Bonnie Bruckheimer Movies
- 2002
- PG13
- Add Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to QueueAdd Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to top of Queue
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
- Starring:
- Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, (more)
In this Carl Reiner-directed romantic comedy, Bette Midler stars as a movie star named Lilly, who has had a fairly successful career which is now on the downturn. Years after a terrible divorce, she meets up again with her ex-husband Dan (Dennis Farina) at the wedding of their daughter Molly (Paula Marshall). Molly is marrying a young and promising politician, Keith Marks (Jamie Denton), and the wedding is a formal affair. Lilly and Dan have each remarried, and each despise the other's new spouse. Dan has taken up with the young bombshell who ruined the marriage, Rowena (Gail O'Grady). Lilly is wedded to their former marriage counselor, Alan (David Rasche), a psychobabble-spouting shrink. Lilly and Dan engage in a huge shouting match at the reception, and they are shooed outside, where their argument leads to a passionate reunion in a sports car. Impulsively, they run away together. Keith, seeking damage control to avert a possible political scandal, enlists Molly's help, and she hires a papparazi photographer, Joey (Danny Nucci), who has spent several years stalking Lilly with his camera and selling candid photos to celebrity magazines. Molly and Joey find Molly's parents at a hotel, but Lilly locks them in a room together so that she and Dan can have one old last romantic evening. Molly and Joey find themselves uncomfortably attracted to each other, leading to more romantic trouble. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Midler, Dennis Farina, (more)
Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy romp around like coked-up versions of The Three Stooges in the frantic Disney romp Hocus Pocus. The film begins in 1693 where three witches -- Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy) -- are preparing a potion that will grant them immortality and eternal youth. But before they finish mixing their cocktail, the people of Salem capture them and execute them for practicing witchcraft. Before their deaths, they vow to return to Salem 300 years hence on Halloween to exact their revenge. Three hundred years later, a skeptical, newly transplanted Californian, Max (Omri Katz), explores the ruins of the legendary witches' house and dares the witches to manifest themselves. Disregarding the warnings of his sister Dani (Thora Birch) and girlfriend Allison (Vinessa Shaw), Max lights the Candle of Black Flame. With that, the witches reappear to wreak havoc on the town. The kids take off with the witches' spellbook and a musty tome of hexes and recipes. The sorceresses, who will die by the morning light if they don't recite the incantation for immortality, have to get the books by whatever means they can. So, Winifred, Sarah, and Mary hop on their broomsticks for a chase through Halloween night. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, (more)
