Lurene is a Dallas beautician who is obssessed with Jackie Kennedy. She has a notebook filled with newspaper and magazine clippings about Jackie and Jack. She sees their marriage as the ideal type of marriage. Her own marriage to a local guy is dull and childless. (She miscarried months earlier.) When the Kennedys are coming to Dallas in 1963, Lurene is thrilled and has no intention of missing the chance to see them in person.
Of course the day ends up being tragic, and Lurene is now obsessed with being at JFK's funeral. Her husband tells her she is crazy obsessed and he's tired of it. Thus, Lurene sneaks off to the bus station in the dead of night. On the bus she meets Paul and his daughter Jonell. Paul is black. Lurene is in the last white row before the black section, where Paul is in the front row.
Paul tries to be aloof, because talking to a white woman on a segregated bus can be dangerous. But Lurene won't shut up for a minute and she is being kind to young Jonell, who strangely does not speak. So begins the journey of Lurene, Paul and Jonell. When the bus goes off the road due to a crazy car driver, that journey becomes one thing after another. Yes, unfortunately, it soon became tiresome wondering what was going to happen next.
I even fast-forwarded through parts where Paul is attacked by rednecks, and when the three end up at the home of one of Lurene's co-workers' mother in Virginia. The story obviously had good intentions, but it didn't stay captivating enough. The very end was laughable, too. A year after the trip, Lurene had gone from a Jackie Kennedy hairstyle to a Carol Brady one. (This was years before Carol Brady, mind you.) In addition, she made a decision no woman in Texas would make unless she definitely had plans of moving out of the South very, very soon.
Of course the day ends up being tragic, and Lurene is now obsessed with being at JFK's funeral. Her husband tells her she is crazy obsessed and he's tired of it. Thus, Lurene sneaks off to the bus station in the dead of night. On the bus she meets Paul and his daughter Jonell. Paul is black. Lurene is in the last white row before the black section, where Paul is in the front row.
Paul tries to be aloof, because talking to a white woman on a segregated bus can be dangerous. But Lurene won't shut up for a minute and she is being kind to young Jonell, who strangely does not speak. So begins the journey of Lurene, Paul and Jonell. When the bus goes off the road due to a crazy car driver, that journey becomes one thing after another. Yes, unfortunately, it soon became tiresome wondering what was going to happen next.
I even fast-forwarded through parts where Paul is attacked by rednecks, and when the three end up at the home of one of Lurene's co-workers' mother in Virginia. The story obviously had good intentions, but it didn't stay captivating enough. The very end was laughable, too. A year after the trip, Lurene had gone from a Jackie Kennedy hairstyle to a Carol Brady one. (This was years before Carol Brady, mind you.) In addition, she made a decision no woman in Texas would make unless she definitely had plans of moving out of the South very, very soon.