Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

3 September 2018

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood 2002

• Director: Callie Khouri
• Based on novels by Rebecca Wells
• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Fionnula Flanagan, James Garner, Cherry Jones, Ashley Judd, Shirley Knight, Angus Macfadyen, Maggie Smith, Leslie Silva
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sandra Bullock – Gravity, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Infamous, The Lake House, Crash, 28 Days, Practical Magic, While You Were Sleeping, Speed
• Ellen Burstyn – Interstellar, The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, The Exorcist, The King of Marvin Gardens
• Fionnula Flanagan – The Invention of Lying, The Others, Some Mother’s Son
• James Garner – This and that
• Cherry Jones – The Village, The Perfect Storm, Erin Brokovich, Cradle Will Rock, Light of Day
• Ashely Judd – Double Jeopardy, Kiss the Girls, A Time to Kill, Heat, Smoke
• Shirley Knight – The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Not Fade Away, As Good As It Gets, Playing for Time,
• Angus Macfadyen – Titus, Cradle Will Rock, Braveheart,
• Maggie Smith - Lady in the Van, My Old Lady, Hotel Marigold 1 and 2, Downton Abbey, the Harry Potter films, The Quartet, Becoming Jane, Keeping Mum, Ladies in Lavender, From Time ti Time, Gosford Park, David Copperfield, Tea with Mussolini, The First Wives’ Club, Richard III, Sister Acts 1 and 2, A Room with a View, Quartet (1981), Oh What a Lovely War, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
• Leslie Silva – Homicide Life on the Street
• Why? Maggie Smith
• Seen: Once before. Now 31 August 2018      

       When Broadway playwright Sidda (Bullock) talks about her childhood in an interview her hysterical manipulative mother Vivi (Burstyn) is furious and a huge battle ensues. Vivi’s childhood ‘Ya-Ya Sisters’ (Flanagan, Jones and Smith) take drastic measures to engineer a reconciliation.

       It’s very rich-Southern-Belle, eccentric-tough-old-birds with a lot of flashbacks and tart repartees with far too many homespun philosophy and love-your-family-and-it-will-all-turn-out-OK clichés. There is a small attempt to deal with racism and the psychology of wounded parents wounding their children gets stronger as the story progresses. Maggie Smith’s Southern drawl is a delight to listen to. It has amusing moments and the drama increases. The music is good, the acting is good.

3 * of 5  (Hal gave it 4*)