"The Banger Sisters" might have been a more interesting movie had its stars, Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon, switched characters.

Stress the "might" part. There's still the matter of the film's uncertain tone and its even greater hesitance to find a direction (the movie only seems to get to its point at the very end).

And frankly, Hawn has played the ditsy free spirit so many times that we've come to characterize the actress that way. And Sarandon has been consigned to mother roles throughout the latter part of her career, so that it's getting a bit tired.

Still, there's no denying that at the times when this comedy works, it's because of the talents of these two actresses, as well as their easy, believable chemistry.

Hawn and Sarandon star as the title characters, a pair of former rock 'n' roll groupies. In fact, Suzette (Hawn) is still living the lifestyle — she's a bartender at Hollywood's legendary Whisky a Go Go club.

Unfortunately, she loses that job and, lacking cash, is in danger of losing more. So she heads out to Phoenix, hoping to reunite with — or get a loan from — her old friend Lavinia, or "Vinnie" (Sarandon).

Along the way, Suzette picks up a passenger, Harry Plummer (Geoffrey Rush), a neurotic, failed screenwriter who has his own reasons for wanting to go to Arizona.

But things may not go as smoothly as Suzette is hoping. It seems that Vinnie is now a straight-laced mother of two who has concealed every trace of her former "wild-child" days from her husband (Robin Thomas) and daughters (Erika Christensen and Eva Amurri).

What happens next is as obvious as it is inevitable. And writer/director Bob Dolman, making his feature-filmmaking debut, somehow manages to make a relatively short movie seem overlong.

The film actually might have been unsalvageable if not for its two stars. Hawn is as charming as ever, and Sarandon is one of the most watchable actresses currently working in Hollywood. But as talented an actor as Rush is, listening to him trying to use an American accent is painful (someone like Steve Martin probably would have been a better choice for the part).

"The Banger Sisters" is rated R for crude sexual references and sex talk, occasional use of strong sex-related profanity, simulated drug use (marijuana, and talk of LSD use), simulated sex and sex acts, brief partial female and full male nudity (photos) and brief violence (vehicular). Running time: 98 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com