Volume 2, No. 28 June 14, 2002
‘Ya-Ya’ is a no-no A Review By Kim Herrington Generally, three elements of cinema comprise a successful movie: screenplay, casting and directing. "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" fails at all three. I did not read the best-selling book of the same name and so I can’t compare the book to the movie. But I bet this movie does not do justice to the book. For instance, director Callie Khouri uses flashbacks to reveal the movie’s plot. The movie starts with a group of young girls, the Ya-Yas, making a friendship pact. Instantly, we are thrust into a scene with Sidda Lee (Sandra Bullock) being interviewed by Time magazine. Her interview suggests that she had a traumatic childhood because of her mother Vivi’s (Ellen Burstyn) emotional instability. Ultimately, the two begin a petty cross-country fight. Vivi calls her friends, the Ya-Yas to comfort her, and they decide to take control of the situation. The Ya-Yas fly Sidda home to face off with her mother but not before she reviews a photo album labeled "Divine Secrets." "Divine Secrets" holds trifles saved from certain events in Vivi’s life that affected Sidda’s childhood. From here the flashbacks are inserted when Sidda asks questions about photos in the album or whenever anyone in the movie feels the need to reflect on the past. The flashbacks drove me nuts because there were too many. Also, the film had too many lead roles. Screenwriters Mark Andrus, Callie Khouri and Rebecca Wells tried to include all of the book’s characters in the screenplay. Throughout the movie, references were made to traumatic events in Vivi’s life that somewhat involved the Ya-Yas. Andrus, Khouri and Wells could have afforded to edit out the Ya-Yas. In addition, their performances were overacted: Fionnula Flanagan (Teensy), Shirley Knight (Necie) and Maggie Smith (Caro) desperately vied for the spotlight. Ashley Judd portrayed a younger Vivi, and she was the only character that commanded the camera with her graceful style of acting. If anything, Judd’s role should have been developed to reveal the character’s personal struggle. This movie could have been the next "Fried Green Tomatoes," "Steel Magnolias" or "Waiting to Exhale" if Khouri had taken an explorative look at camaraderie among the women. Somehow this was missed in the production of the movie.
Home | Accolades | What’s the Buzz | Art and About | The Reel Deal Book Marks | On the Safe Side | The Bee Line | Classifieds | Contact the Chronicle | Chronicle Archives