DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD
"'Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood' offers the pleasantly groggy
sensation of sinking under a down quilt and being fussed over by a
group of garrulous, high-strung women...Perhaps not since 'Steel Magnolias'
has Hollywood turned out a movie so resolutely for and about women...This
big, blowzy movie, which opens today nationwide, is more concerned
with sustaining a mood of cute chin-up sentimentality than with connecting
its dramatic dots...For all its failed connections, 'Divine Secrets
of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood' is nurturing, in a gauzy, dithering way.
--Stephen Holden, The New York Times
"I feel for poor James Garner, who hovers around the background of
'Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood' like a eunuch in a harem.
It's not because the men are portrayed so badly in this Dixiefied
tale of estrogen empowerment--believe me, the women fare much worse--
but because he looks so darned embarrassed to have been cast in screenwriter
Callie Khouri's directorial debut. And I can't say that I blame him."
--Michael O'Sullivan, The Washington Post
"...this sprawling female ensemble movie gets beyond its horribly
treacly title to offer a lush bouquet of humor and feel-good sniffles...The
impressive cast tackles an abundance of showy, steel-magnolia roles.
Sandra Bullock is the nominal heroine...But it is really Ellen Burstyn's
movie...'Ya-Ya Sisterhood is so divine. It offers a world where friendship
is forever, the half-empty glass is refilled and the men are perfect."
--Jami Bernard, The New York Daily News
"... an old-fashioned (as in mid-'90s) wallow in lite Southern Gothic
dysfunctionalism...As earnest and smart-alecky as an entire season
of 'Designing Women,' 'Ya-Ya' is sure to score with its redemptive
family melodramatics and stock eccentric characterizations... the
milieu is wholly unconvincing (poverty and racism are acknowledged
only insofar as they're surmounted by a food fight) and the histrionics
reach a truly annoying pitch." --Mark Holcomb, The Village Voice
"... a fine cast of powerhouse pros turns a powder-puff script into
a series of personal triumphs that are just next-door to unforgettable.
They hit the ground running and leave the audience breathless...Sandra
Bullock rarely gets the chance to prove she can act, but she gives
skeptics plenty of tough jerky to chew on...a dazzling turn by the
beautiful and ageless Ellen Burstyn... Callie Khouri is a woman's
director who knows how to take mundane subject matter and give it
a unique feel, a look all its own." --Rex Reed, The New York Observer
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