1) a grab-ya-by-the-heart premise (see "The Way We Were")
2) a script free of insulting stereotypes (see "Out of Africa")
and, most importantly...
3) characters you sympathize with, even when you want to throttle them (see "Terms of Endearment")
Instead, what we get is a movie about a vain, self-absorbed windbag and her Kentucky-fried, bourbon-drenched pals whose loyalty to the aforementioned, inexplicably, know no bounds. Vivi and her fellow Ya-Yas didn't earn my laughs, empathy or admiration (essential for a Chick Flick). I just wanted to bitch-slap the whole lot of 'em!
The lip service it pays to race relations and its failure to explore Vivi's relationships with her other children (and the Ya-Yas' relationships with their spouses/children) was galling enough. But what really sent me over the edge was the big "secret" that was supposed to explain Vivi to Sidalee. Not to give it away, but it doesn't explain A THING -- at least, not to those of us who were stupid enough not to check our brains at the door. Wouldn't have Sidalee known "that" already? Shep's excuse - that Vivi made him promise not to tell - not only does not fly, it's sloppy, insult-our-intelligence writing.
There was a movie about parent/child relationships screaming to get out here. But like "Ice Age," it wimps out when it's time to put up or shut up. And THIS from the writer of "Thelma & Louise." How sad.
2) a script free of insulting stereotypes (see "Out of Africa")
and, most importantly...
3) characters you sympathize with, even when you want to throttle them (see "Terms of Endearment")
Instead, what we get is a movie about a vain, self-absorbed windbag and her Kentucky-fried, bourbon-drenched pals whose loyalty to the aforementioned, inexplicably, know no bounds. Vivi and her fellow Ya-Yas didn't earn my laughs, empathy or admiration (essential for a Chick Flick). I just wanted to bitch-slap the whole lot of 'em!
The lip service it pays to race relations and its failure to explore Vivi's relationships with her other children (and the Ya-Yas' relationships with their spouses/children) was galling enough. But what really sent me over the edge was the big "secret" that was supposed to explain Vivi to Sidalee. Not to give it away, but it doesn't explain A THING -- at least, not to those of us who were stupid enough not to check our brains at the door. Wouldn't have Sidalee known "that" already? Shep's excuse - that Vivi made him promise not to tell - not only does not fly, it's sloppy, insult-our-intelligence writing.
There was a movie about parent/child relationships screaming to get out here. But like "Ice Age," it wimps out when it's time to put up or shut up. And THIS from the writer of "Thelma & Louise." How sad.