Review of Bagdad Cafe (1987) by Anders E — 07 Jun 2011

Bagdad Cafe is about a little run-down uncared for diner/gas/motel business in the middle of a long stretch of road in the California desert with nothing else to be found for many miles on either side of it.

Life there is sad and forlorn with a cast of characters whose dreams have all long since been shelved. CCH Pounder plays a mother with two teenage children, a son with a young baby who aspires to play the piano but his mother can't bare the noise.

..any noise. She has a teenage daughter who has grasped her mother's 'why care' philosophy and is wild and tuned-out. There is the help of course - one bored cook who sleeps more than he serves and "the guests" that consists of an aging hippy painter played with a twinkle by Jack Palance and a middle-aged Barvian woman (MaryAnn Sagebrecht) who walks up to the diner off the road where she exited her husband's car several miles back and changes all of their lives - including her own.

It's a fun little film though the first half drags so slowly along like the café itself one is nearly lulled to sleep. Over-all though this is a fun watch.