Rating: 
Summary: Great for ALL Friends - Mother/Daughter or BF/BF
Review: I just got home from seeing this moving with my 2 best friends. We chose this movie as our "girls night out" movie because one of them is moving to Germany in a week. Maybe the story is classic crazy relationship stuff, but from someone who probably won't see one of her "Ya-Ya's" for at least 3 years, I realize more than ever the need for truth, love, friendship, craziness, and a little Ya-Ya. (just don't forget the tissue when you go)
Rating: 
Summary: I cried...
Review: I cried when this movie was over with.Not for the reasons you think. "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" and "Little Altars Everywhere" are two of my all-time favorite books. I went to see the movie praying that it would live up to the books. My prayers were not answered. The movie made a mockery out of the strong, beautiful, amazing women in this story. The screenwriter and director went for big laughs rather than a big heart. I understand why things are often changed from the book to the movie--I don't have a problem with situations being changed as long as the heart and meaning of the novel stay the same. The only redeeming qualities in this movie were the flashbacks to Vivi's childhood/teen years, Caro (the amazing Maggie Smith), and Teensy. What should have been a story about the complicated, wonderful, frightening relationships between mothers and daughters and women in general has become a laugh-track to obvious humour. Why? Why? I cried. I still get angry when I think about it. The Ya-Ya's are wonderful--this movie is not. I would not recommend this movie to anyone. Save your money--rent "Where the Heart Is--" a book to movie transition that survived and flourished under the hollywood lights. By the soundtrack to "Devine Secrets," read the books, join the on-line posting area that on Rebecca Wells' site. Avoid the movie like the plague.
Rating: 
Summary: The Sisters Don't Connect
Review: The cinematography is beautiful. The acting is mostly superlative. The period clothes are impeccable. But it just doesn't work. The emphasis of the story has been moved from the YaYas to daughter SiddaLee. (I well understand that if you hire Sandra Bullock as Sidda, you'd best be thinking of more than an occasional narrator.) This is the story of a spirited, deeply flawed woman and her painful, oftentimes hilarious relationship with her husband, friends and most of all, her very vulnerable grown daughter. The setting is small town Louisiana and the Deep South flavor is almost palpable. I believe I am as willing to suspend belief as the next moviegoer, but I will admit I was sorely tried. The leap that must be taken to be convinced that Ashley Judd ages into Ellen Berstyn is too much for me. Not only is there no physical resemblance between the two, their acting, gestures and styles are poles apart. Both Judd and Berstyn turned in good performances, but not of the same woman. The same goes for young Sidda, Alison Bertolino and Sandra Bullock. This little girl could never turn into Sandra Bullock! The trio who carried off southern accents was James Garner and Ashley Judd, who were born to it, and very British Maggie Smith, who emphatically was not. The rest needed serious coaching. The supporting roles of husband Shep (James Garner), and the three other YaYas, Maggie Smith, Shirley Knight and Fionula Flanagan seriously needed expansion and explanations which were not given. Less time given to the present, and more to the past would make the lives and characters more explicable. The book had a connectedness, intensity and wild hilarity that I missed in the film. The upside of strong acting and gorgeous photography make the YaYa Sisterhood, if not "Divine," at least a pleasant outing.
Rating:
Summary: WOW! What a Great Movie!
Review: It's been a long time since a movie of this intensity and warmth has been released. We laughed, we cried, we laughed some more. Great story line, wonderful acting, particularly by Ashley Judd and Sandra Bullock. I will see this in the theater again and buy it when it is released on DVD. What a great experience. Compare it to Fried Green Tomatoes or Steel Magnolias. I would say this is probably more of a "girl" movie - there's no blood and guts. Wonderful.
Rating: 
Summary: Seen it all before!
