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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
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 out of 4
Review by Susan Granger
3½ stars out of 4
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Grab your mother, daughter and/or best gal friend for the rollicking
chick flick of the year! Based on Rebecca Wells' best-seller about a
mother/daughter relationship gone awry, this multi-generational story revolves
around a successful New York playwright and her aging Southern belle mother.
When thirty-something Sidda Lee Walker (Sandra Bullock) tells a TIME magazine
reporter about her Louisiana roots, particularly, about Vivi, her eccentric,
self-indulgent, boozing, sometimes abusive mother, a feud erupts. Vivi (Ellen
Burstyn) goes ballistic. Neither her stoic husband (James Garner) nor her three
loving friends (dour Maggie Smith, rich Fionnula Flanagan, helpful Shirley
Knight), known as the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, can calm her down. Chums since
childhood, the Ya-Yas travel to Manhattan, kidnap Sidda and bring her home,
where they take her on a trip through the bayous of memories via the Secrets of
the Ya-Ya scrapbook, figuring that if Sidda really knew about her mother, she'd
be more understanding. Indeed, as flashbacks reveal, there is a rational
explanation for Vivi's bizarre behavior and the emotional scars Sidda bears,
including a reluctance to marry her fiancé (Angus MacFadyen). We see Vivi as
conflicted young mother (Ashley Judd) entwined with the Ya-Yas as their younger
selves. The screenplay by Callie Khouri ("Thelma & Louise"), adapted by Mark
Andrus, adeptly condenses the insightful book and the look-alike casting is
clever. But as a director, Khouri is self-indulgent. The pacing is slow,
confusion often reigns and some scenes go on far too long. Nevertheless, on the
Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" is a
mumbo-gumbo, fun-filled 8, delivering a spirited yet poignant message about
dysfunctional families and forgiveness.
Copyright © 2002 Susan Granger
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