Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood Movie Review:


Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a film adapted from Rebecca Wells’ acclaimed novel that doesn’t connect on all cylinders. There are moments in the film that are nearly striking, but those few moments cannot hold the whole piece together.

The story opens with four young girls accepting goofy names, goofy hats, and trading blood to become the Ya-Ya sisterhood. The film then flashes forward to when the four young friends are in their sixties living in the southern hospitality of Louisiana. There is Caro (Smith), who calls everyone “pal” and has to carry around oxygen everywhere she goes. Next, there is Teensy (Flanagan), who has become crazier since she stopped drinking and drives extremely fast. Necie (Knight) is the innocent and nice one of the group, and Vivi (Burstyn) who is a loud mouthed alcoholic that also serves as the story’s central character. The four women have been through life’s hardest and happiest times together, which make them the best of friends, but they also constantly disagree with one another. The drama starts when Vivi’s daughter, Sidda (Bullock), who is a famous playwright in New York, tells a Time magazine writer that she had a troubled childhood, mostly because of her mother. Vivi is outraged, leading her and Sidda to having continuous fights which eventually leads to each ignoring one another. The other three Ya-Ya sisters decide to go on a mission, in which they go to New York, kidnap Sidda and bring her back to Louisiana to supposedly reveal the secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood, which would lead her to forgiving her mother. The film then jumps in and out of past flashbacks of a young Vivi (Judd) and the other characters to tell the secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood.

I have not read the best-selling novel by Rebecca Wells, but I sense that this attempt at her novel was not that good of a film adaptation. There are just so many holes in the script from Mark Andrus and director Callie Khouri. First time director Khouri also seemed lost as to what she wanted to say as a director. Film adaptations of novels most of the time cannot fit everything into the film, or the attempt angers the fans of the novel (we got lucky last year with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001). Outside of Vivi and her daughter Sidda, there was a lack of depth to the rest of the characters of the film. Most of the characters have brief moments, but some are just there to be there. An example is Shirley Knight’s unknowable character Necie. Maybe it was just the actress Fionnula Flanagan’s performance, but I wanted to get to know her character of Teensy the most of all. Her secrets are never revealed, like why she stopped drinking. Some of the obvious problems with the adaptation are the placement of the flashbacks and storyline gaps. A poking example is that Vivi has other children besides Sidda, but they are only seen or mentioned in the flashbacks. Where did they go in present time? The script for this film had some briefly strong moments, but overall it was flawed.

I mentioned before that director Callie Khouri was inconsistent in what she wanted. However, there are a few scenes in the film that’s electricity kind of won me over. An example is during a flashback of the young Vivi; she becomes angered at her husband and throws a hot skillet and drink glass in the sink. I don’t want to say anymore to spoil the scene, because it is the best overall moment in the film. The story is a lot darker than some might expect, and Khouri does tame some moments that are very disturbing. The flashbacks, like in most films that contain more than five of them, become old quickly. However, the flashbacks are very critical to the story.

The acting cast is comprised of veteran actresses and two young superstars. Ellen Burstyn plays Vivi in her sixties and Ashley Judd plays the character in her thirties. Both actresses are very talented and deliver stellar performances. The great Maggie Smith is wonderful as Caro and Sandra Bullock captures the same emotional depth that she had in Hope Floats (1998) as Sidda. The bright spot of the cast for me was Fionnula Flanagan’s hidden sparkle of a performance as Teensy. I liked her so much, that I was just dying to see more of her in the film. Flanagan just captures the role of Teensy with precision and patience, I even loved the way she smacked her gum. Flanagan should have received an Oscar nomination last year for her mysterious role as the housekeeper in The Others (2001).

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood has many problems and shortcomings. However, a few powerful scenes and a very good cast of actors help the outcome, but don’t save the film.

Report Card Grade: C

07/05/02

Beastman’s Movie Reviews

Copyright, 2002 Joseph C. Tucker

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