The late Frank Zappa has several claims to fame - not only was he an innovative musician, he was also honorary Czech minister of culture.

What he was not so celebrated for was coining the phrase The Banger Sisters to describe Suzette (Hawn) and Vinnie (Sarandon).

The name didn't refer to their penchant for sausages (although in a way it might have done) or their interest in stock-car racing.

It was because they were the most prolific groupies on the Seventies LA circuit, enjoying the company of any band who swung into town.

Twenty years on, Suzette hasn't escaped the past and is keeping bar in the Whisky-A-Go-Go (in whose hallowed toilet Jim Morrison passed out "with me underneath him").

Vinnie, on the other hand, is the prim picture of respectability - a mother-of-two with a successful husband and a banana hammock in the kitchen.

When Suzette is sacked, she heads off to Phoenix to re-acquaint herself with her old buddy... and picks up disillusioned screenwriter Harry (Rush) along the way.

However, after coming to the aid of Vinnie's tripping daughter, Hannah (Christensen), the old pal dismisses her as "no longer part of my current reality".

A modest, unassuming comedy, this is peopled by likeable characters and marks something of a minor triumph for first-time director Dolman.

One highlight sees the friends leafing through Vinnie's "rock c**k" collection of polaroids featuring various er, erect, music luminaries. "Roger Waters? No, Jimmy Page."

And it's very difficult to dislike a movie which features Talking Heads' Burning Down the House as a dancefloor filler.

The two stars fill their roles like a pair of Dave Lee Roth's leather trousers - which only begs the question why they haven't been cast together before.

Tim Evans