Rating: PG13
Genre:
Comedy Drama
Theatrical Release: 06/07/2002(USA)
Release Date: 11/05/2002
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 116 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
Screenwriter
Callie Khouri makes her directorial debut with this adaptation of a pair of popular novels by author
Rebecca Wells,
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and
Little Altars Everywhere.
Sandra Bullock stars as
Sidda Lee Walker, a New York playwright who opens a can of emotional worms with her estranged, boozy mother,
Vivi (
Ellen Burstyn), when she discusses her painful childhood and particularly
Vivi's less-than-enviable mothering skills in a
Time magazine article. The eccentric Louisiana drama queen
Vivi has already been barred from her daughter's oft-delayed wedding to her fiancé,
Connor (
Angus Macfadyen), so the article sends her into a rage. Coming to the rescue of the relationship are
Necie (
Shirley Knight),
Caro (
Maggie Smith), and
Teensy (
Fionnula Flanagan), a trio of bickering women, who, along with
Vivi, formed a secret society of feminist empowerment and friendship 60 years earlier that they dubbed the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood." The Ya-Yas kidnap
Sidda and bring her home to Louisiana, where they reveal to
Sidda via a carefully maintained scrapbook her mother's painful past (with
Vivi portrayed in flashback by
Ashley Judd), effecting a rapprochement between mother and daughter.
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood also stars
James Garner.
~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide