Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, James Garner, Ashley Judd, Angus Macfadyn, Shirley Knight, Maggie Smith
Directed by: Callie Khouri
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Box Office: $69,599,016
2002

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The divide between a successful playwright (Sandra Bullock) and her mother (Ellen Burstyn) exponentially increases after a news article is published with the daughter mentioning unfavorable stories from her childhood. To try and mend the relationship, the mother's three friends (including Shirley Knight and Maggie Smith), the members of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, come together in a last ditch attempt to reunite the pair.

Review:

Tim: This is definitely a chick flick. It embodies every quality of that sub-genre that you could possibly imagine. It is melodramatic, completely feminine, and actually quite boring. The story is something about mother-daughter problems because she was a bad mom, or some heart-wrenching fiasco such as that. It is hard to keep track, mainly because I couldn't see the screen because I was rolling my eyes so much.

Now, you can tell I am somewhat critical of this movie. That is because I am a guy and have some natural animosity towards movies completely geared towards females. Realizing this, I admit that most guys will probably hate this movie, while most women will absolutely adore it. I will try hard to be unbiased in my review. I will also fail miserably.

There are some good qualities to the film. James Garner and Angus Macfadyn were my personal favorites. These are both males, you might notice. I liked them so much because they are two guys whose performances seem to show that they realize they are stuck in a chick flick and simply can't help it. Both show their frustration with the women in their lives much like I expressed my frustration for the movie. We bonded over this. They are both excellent.

As far as women actors in the film, the best casting choice was Ashley Judd for a young Ellen Burstyn. Judd is incredibly enjoyable to watch and makes much of the movie at least semi tolerable. The most uninspired casting choice is that of Sandra Bullock. She gives a good performance, but doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the movie. She looks awkward in many of the scenes and that further detracts from the movie.

Finally, the big "revelation/resolution" secret doesn't seem to make anything better and it is just stupid and a worthless conclusion for the movie to reach. By this point, I was thoroughly bored and the big moment at the end kind of fizzled. Oh, and while I am in this frame of mind, what in the world was that big "Birthday Carnival" at the end? It was ridiculous.

I realize that I have painted a picture here that this is a horrible movie. This is not so. If you are a girl or love movies especially made for women, I anticipate that you will love this movie. As I am neither of those, I am free to be bored with this film. However, I do acknowledge that as far as chick flicks go, this is pretty good.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Steel Magnolias, Someone Like You, Hope Floats, A Walk on the Moon