Rating: 
Summary: Only Mediocre
Review: I got this movie because I am a big fan of all the actresses in it. However, it's pretty boring. Meg Ryan potrays a Eve, young woman in the middle of two sisters, tourmented by her ailing, downright abusive father. I can guess that this film was intened to show the chaotic life of a large family, and the heart- breaks the endure together, but it doesn't even do a good job with that. Humerous at times, but ultimately a "crowd- disappointer". Save your money!
Rating:
Summary: Star power the only redeeming feature, yet it's a stretch
Review: "Hanging Up" is one of those movies that looks like it was made in the hopes that it would become an instant hit. Close, but no cigar. Based on the novel by Delia Ephron, which is an overall true account of her own experiences in life, the movie never seems to reach the goals it sets, despite a terrific cast of characters that features Walter Matthau in the last performance of his acting career. It does have its moments of humor and heart, which can make up for some of the inconsistencies in the story; it just depends on how you take it in. The movie begins with Eve placing her aging father, whose mind is becoming increasingly unstable, in a nursing home for special care. As she is leaving the hospital, she becomes involved in a minor auto accident with a doctor, who tells her to call his mother in order to work out the details of getting the cars repaired. Throughout the rest of the movie, we follow Eve around as she receives numerous calls on numerous phones from her father and her two sisters. Maddy, her younger sister, is an actress on a soap opera, while Georgia, her older sister, is the editor of her own, self-titled magazine. Both of them are too caught up in their own lives, which leaves Eve to care for her father on her own. The first and most noticeable thing that stands out as a problem for the movie is the unneccessary subplots and storylines which heavily bog the story down. From the very beginning, after Eve's auto accident, she continues to try and make contact with the doctor's mother, who we only meet once. While the whole setup is supposed to lead up to a heartwarming conversation between the two, which also sets up the title's symbolism, it will become increasingly irritating listening to Eve's incessant whining about her life's problems in an attempt to soften the doctor's heart as well as his mother's. Also, the subplot of Eve's preparations for a major banquet seem to have no place in a movie such as this. This is supposed to add to the stresses of Eve's life, accompanying her worries about her father and her constant communication with both of her sisters. All of this whining and rushing around leads up to the actual event, which seems even more misplaced than the actions leading up to it. Do they really think that the banquet will make good filler in the story? "Hanging Up" also deserves a placement alongside such movies as "Hollow Man" and "Bless the "Child" for its supreme underachievement in the story. Writers Delia and Nora Ephron seemed to think that audiences would be more intrigued by watching Eve run around day and night, talking on her cell phone and trying to do ten things at once. What really would have made this movie work so much better is if they had taken out the plot machinations mentioned above and focused more on Eve's relationship with her father. We do get a couple of brief flashbacks to Eve's past with her father, some of the heartwarming, others painful, but they always leave, and we must return back to her regular life. With this technique, the emotion is given small amounts of running time to build, and is then cut back by the plot. However, the acting of this film does a good job in somewhat redeeming the film from becoming a total failure. Meg Ryan is well known for her brilliant comedic charm, and it shows extremely well in this film. She is also given a good opportunity to show a different, more emotional side, and she does excellent with the material she is given. Lisa Kudrow plays Maddy, the sister wrapped up in her television role, and she does good with the whiny, bratty character traits her role posesses. Diane Keaton takes on both sides of the camera, directing the film as well as playing the part of the eldest sister, Georgia, who is totally self-absorbed in her magazine and fame. She, like Kudrow, does a splendid job of playing this self-absorption bit to boot, while also giving us small hints of emotion behind the mask of fame. Walter Matthau is the ideal father figure for this movie, playing the part with excellence in credibility and authenticity. He is able to give us comedy and inspire emotion, walking both sides of the rope in a tricky but well-conquered position. After watching "Hanging Up," I was not fully disappointed, but not fully satisfied, either. I fell in love with Meg Ryan, but not with her character. I enjoyed watching the cast at work, but not watching the qork itself. I did feel pangs of emotion and my heartstrings being tugged at, but not enough to fully immerse myself into the film. Overall, it has good intentions for itself, but falls shorts in meeting them, focusing more on the trivial than the true heart. In a way, this is a bit of a contradiction for the movie, which wishes to convey family emotion and warmth. Sometimes I just wanted to tell Eve, "Hang up the phone already; your father needs you."
