Product Description

New York playwright Sidda Lee Walker is a long way from her Louisiana hometown, but an even greater emotional distance separates her from her mother Vivi. The Ya-Yas - sworn lifelong friends of Vivi - stage an unorthodox "intervention" to bring daughter and mother together in this warm, winning adaptation of Rebecca Well's bestsellers, written for the screen and directed by Thelma & Louise Academy Award winner Callie Khouri.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5210 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2002-11-05
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 116 minutes

Amazon.com
Grab your tissues and send the guys away, because Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is the most pedigreed chick flick since Steel Magnolias. You can tell by the title and the novelish names of the Louisiana ladies from Rebecca Wells's precious bestseller. First there's Sidda (Sandra Bullock), a successful playwright still wrestling with her manipulative mother, Vivi (Ellen Burstyn), after a traumatic upbringing. Then there's longtime friends Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), Necie (Shirley Knight), and Caro (scene-stealer Maggie Smith), from Vivi's secret club of "Ya-Ya Priestesses," together since childhood and determined to heal the rift between Sidda and her mom. Through an ambitious flashback structure (including Ashley Judd as the younger Vivi), screenwriter and first-time director Callie Khouri (who wrote Thelma & Louise) establishes a rich context for this mother-daughter reunion. There's plenty of humor to temper the drama, which inspires Bullock's best work in years. Definitely worth a look for the curious, but only fans of Wells's fiction will feel any twinge of loyalty. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Wise, Witty, and Wonderful!
After all the hype and comparisons to 'Steel Magnolias', 'Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood', sadly, did not do much box office, which was a shame, as it is a more intimate, realistic vision of women and life-long friendships than the glossier 'Magnolias'.

Four girl friends in Louisiana create a secret sisterhood in 1937, swearing eternal devotion to each other, and they remain best friends through all the triumphs and tragedies in their lives. When the daughter of one of them (Sandra Bullock), a successful playright, has an interview with Time magazine in which she blasts her mother's impact on her life, the mother (Ellen Burstyn, who is superb!) goes ballistic, cutting the daughter out of her life, totally. Into this maelstrom charges the other members of the Sisterhood, kidnapping Bullock, and attempting to make things right!

The film then jumps back and forth in time, with Ashley Judd (who gives an Oscar-worthy performance) playing the younger Burstyn. She has a lot of happy adventures with her Ya-Ya sisters, but also has to deal with racism, a jealous religious zealot of a mother, an overly loving father (David Rasche, breaking free of his usual comic roles), a true love who dies in WWII, and a family with a guy she 'settles' for (played, in present day, by the wonderful James Garner). There is also a dark secret that is the core of the mother/daughter alienation, which must be dealt with in order for the rift between Bullock and Burstyn to heal (No, I will NOT give it away!)

If you do the math about the years covered, you realize the present-day story SHOULD be taking place in the early nineties, at the latest, but this doesn't hurt the overall effectiveness of the picture. As the other present-day sisters, Fionnula Flanagan, Shirley Knight, and (especially) Maggie Smith are WONDERFUL, as is Angus MacFadyen, as Bullock's sympathetic and likable fiance.

While this is unabashedly a 'chick flick', something I really liked was that they DIDN'T fall back on that old chestnut of somebody dying to serve as a convenient catalyst for change and the healing process. And the dialog is full of wickedly hilarious one-liners about men, alcohol, friendship, and growing old!

Don't miss this gem!

Phenomenal
I was fortunate enough to see this movie at an early premiere. From the moment the movie began it was true to the incredible spirit, integrity and vitality of the novel. There are some changes of course, (using a plane instead of an elephant for Lawanda), but not only does it work, this is by far the best book to movie adaptation I've ever seen. I've always been bitterly disappointed by the movie version of powerful books, but "Divine Secrets" has broken that mold. There is never a dull moment, slow script or moment that doesn't shine. My only criticism was the rather dispassionate way Sidda (Sandra Bullock) responded to Vivi (Ellen Burnstyn) at the very end of the movie. But whether you're a ya-ya or simply looking for a phenomenal story to sit down to, this movie is so layered with intensity you'd have to be dead to miss it. Don't let the label "chick flick" mislead you, it's much more than that. Ashley Judd has never made a movie before this as far as I'm concerned, but it was the actresses that played the older ya-ya's that completely stole the show! I'm counting the days till the DVD release! YA-YA!

Sandra Bullock is my role model
Sandra Bullock is so funny,spunky,and a talented actress.This is my favorite movie of hers.I've seen all her movies.In each she is bubbly and fun-loving and cool.She's a great role model for young girls.I liked 'Miss Congenaitly'and 'Hope Floats.' I'm a 15-year-old girl who adores her.She's my favorite actress and celebrity and she's always making great movies.I loved this movie.It's about a playwright in New York City named Sidda Walker who has a torn realionship with her flaky mother,who gave her a tough upbringing in Lousiana.Sidda tells 'Time' magazine about her unhappy childhood and eccentric mother, causing Vivi Walker to swear she'll never speak her daughter again.However,after her long-time friends the Ya-Yas step in to show Sidda the story behind it all,both learn more about each other and themselves.Ashley Judd plays Vivi as a young woman and in flashbacks it shows Sidda as a little girl,growing up in the South where she both remembers the hard times when her mom's "drunken rages" hurt her and also the good times,when her mom made sure she got to go on a plane ride that she was scared to go on at first but in the end it was her best memory of her mother when Sidda sees in the end her mama really did love her.Sandra Bullock plays Sidda well,and is funny and emotional at the same time.Also Ashley Judd plays Vivi in her teen years,and it shows how by the friendship of her long-time friends that she made it through all it.The Ya-Ya's close bond shows how friendship really can help you through tough times and good times.The main value in this dramatic comedy is that your friends will always be there for you in the end and how your parents may not be perfect,but they always care about you in the end,too.The Ya-Yas are really funny,too.I loved this movie and I liked the book,too.Sandra Bullock is the best actress and role model on the face of the planet and she rocks.