Sandra Bullock is great as Siddalee Walker, the angry and disgruntled woman who has a cross to bear with her mother and often exhibits the corky odd traits her mother does.
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
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Reviews Counted:141
Fresh:62
Rotten:79
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is more melodramatic than emotionally truthful, and uneven in its mixture of time periods, actresses, laughter and tears.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for mature thematic elements, language, and brief sensuality
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Jun 7, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $69,542,820
Synopsis: Sidda Walker (Sandra Bullock), who is high on life--about to marry Connor (Angus MacFadyen) and flushed with success because her new play is about to open on Broadway--gives an unguarded interview... Sidda Walker (Sandra Bullock), who is high on life--about to marry Connor (Angus MacFadyen) and flushed with success because her new play is about to open on Broadway--gives an unguarded interview to TIME Magazine. After reading the interview, Sidda's mother, Vivi (Ellen Burnstein), is so livid that she disowns Sidda, takes down her pictures, and refuses to attend her daughter's wedding. Trying to heal the rift between mother and daughter, Vivi's best friends, Caro (Maggie Smith), Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), and Necie (Shirley Knight), go to New York, take Sidda to dinner, slip her a Mickey Finn, and spirit her off to Louisiana. First-time director Callie Khouri (writer of THELMA AND LOUISE) uses an intricate series of flashbacks to slowly reveal the DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD, which is based on the book by Rebecca Wells. The flashbacks are triggered by a scrapbook that Caro, Teensy, and Necie show Sidda. The scrapbook chronicles the hopes, dreams and disappointments that they shared with Vivi. Standouts in the great cast are Ashley Judd, as the younger Vivi, and Maggie Smith as the feisty Caro. [More]
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Fionnula Flanagan, James Garner
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Fionnula Flanagan, James Garner, Ashley Judd, Shirley Knight, Maggie Smith, Angus MacFadyen
Director: Callie Khouri
Director: Callie Khouri
Screenwriter: Callie Khouri, Mark Andrus
Producer: Bonnie Bruckheimer, Hunt Lowry
Composer: T-Bone Burnett, David Mansfield
Studio: Warner Bros.
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Reviews for Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
While there are pleasures to be had from watching so many grand actresses strut their stuff, the fact is that the overriding preoccupation here rests with surface impressions rather than psychological probity.
I heard something in the audience for Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood I don't hear often any more: the sound of middle-aged women laughing.
Better make the most of the first ten minutes of this execrable melodrama (directed by the scriptwriter of Thelma & Louise), because from then on it's the yackety-yack sisterhood in spades.
...if you plan on having a man watch this film with you, do him a favor...and don't.
Seeing the film, my initial, gut perception of those who form real life Ya-Ya Sisterhoods stands: these are women with way too much time on their hands.
There are some truly great actresses in this movie, but nearly all of them are wasted playing caricatures.
Though [Khouri] has an obvious flair for exploring the inner workings of the female mind, she unfortunately glosses over a pinnacle moment in the story and inevitably lets the viewer down.
That such strong, capable women are called on to carry a film as shoddy as Ya-Ya in front of and from behind the camera is hardly progress.
A tal irmandade Ya-Ya é de uma bobagem extremada, e o roteiro tem buracos incríveis, deixando de lado vários pontos sobre os irmãos de Burstyn e Bullock, que são mencionados, mas nunca vistos.
...it becomes clear that these two hours would be better spent reflecting on our own treasured memories than getting confused by this group's sordid past.
Since, at least as relates to its central plot, Ya-Ya cheerleads for the pure life-living gusto of its gaudy heroines, some spirited overacting and slathery screenwriting is less a liability than a guilty pleasure the movie is wholly in on.
It is the actresses’ irreproachable ability to tap into the feminine psyche, to capture the beauty of female friendships and to demonstrate the complex love and loathe relationship often found between mothers and daughters that elevates this movie.
Cross-generational mother-daughter drama is a little familiar, but it'll still warm your heart.
Well-made, but frequently boring and predictable drama -- a couple of decent performances but the climax doesn’t work and it’s all been done better elsewhere.
With an assist from screenwriter Mark Andrus, and judicious borrowing from the follow-up novel Little Altars Everywhere, Ms. Khouri has tamed Rebecca Wells' sprawling narrative without sacrificing its emotional riches.
For all the quirky behaviour on display, there is still no personality, merely 'issues', their resolutions and a lot of frickin' ya-yas.
What have we done to deserve this treacly, badly-acted nonsense? Whose children have we run over in a previous life?
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