Rating: 
Summary: ONE OF THE MOST ANNOYING FILMS OF ALL TIME...
Review: and why did I spend 1 1/2 hours of my time with it? At least I waited until it was on cable! I actually waited til there was pretty much nothing on cable but this movie. I had heard the bad reviews and have read alot of bad reviews here. I am just glad to know I am not the only one out there who thinks this movie really stunk! It's about three sisters, Meg Ryan being the only non selfish one. Their father, played by Walter Matthau, is in the hospital and dying. The whole film centers around their darn cellphone conversations and self absorption. The acting in this film is horrendous, but I'd have to say that the most annoying part of this film is CELL PHONES...I would like to personally knock out the person who invited them into this story or into any existence at all for that matter. The whole film is Meg Ryan yelling at Diane Keaton and Lisa Kudrow on the cell phone, while they all are clad from head to toe in black. WEll, Meg does wear other colors but what was up with the constant black wardrobe on Kudrow and Keaton? The screenplay was awful, I don't know what happened to Nora Ephron, but after this one she should probably reconsider a new career. This film has no plot, bad acting, bad screenplay, and is just plain annoying. I could have changed the channel or shut the t.v. off, but I really thought it would get somewhat better. take some good advice and let this one collect dust on the shelf at the video store. ALL i can say is I'm glad I avoided this in the theaters and the video stores. The only thing I really wasted was my own time. AVOID THIS ONE AT ALL COSTS!!!!!! REALLY BAD!!!!! DON'T BOTHER!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Hang up on this movie!
Review: This movie has all the annoying qualities of a Woody Allen movie without any of the laughs. I bought it, I saw it, I sold it IMMEDIATELY on half.com!
Rating: 
Summary: Rings true
Review: I really enjoyed this film. I admit that it's not for everybody. It's not about happy topics, it's not a romantic comedy or a suspenseful thriller. Yet this movie touched me very deeply. While watching this movie I saw myself in Meg Ryan's character because I have a friend like Georgia who is totally self absorbed and gets bored when you talk about anything that has nothing to do with her. I also identified with the difficulty of taking care of an ill parent. I think the strengths of this movie include its dead-on characterizations of Georgia, Eve, Maddy and their father. Although their father is a curmudgeon, he was a loving father when he was young. And I think that many people's parents become cranky and hard to handle as they age. If you want to see a touching movie that rings true to real life, see this movie. Bring a hanky, you'll probably shed a tear or two.
Rating:
Summary: Lisa Kudrow, oh please! Phoebe Buffet kills this one.
Review: This film may have had a fighting chance given the enormous talent behind it. From a strong stable of actors to a top notch crew with regard to writing and production. The casting director was the lone assasin when they decide to plop Lisa Kudrow in the midst of actual actors. Kudrow's performance was so bad that she ends up on the editing room floor for major segments of the film, but sadly, not often enough. I believe the film's writers may have even snuck a cryptic apology to the audience when in one scene they actually have Kudrow's character complain, "Nobody takes me seriously as an actress!" This film certainly could have soared higher without the Phoebe Buffet stinking the place up. Kudrow may be passable on "Friends", but certainly cannot perform with any more depth than we've already seen on sitcom TV. She's bloody awful.
Rating:
Summary: It wasn't as bad as some you critics said it was!
Review: When it first came out on screen, I didn't have an interest in seeing it. But when HBO showed it, I saw the first part of it and actually found myself immersed into the movie. The middle sister is left with the care of her ailing father while her older sister is building her publishing empire and her younger sister is chasing after stardom on the soaps. Although the father has his share of problems with depression and alcoholism, he was a provider for his three daughters when his wife left the family. Speaking of her, she showed no compassion for Evie when she came over to visit her. She let her know that she didn't want to be a housewife and mother. Just because you chose to make a life of your own doesn't mean you can't be emotionally available for them. This movie shows how important family is. Although we have our own lives, family will always be there.
