Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

whyhi2 Spoiler alert. I just re-watched this and I'm wondering if I missed something? Was the big "secret" that mama had a breakdown and beat the kids that one time ? Is that supposed to be the big "trauma"? Yes it's terrible but some kids got that on a regular basis not just one time. Then mama goes away and comes back and it's all sunny again? Then what's soda holding a grudge for? Is there more to it in the book?

IamConnieZ Great cast. Have always loved Ellen Burstyn and Sandra Bullock. James Garner plays the father who stands there and sighs. Ashley Judd is her usual wonder self as the younger version of the mother. The mother's friends are played by Shirley Knight (wonderful), Fionnula Flanagan (wonderful), and Maggie Smith. Usually if Maggie Smith is in a movie, I love it. Not this one. She was terrific, but the movie was not. If you liked "August, Osage County" you will love this. I don't happen to care for movies where the mother is overbearing and yells at everyone. Lets not say "yells," lets say "SCREAMS." Oh, and then in the end they all realize that they love each other and miss read all the tension and abuse. How glorious!

eric262003 I plead guilty that I did not read the book, but I received the DVD from a loyal IMDb.com reader who's a loyal fan of fine and she asked me to review. Sherequested to me to watch "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood"and to give a review about it because she really enjoyed this movie tremendously. I never had the chance to see it in the theaters because; my friends thought it just another chick flick that I would not understand. I came into watching this movie with an open mind and hoped that my friend was no putting me on. Well it turns out that this movie is anything but a chick flick, but a movie which has a predominately female cast and in spite of the rather goofy, bizarre title, it reflects on real issues that anyone can relate to including the pain and heartbreak of a young woman (Sandra Bullock) and her estranged relationship with her mother (Ellen Burstyn). There are a lot of good thing going for "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood". For one thing the musical score matches nicely to the atmosphere that's created in the movie. Sandra Bullock was excellent in her role as a successful playwright, Sidda Lee who wrote a play inspired by her painful childhood of abuse and neglect. Ashley Judd's performance was also quite effective in the flashbacks of when young Vivi Abbott as we try to understand the troubled life she has lived in hope that Sidda and her mother Vivi could finally put their hostilities to rest. The flashbacks displayed here are really effective in terms of storytelling as we can piece together the wedge that has kept Sidda and Vivi apart for many years. The flashbacks feel as though Vivi is watching herself as a young lady and the progression in life as she ages through the years and Judd pulls it off quite brilliantly. People who think these characters are superficial and caricatured must be insane. There are people out there like the characters depicted and director Callie Khouri succeeds in making it stay real. The Ya-Ya's all had different character traits and that's good because everyone's different and they also succeed in playing off each other's lines splendidly and never betrayed each other as they stayed friends over the years. A mother/daughter relationship is special and can be complex at the same time. It's good to watch this movie with your mothers as it boosts the pleasure of watching this movie. The plot emphasizes on just how little we know our mother's in terms of their past and psyche and all the hidden secrets that comes along with it. Through every generation, no one can fully understand one from another as hostility materializes within each group. Through life-long friendships, they are able to reveal secrets and repair damages through time. It's quite inspiring to have friends like this.Now unlike a lot of male characters in a predominately female cast, the male characters in this movie are also quite sympathetic and seem to understand the female's needs and wants. James Garner's Shep Walker was nicely casted as Vivi's husband and his love for her in flashbacks and the present are quite obvious. Even through the good times and the rough patches, a man's undying love for his wife also someone who deserves our praise. Sidda also has a man in her life like that named Connor (Angus MacFayden) and was willing to be with the sisterhood and to help bury the wedge between the mother and daughter. It's a rare trait that a lot of men don't possess, thus Connor is a character one does not see every day. It's a life fact that men and women are different from each other, which is not entirely bad. This movie gladly cherishes those traits and looks upon the difficulties the women face and the many good traits as well. This is a very remarkable film that stands in a class of its own and requires a bit of learning from it as well. Not a perfect film, but stays real and never once does it feel fake.

wild-cherry-1 Hello everybody,I saw the film yesterday, it's a moving story anyway.I live in in Central Europe and I was wondering why Vivi, who was extremely well-off (large detached house with many rooms, 2 bathrooms, she had an own car and didn't have to work as a wife & mother), was not able to appreciate, to treasure all (including people) she had? Where I live, average people live in small apartments (mortgage loan) with 2 or 3 rooms in a tenement house, mothers have to work full time (or overtime...) even if they'd rather stay st home with the children, a lot of families don't even have a car cause they can't afford it. But rich people here aren't that rich like Vivi's family and her social environment!Elderly women can't afford hairdresser, cosmetics, beautiful clothes, etc. regularly either. And alcoholics (drug abusers) are usually underclass here 'cause drinking costs a lot of money, too. :P So they lose their jobs, apartments, cars, health and family members (divorce, isolation) and have a high risk to be homeless.By the way, Vivi didn't have to fight for anything! To make a little effort... That was one of her problem, one of the reasons, I think!Even love came easily to her. (But it flew away...) Though I know - or I suppose - her unhappiness came from the lack of real love (in a sexual meaning) to her husband. She only liked him but not loved. Big difference! That's why she couldn't find the way tho their children's hearts either: they were not the fruits of a relationship based on true love, their faces were no mirrors of the beloved man. So I think that you can be any rich or any poor, you might live in a developed country or in the second (third) world, doesn't really matter. Only love, honesty and harmony in the family counts.Other conclusion: Don't go for the second best! Don't lie love to any man - and to yourself!