Review: This is the kind of film you go to because you want to have a feel good movie watching experience. Unfortunately after about 20 minutes you'll be checking your watch to see how much time is left. The secrets revealed in Ya-Ya are nothing new, in fact they are not even interesting. Sandra Bullock plays a successful working woman who complains just a little to much about her mother who lives hundreds of miles away. Sandra thinks her mother is crazy, but in a funny and goodnatured way, little does she know that the secret the movie is all about is that her mother IS really crazy. Ya-Ya is a lot of talk and no substance, you feel nothing for any of the characters, except for maybe poor James Garner for being trapped in a movie his character is not needed in and appears not even to be wanted in. My advice to is to go rent 'Fried Green Tomatoes' and see a better movie, and save yourself a buck.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story with Great Actresses
Review: The movie and the book are different but I don't care because they're both good. The movie is about a group of women who have been friends since childhood and who come together to help heal a rift that has developed between one of their circle and her eldest daughter, Sidda, who is about to be married but is having second thoughts because of some old family skeletons in her closet which are causing her a lot of self-doubt. The mother, Vivi, is furious because her now famous daughter has alluded to some less than flattering things about her childhood in a national magazine. The Ya-Yas decide that enough is enough and they pull out the big thick scrapbook containing the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to help clear the air. They hope Sidda will better understand her mother and maybe Vivi will better understand herself if they let Sidda in on some of the very private and hidden secrets of her own childhood that no one has ever really talked truthfully about before. Through flashbacks we come to know the principal characters and we share their growing and changing and the tragedies and triumphs and simple things that make up their intertwined lives. I absolutely loved the movie and I was sorry when it was over. I was very moved by the unconditional love of the circle of female friends that have hung together ever since childhood, through thick and thin. I laughed and cried with them because of the genuine way they were portrayed. I loved the character of Vivi played by Ellen Burstyn and Ashley Judd, so filled with emotion and conflict over not living out one's dreams. Every actor or actress in this film did a great job but Sandra Bullock's Sidda was not as deep as I think it could have been. The other female characters were so sizzling with life that Sidda came off as rather flat. The theme of not being able to forgive oneself was illustrated so movingly and with such satisflying depth that it gave food for thought long after the credits rolled. The childish origins of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood are shown in such captivating and stylish fun and it is easy to see how the magical bonds of friendship could keep sustaining these women for their whole lives. The almost pagan Catholicism practiced by these Louisiana belles gave a wonderful flavor to the whole film. I loved the bits of French sprinkled throughout the conversations. I loved the eccentric and comical deeds and misdeeds of the Ya-Yas. The movie spoke to me about the power and the endurance of women and the glory of committed friendship and its bonds. I found it inspiring, sad, comic, filled with life and love. I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: What happened?
Review: Loved the book, and the movie was okay once I got used to the changes...First of all what happaned to Vivvie's boarding school days, which in my opinion were very important to building her personality...and then Sidalee's wedding? Disappointed by the omission of the two paramount portions of the book...
Rating:
Summary: "YA-YA" IS NOT JUST A CHICK FLICK
Review: It has been a long time since I have seen a movie with heart, soul and a "laugh line". I found myself laughing heartly every so often.
When I went to see it, the theater was packed; and not just with women.
Sandra Bullock shines as the daughter of a slightly wacked out mom who founded the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood".
Finnola Flannagan (sp-sorry) was fantastic. She was the hard nosed, no nonsense type with a attitude. I loved the "road rage" scene between her and Ellen B.
Dame Maggie Smith has always made me laugh. This movie was no different. Great doesn't come close to describing her performance. She was convincing as the aling yet tough as nails southern belle. She had a better time with the southern accent than Finnola. My favorite scene with her was the phone call from Ellen. BIG KISS.
Angus McFadyen was good. He was even tempered and was sympathetic to both mother and daughter. I liked him better with the full beard from Braveheart.
James Garner is a great actor, but his part could have been better, stronger or deleted.
I highly recommend this movie to any Sandra Bullock lover, comedy lover or movie lover. This is one great movie to see over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: a funny, multi-dimensional movie
Review: I loved the movie. I thought Sandra Bullock
was perfectly cast as was Ashley Judd.I loved
the first part of the movie with Ellen Burstyn
but I didn't like her performance towards the end of the film
which I thought she should have been more serious.
Well, this definitly is a chick flick. However the
audience was laughing through the whole movie.I loved
it.
Rating:
Summary: Touching film with a healthy dose of comedy...
Review: Much to my chagrin when I walked into the theater, I was one of only a handful of males in the audience. I suppose this film is aimed at primarily older women. After watching the film though, I found it touching and insightful. The primary conflict is generated when Sidda (Bullock), a successful playwright, has an interview by Time magazine which gets published and sounds harsher than it really should. Sidda talks about her difficult (and traumatic) childhood growing up with Vivi (Burstyn). Naturally Vivi reads this article and is deeply hurt/offended ("you ungrateful...") That's where this adventure begins with a series of flashbacks dating back to when Vivi was head priestess for her secret sisterhood of gal pals. Definitely a chick flick. But, hey, I'm a guy and I enjoyed it because of the funny storyline and good acting. But what really gnawed at my heart was the thought of having to live a life wondering what one did wrong. In the case of Sidda, she blames herself for having such a horrible/painful childhood. Little does she know that she's not to blame. Growing up in a single parent family, sometimes I wonder if I was the cause of any of it. Was there anything I could've changed to make things better? I'm old enough now to understand that it was a mutual decision that no one could've affected the outcome of. Though this film has been dubbed a drama, it certainly has its light comedic moments as well. If you're old enough to remember The Golden Girls on TV (and perhaps even found the show funny), then you'll probably enjoy this film as well LEAP rating (each out of 5):
============================
L (Language) - 3 (cute)
E (Erotica) - 0 (n/a)
A (Action) - 0 (n/a)
P (Plot) - 3.5 (What's the source of all the pent up anger? Why do tempers keep flaring? Watch and all will be revealed.)
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