Rating: 
Summary: wildly uneven comedy/drama
Review: The late Walter Matthau ended his long and illustrious career as a film actor in "Hanging Up," playing, appropriately, the dying father of three adult daughters. I wish I could say that the vehicle he chose as his eventual swan song were one truly worthy of his enormous skill and talent. Unfortunately - or rather fortunately - however, this will not be the film for which he is most remembered. Like so many films, "Hanging Up" starts off with the most noble of intentions. Writer Delia Ephron and director Diane Keaton have attempted to come to terms with the most complex issue facing the aging baby boomer generation: how does one cope with ailing, aging and dying parents while trying to keep a grip on one's own hectic life and personal commitments? And, to make matters more complicated, how does one expend the physical and emotional energy needed for such a task when the parent himself is often irascible, crusty and even downright unlikable in his behavior and nature? And, finally, how does a wounded child ultimately find it in his or her heart to forgive the parent and arrive at that moment of reconciliation so crucial when death finally comes? When "Hanging Up" focuses on this theme, it achieves moments of point and relevance. All of us can identify with the main character, Eve (Meg Ryan), a sweet, warmhearted young woman who, alone of the three daughters, has unflaggingly dedicated herself to the care of a father who, more often than not, strikes out at her in unappreciative scorn and anger. Wearied and harassed by the enormous burdens of her hectic life and her own inability to say "no" to the people who demand so much from her, Eve emerges as a truly winning and believable character. Unfortunately, her two sisters, Georgia (Diane Keaton), a magazine magnate, and Maddy (Lisa Kudrow), a soap opera actress, come across as shallow, two-dimensional characters whose self-absorption and seeming indifference are (ho hum) really masks for the insecurity and hurt hidden deep beneath their composed surfaces. Somehow, however, for all its attempts to deal with a truly universal theme, "Hanging Up" never seems quite real in its look and demeanor - it always feels like a movie. Maybe it is the overall slickness of the approach that undermines the seriousness of the drama. The actresses, good though they are, seem somehow too glamorous, their careers too unrepresentative of most of the people in the audience. Another problem is that the film can never seem to settle on an appropriate tone. One moment we find ourselves steeped in searing drama followed the next by a scene of trivial slapstick. Time and again, Ryan is forced to trip over a discarded toy, tangle with an overgrown mutt or bang away at an uncooperative coffee dispenser. Such incidents end up reducing the level of the drama to little more than sitcom status. "Hanging Up" has, however, been blessed with a wonderful cast. Ryan, Keaton, Kudrow and Matthau pore on the charm and play off each other nicely. (And the film has some devilish fun playing up the physical similarities between Matthau and Richard Nixon). These fine performers obviously had a terrific time making the film together. That is why one regrets the fact, that for all their hard work, the film they left behind is so lacking in credibility and grit. At the end of his career and life, Matthau deserved better.
Rating:
Summary: Not great, but not horrible
Review: It seems like I'm the only one who is willing to see the positive and negative effects of this movie, unlike some others who completely butchered it, unwilling to spot some of the good parts. And you all have to admit there are several good parts. If you want to talk bad movies with no plots, see "There's Something About Mary" and "Go". The plot does seem aimless; yet it is put in focus at the ending of the film. I think what went wrong was the oldest sister, Georgia, (played by Diane Keaton, and the one of the two actors that made this film successful-the other one is Walter Matthau) contacting Eve, played by Meg Ryan, only through cell phones. And Maddy, played by Lisa Kudrow, being on-and-off throughout the movie. It all seemed too general and had no concrete point. But it is saved when Georgia arrives. From there, the movie's focus becomes clear. The catfight, the making up of Georgia and Eve, and the scene when the father dies, not to mention the opening credits-photographs of each main actor, adds much-needed flavor. The effect is intensified with Eve's flashbacks, soundtrack, and the warm, country tones in Eve's house, along with the three sisters. This movie really made a last-minute save, so I won't declare it a turkey. I consider myself an effective movie critic. Hell, I'm a teenager, and most teens my age consider "There's Something About Mary" and "Go" a must-see. That this movie has an esoteric concept can be clearly seen, and you have to analyze it again to ferret out the good points. This movie has to be seen with open minds, and people have to be willing to search for the subtle but important parts.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: This was probably on e of the worst movies I've seen in a long while. You'd think with the great cast (which was the only thing that got me to the end) it might have a chance, but no, it was just anoying. Too bad.
|
