Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: Star-studded Cast Gives Stellar Performance in This Emotional Heavy-hitter

Sandra Bullock stars in this comedy-drama, based on Rebecca Wells' best-selling novels, about the strained relationship between an independent young woman and her eccentric mother. Siddalee "Sidda" Walker (Bullock) is a famous New York playwright, who on the eve of opening a new play gives an interview with Time and is quoted as suffering an unhappy childhood.

Her dramatic, Southern mother, Vivi (Burstyn), wounded and furious, cuts her off and refuses to reconcile. A fierce long-distance fight born out of a lifetime of mother-daughter tension ensues, until Vivi's lifelong friends, who formed a secret society called the Ya-Ya Sisterhood as children, are forced to resort to intervention to help Sidda cope and forgive her mother for inflicting years of pain and embarrassment.

The three mediating Ya-Yas (Smith, Fionnula Flanagan and Shirley Knight) aren't about to hold anything back. They kidnap Siddalee and take her "home" to Louisiana, where they endeavor to make Sidda understand Vivi's history, explain why her mother mistreated her, and patch up the rift between mother and daughter.

They enlist the help of the secret Ya-Ya scrapbook, which details the wild adventures of the Ya-Yas through years of love, laughter and tears. Also called upon are Sidda's father, Shep Walker (Garner) and Sidda's long-suffering boyfriend Connor McGill (Angus Macfadyen), whom Sidda is reluctant to marry because she's afraid she's doomed by destiny to become her mother.

The incomparable Ashley Judd plays Vivi as a young adult, and her performance is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching. I particularly enjoyed the continuity between Burstyn and Judd in their portrayal of the same character in the two stages of her life (Vivi's story is told in flashback, flipping from present to past and back).

It's hard to say whether Judd studied Burstyn or vice versa, but Vivi's mannerisms, expressions and actions are seamless from one age to the other. The rest of this star-studded cast, led by Bullock, delivers an ensemble performance that is nothing short of stellar.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is an emotional heavy-hitter that explores devastating loss, alcoholism, depression and child abuse (there is one scene which portrays this that might be disturbing to younger viewers). However, it tempers the darker moments of life with those that lift our spirits, warm our hearts, and make us appreciate our ability to feel sorrow as well as joy. While the film's conclusion is expected, it's pulled together in such a way that it never feels contrived or predictable.

This is a "chick flick" for chicks of all ages. Watch it with your best friend, your daughter, your mother, and a box of tissues.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Warner Brothers, 2002
Rated PG-13
116 minutes
available on DVD
Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Ashley Judd, James Garner, Maggie Smith