to sit through this tour de force of a performance by Rosie O'Donnell. Not because it's so bad as some have suggested, but because you will NEVER forget this film. Rosie has not only elevated her acting skills, she elevates the viewer as well to a place I like to call "Rosie O'Nirvana." I have always been a fan of Rosie's super subtle, light on humor standup act, but her performance here puts her in the company of Dustin Hoffman and Daniel Day Lewis. If they were in the same airport bus. Her performance is never so cloying and over-the-top that I have to catch my breath after her scenes because they are uncomfortable to view. And to those out there who suggested it, NO This should not be rated X due to the fact that it may shock you, disgust you and disturb you. It will, but in a good way. I also want to salute Angelo Tsarouchas for his performance as Mean Eugene though -- it was superior.

Before I started this review of Riding the Bus with my Sister, I read the reviews posted on this title. It seems to be a "love it or hate it" movie, with nothing in between.

I liked this movie! But I would not say I loved this movie. That's the reason for four stars only. I liked that Rosie O'Donnell was cast as Beth. I also enjoyed "My Sister's Keeper" and "The Boys Next Door". All three titles deal with real-life situations & how particular characters handle the life's situations that affect us all. As I see it, each individual learns methods of coping. It's just sometimes, some people have more choices of "tools" than others. I think Beth & I could have learned to be friends. One of the bus-drivers said she drove him nuts when he first started driving, but he learned to understand her & to like her. I would only try to turn-down the volume of Beth's voice a little. How can a person not be affected with meeting Beth? How can a person remain a crumudgeon after meeting Beth, with her colorful dress & vibrant personality? Those who rode the bus with her reminded me a little of Scrooge's reply when a group of gentlemen came calling at his place of business soliciting funds for the poor on Christmas Eve. "Are there no poor-houses, are there no prisons?" Beth has found a purpose to her life - riding the bus & encouaging people. Sure, it pays nothing, but it is a purpose. I wish I had a "Beth character" in my life!

I would have gotten this title whether I had known anything about it or not. It's a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. That tells me several things about it without knowing anything about the particular story-line: first, there will be little or no violence in the movie. If violence is needed for the story, it is a quick scene or referred to in the dialog. Second, HHofF movies have little or overt sexuality. Third, HHofF movies have little or no substance abuse. Fourth: HHofF movies have a good story to tell. And fifth: HHofF movies are going to run right around 100 minutes. Hallmark buys a 2-hour time slot on network TV &, except for one mid-movie intermission, even the commercials are for Hallmark products. When the commercial breaks are taken out, the actual movie runs for right around 100 minutes. And, I feel like I have gotten the most important parts of the story in that time allotment!

This year, I decided to getas many of the HHofF movies in VHS format as possible, as cheaply as possible. I got some titles here on Amazon; I got some on eBay. But, in the Fall of 2010, Hallmark decided to have a clearance sale on HHofF movies ordered directly from Hallmark at a HUGE savings over normal retail pricing. I "scarfed them up" & now have, I think, a complete collection of titles available in VHS format. I have a few in DVD. When the VHS titles are cleared out from Hallmark, only DVD formats will remain. The movies released in the past three years are only available in DVD format.

This was a good movie. I have liked other HHofF titles more & others less; but, I am glad I watched this movie.

Rosie is my hero. I was planning my own suicide the very night of the day i stumbled across this masterpiece. It inspired in me a will to live once again. I think we all need to try to be a bit more like beth with her colorful clothing and loud antics as she brightens everyone's day around her. I was brought to tears as from just simple cookies she was able to create a mountain from her own imagination. That right there showed how beth, despite her disabilities, can make something out of nothing as she takes on the world with her positive outlook.

It always facinates me when celebritys play learning disabled, retarded, depressed,etc... people. This is because I have to assume that none of these people live in hollywood. I used to think that Sean Penn's portrayal of a retarded man in "I Am Sam" was the most over the top porly done, insulting performance but Rosie blew him out of the water. Apparently retarded women only talk as though they are screaming, and also sound like Jim the Drunk from the TV show "Taxi". I guess they couldn't cast a real retarded person because apparently they don't act retarded enough. Buy this movie for the same reason you would buy a copy of the movie "Showgirls" so you can laugh at how idiotic it is. Andy MacDowell has a limited range but is usually very good at picking rolls for herself, and I have liked Rosie in other movies like Legue of their own and Another Stakeout but this was torture to sit through.

I really enjoyed this movie and it's one that stays with you long after it's over. It's a heartfelt, funny, enjoyable movie that I hope to watch again some day.

RtBwMS is one of the greatest so-bad-it's-good movies. I'm not saying this in a sarcastic or ironic fashion either--I truly love this movie. When I picture Anjelica Huston sitting at the video village, concentrating on Rosie's ludicrous performance going, Okay, okay, Rosie? Great stuff, but could you maybe play it more offensive? Maybe like full retard? Astonishing.

There are few movies that for my friends and I have this much repeat value--truly hilarious every time, and what's more is that the movie gets even funnier when you begin questioning its logic and random assortment of details (such as the scary man who offers Rosie a doll at one point and then is never seen or heard from again).

So many stars.

This was a heart moving story. I love the fact that Beth is so independent. I was amazed with her knowledge of the bus schedules to the minute,and she knows every driver. She is colorful and loud and well she's just Beth.

This movie is terrible. I watched it hoping the bus would drive into a ravine.

I don't know who Amazon's "Editorial Reviewer" is, but I'm here to set the record straight. In my life, which has been filled with mystery, intrigue and Down Syndrome, I have yet to see a more poignant story than "Riding the Bus with My Sister." B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T. Rosie. Words cannot express the emotions running through my body this second. I don't care what the critics say, we'll let the Academy Awards decide who's right this time. Until the day that this masterpiece finds it's place in the sun, I'll be here riding the bus with my sister.