# Hanging Up (2000)

### reviewed by
Jamey Hughton

    HANGING UP
    *1/2 (out of four stars)
    A review by Jamey Hughton

    Starring-Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton,
    Lisa Kudrow, Walter Matthau and Adam Arkin
    Director-Diane Keaton
    Canadian Rating-PG

    MOVIE VIEWS by Jamey Hughton
    http://Welcome.to/MovieViews

Disconnect the phone line. Don't accept the charges. Do anything you can to avoid the wretched, melodramatic sisterhood dramedy `Hanging Up'.

I figured I needed to get in touch with my feminine side, and `Hanging Up' seemed like an ideal opportunity to do so. The film features an incredible palate of female talent, and the capability behind the camera brought to mind such sparkling gems as `Sleepless in Seattle' and `Unsung Heroes'. Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton and Lisa Kudrow play a trio of sisters who, once separated by career judgments over family ties, must reunite when their father (Walter Matthau) is admitted into the hospital with Alzheimer's disease. While this may read like an optimum opportunity to rekindle their relationship and reflect with poignancy on the past, the script by sisters Delia and Nora Ephron is exasperating, shapeless dreck teeming with emotional fakery. `Hanging Up' has the overall effect of a tele-marketer pestering you for two hours, while you don't have the option of doing as the title suggests.

For the first half-hour, the Ephron sisters use telephone conversations for a basis of character development. This is an annoying and ineffective device. Cell-phones ring every five minutes, and everyone hurriedly rushes along, leaving marginal time for the frustrated viewer to relate to the sisters' issues and problems. If `Hanging Up' was an apple pie, then I felt as if we were getting the mere crust of the story. Granted, there are a few genuine and sincere moments in the film. But they only help to establish that the remainder of the strained emotions are nothing but inferior dramatic muck.

The most outrageous strategy in `Hanging Up' is that, after a series of largely unrealized attempts at character development, we are expected to exhibit compassion and courtesy toward the sisters as they join for a melodramatic finale. We are able to identify with Eve (Ryan), the most open and caring daughter, because she is the one who stayed by her father's side as everyone else moved forward to pursue a impending career. Georgia (Keaton), the eldest daughter, is celebrating the fifth year anniversary of her magazine called.... `Georgia'. Maddy (Kudrow), the soap opera actress, spends time either contemplating her possible path to stardom or nursing her dog. Ryan's convincing performance and diverting cuteness are two of the more agreeable aspects of `Hanging Up'. Kudrow, so delightfully eccentric as the off-kilter airhead Phoebe in `Friends', is totally wasted. Ditto for Keaton, who is serving a double shift as co-star and director - a time slot that can be a difficult priority juggle. Her frenzy is apparent.

For a chick flick, there is a distressing lack of chuckles. The reliable Matthau is reduced to chaotic shtick that, given his character's situation, seems more depressing than amusing. Even so, the peak form of humor in `Hanging Up' is represented by some of Matthau's nasty quips and Ryan's eternal battle to have the aforementioned pooch swallow a pill. That about accounts for the three or four chuckles you will expel during the film. My curiosity has suddenly been tweaked to discover how such a promising and star-studded approach could turn so viciously sour. But really, it's no mystery. The predictable, melodramatic filth that is `Hanging Up' is certainly not the fault of these actresses. Pin it on the screenplay, which attempts to clear up vital issues in three or four minutes, while spending the rest of the running time in an annoying flurry of phone conversations. It's certainly a far cry from what one would label as a rewarding experience, but `Hanging Up' should have at least been enjoyable. Uh-uh. It's a wrong number from the beginning.

    (C) 2000, Jamey Hughton

    MOVIE VIEWS by Jamey Hughton
    http://Welcome.to/MovieViews

Your Comments Appreciated! movieviews@hotmail.com

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews