Review: 'Ya-Ya' Movie Stays Loyal To Book
Emotional Rollercoaster Worth The Trip
UPDATED: 1:15 a.m. EDT June 7, 2002
'Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood' (PG-13)
(out of four)
Wrapped in flashbacks and Southern charm, the screen adaptation of the immensely popular 1996 novel "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," is a special blend of movie.
Part melodrama, part folksy fun, it's difficult not to like each dysfunctional character as if they were one of your own.
The movie picks up during the brewing of a rift between Siddalee Walker, a New York playwright, and her mother Louisiana socialite Vivi Walker. It seems that during an interview with Time magazine, Siddalee spilled the beans on her unhappy childhood in crawfish country and told some family secrets that made Vivi look like a monster.
Enter the Ya-Yas, old friends of Vivi's who have maintained their bond and who decide to make an intervention to patch things up between mother and daughter. In the process, they are going to bring out the crystal ball and show Siddalee how Vivi and the rest of the clan became the boozy Southern dames they are today.
For legions of "Divine" book fans, the movie won't disappoint. It stays fairly close to Rebecca Wells' text.
The screenplay was written by Callie Khouri, who also directs the movie. Khouri's credits also include the script for "Thelma and Louise."
The film's casting is perfect and helps to lift the characters off the pages of the book and brings them to larger-than-life on the big screen.
Ellen Burstyn portrays Vivi Abbott Walker in her elder years. Burstyn shows depth as the eccentric, distant and complex founder of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. The performance is ripe for Burstyn to receive an Oscar nomination.
Ashley Judd plays the younger Vivi and tackles her most challenging role to date. Judd's gorgeousness and sadness makes you want to answer her cries for help and run to her rescue, despite the times that you want to despise her.
After Sandra Bullock's last few failed films ("Miss Congeniality" stands out among them), she displays some genuine moments as the focus of this film and brings a dimension to the role she hasn't showed since 1995's "While You Were Sleeping."
The other elder Ya-Ya's, Maggie Smith, Fionnula Flanagan, and Shirley Knight, make the most of their supporting roles. In the book, the trio of Caro, Teensy, and Necie are a bit more fleshed out and less depicted as caricatures, but here they are enjoyable nonetheless.
Daughters will find themselves thinking of their mothers, while mothers will wonder if they were a good enough parent.
"Ya-Ya Sisterhood" is an emotional rollercoaster, but it's a cool refresher from the latest comic-book adventures and over-hyped action flicks playing at the multiplex.
(out of four)
Wrapped in flashbacks and Southern charm, the screen adaptation of the immensely popular 1996 novel "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," is a special blend of movie.
Part melodrama, part folksy fun, it's difficult not to like each dysfunctional character as if they were one of your own.
The movie picks up during the brewing of a rift between Siddalee Walker, a New York playwright, and her mother Louisiana socialite Vivi Walker. It seems that during an interview with Time magazine, Siddalee spilled the beans on her unhappy childhood in crawfish country and told some family secrets that made Vivi look like a monster.
Enter the Ya-Yas, old friends of Vivi's who have maintained their bond and who decide to make an intervention to patch things up between mother and daughter. In the process, they are going to bring out the crystal ball and show Siddalee how Vivi and the rest of the clan became the boozy Southern dames they are today.
For legions of "Divine" book fans, the movie won't disappoint. It stays fairly close to Rebecca Wells' text.
The screenplay was written by Callie Khouri, who also directs the movie. Khouri's credits also include the script for "Thelma and Louise."
The film's casting is perfect and helps to lift the characters off the pages of the book and brings them to larger-than-life on the big screen.
Ellen Burstyn portrays Vivi Abbott Walker in her elder years. Burstyn shows depth as the eccentric, distant and complex founder of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. The performance is ripe for Burstyn to receive an Oscar nomination.
Ashley Judd plays the younger Vivi and tackles her most challenging role to date. Judd's gorgeousness and sadness makes you want to answer her cries for help and run to her rescue, despite the times that you want to despise her.
After Sandra Bullock's last few failed films ("Miss Congeniality" stands out among them), she displays some genuine moments as the focus of this film and brings a dimension to the role she hasn't showed since 1995's "While You Were Sleeping."
The other elder Ya-Ya's, Maggie Smith, Fionnula Flanagan, and Shirley Knight, make the most of their supporting roles. In the book, the trio of Caro, Teensy, and Necie are a bit more fleshed out and less depicted as caricatures, but here they are enjoyable nonetheless.
Daughters will find themselves thinking of their mothers, while mothers will wonder if they were a good enough parent.
"Ya-Ya Sisterhood" is an emotional rollercoaster, but it's a cool refresher from the latest comic-book adventures and over-hyped action flicks playing at the multiplex.
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