SPOILERS Poorly handled flashbacks, with dubious casting of different aged versions of same character. Comedy? Huh?! Nothing funny about child abuse - even if there is some sympathy for the mother. Nothing very funny about madness either - or spoilt southern women, or a husband who has remained with his wife despite having to sleep in a separate room for the last 30 years. A positive riot.

As others have noted, you keep expecting some kind of revelation at the end. But it never materialises, and you are left feeling somewhat short changed. (For a similar but much worse experience see 'The Ninth Gate'). I thought at the least that the boy lost in the war would turn up at some point to explain the mother's mental episode.

There is no explanation for the mumbojumbo behind the Ya-Ya of the title, and certainly no reasonable explanation why four child hood friends should after 50 years remain livng in close enough proximity to be able to go driving every where together. And are we also expected to believe that a boyfriend of some 7 years has yet to meet the parents? Yeah, right.

Maggie Smith can act - but sadly a Southern accent is for her 'a talent too far'. The Oxygen mask I can only assume was a device designed to explain or hide her lapses into English.

In general - a disappointment.

Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a chick flick, for sure. I didn't like it much, but I think that's because I'm a man. Women I know who have seen this movie liked it a little more that I did (my mom, for example). On the other hand, I also know women who didn't like this film. Now I'll talk about the film itself.

Ellen Burstyn stars as Vivi Walker, mother of magazine article writer Sidda Walker (Sandra Bullock). Sidda writes an article how she didn't like her childhood and blames her mother. Vivi reads the article, and refuses to speak to her daughter. Vivi's three friends Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), Necie (Shirley Knight), and Caro (Maggie Smith) notice that she isn't acting like herself and when they found out what happened, they beg Sidda to come down and make peace with her mother. Upon her arrival, the three friends reveal to Sidda about the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, a life long band formed by the three friends and Vivi when they were children. They promised that they would be blood sisters or something like that, I don't remember very well. Along with this story, we flash back to Sidda when she was a child and see her relationship with her mother (played in these scenes by Ashley Judd). James Garner costars as Vivi's husband, but he's a very small part of the movie.

I liked some of the acting, particularly Maggie Smith and Sandra Bullock, and the film tells a story worth telling, but some problems drag it down. First, during the flashback scenes, I noticed that Sidda had a few brothers and sisters. However, in the present scenes, they're no where to be found. I admit that the movie is mainly about the relationship of Vivi and Sidda, but considering what happens in the flashback scenes (which I won't reveal), It would have been more plausible if we found out about the siblings now that they've grown up. Also, for me, the movie went on too long. The film is two hours long, but it feels more like it's four hours. Lastly, I thought that the Ellen Burstyn character was kind of a disappointment. Burstyn was much better and more convincing in Requiem For A Dream (2000), which she got a Best Actress nomination for.

So, I didn't hate this movie, but it didn't work for me. I think I didn't like it because I'm a man. I have nothing against "chick flicks". I think that some overcome the "only women will enjoy it" thinking such as Emma (1996), Kate And Leopold (2001), The Evening Star (1996), and arguably the best example, Gone With The Wind (1939). Ya-Ya doesn't cross that line. I know that women will enjoy it much more than men. I'm thinking some men would compare viewing this movie to medieval torture. Even though I didn't like it, I didn't think about it like that. To prove my point, I'm going to quote a couple I saw in the video store, trying to pick a movie out. The woman saw Ya-Ya on the shelf.

Woman: Oh, look. Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I wanted to see that.

Man: You can see that one by yourself, I'm not going to see it.

I at least was willing to see this film. Women will most likely enjoy it, most men probably won't, but I could be wrong.

2 Stars out of 4 Stars

A chick flick for chicks of all ages, "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" tells of four Louisiana ladies who establish their secret Ya-Ya sisterhood, bound by blood and oath and honor, at a young age and who remain friends over the years providing each other with friendship and support. The film's thin storyline is about one such "sister" (Burstyn/Judd) who has issues with her adult daughter (Bullock) and her sister Ya-Ya's who come to her rescue much to her dismay. What ensues is a warmly funny kind of jambalaya which makes up for its gaping plotholes with personality, charm, and rambunciousness as it stumbles through it story finally arriving gasping and wheezing at its feel good conclusion. Gagging material for grinches, most will find the "Ya-Yas" are just too damned much fun not to like on some level. (B)