Hanging Up | | Cast : | Diane Keaton, Meg Ryan, Lisa Kudrow | | Director : | Diane Keaton | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | February 18, 2000 | | DVD Released Date : | March 23, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 03, 2005 | | Summary | Which sister are you? | Content
 | No doubt in some ways, you will identify with one of the 3 sisters in this, or the dad will remind you of your dad, or someone else's Dad. Why else will you watch the film? Oh, it's got a sad, but predictable ending, which you will be wishing to come throughout the film.
Written by the rom-com team that are Nora & Delia Ephron, this film really doesn't give much to the world. Their books seem to be based around communication techniques: Sleepless in Seattle was based around a chatshow on a radio; You've Got Mail was based around a couple emailing each other and this was based around the use of phones, and characters who constantly hang up on each other. Hence the title. Do any of these films really work? Sleepless In Seattle & When Harry Met Sally are classics in my eyes, You've Got Mail lags behind, and this trips over the phone cord, and falls flat on its face. And Meg Ryan is in all of them, with her two sisters played by Lisa Kudrow (who's playing Phoebe once more) and Diane Keaton.
The film has every stereotype you could possibly name about a family of sisters. Georgia (Diane Keaton) is a business woman, who runs her own magazine, named after herself, and she's so self-absorbed, she doesn't have time for her family, or her father. Maddy (Lisa Kudrow), the baby of the family, is a ditzy blonde, who stars in a TV show, who doubts herself, and thinks no one takes her seriously. Middle sister Eve (Meg Ryan) sacrifices everything in her life for everyone else, and could possibly losing her husband in the process, but I think most of that sub storyline got deleted. Walter Matthau, in his last film, is an alcoholic, abusive, crude father, who suffers from Alzheimers in his last few years, and tries to chat up his middle daughter.
The acting wasn't bad from all the actresses, although the focus is all on Eve, and the other two sisters get sidelined. There's some flashbacks to earlier years, to show the audience what went wrong - and Lisa Kudrow looks like she borrowed one of her wigs from Romy & Michele's High School Reunion!
This is very much a girly film, so guys, if your girlfriend says to you she wants a nice night in watching this with you, say you're going down to the pub, and tell her to invite all her friends over for a few bottles of wine. You're paying of course.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 10, 2005 | | Summary | Sweet but Sad | Content
| This is a poignant story of three sisters with an aging father. He is losing his mind and is difficult to deal with. Two of the sisters keep putting the care and responsibility of their father on the middle girl. She is under immense pressure from all sides and is practically ready to crack up.
Even though the sisters snipe at each other almost continuously, they are close. They spend an incredible amount of time on the phone with each other pouring out their woes. As the viewer of the film, however, we know that the troubles of the middle girl make those of the other pale. When the chips are down, they come through for each other...mostly.
Much of this film takes place in flashbacks which help to explain the attitudes of the girls. We learn how they are abandoned by their mother and how that helped to shape their father.
Lisa Kudrow plays the younger daughter. She is absorbed with her career as a soap opera actress. Dianne Keaton plays the eldest, a successful magazine publisher in New York. Meg Ryan plays the middle girl and does so delightfully. You could say that she steal the show. Walter Matthau is the crotchety old father and does a splendid job of portraying a man who loves his girls but is bitter about life. His portrayal of a man who is losing his mind is both sad and realistic.
This is not a comedy. It's not exactly a tragedy either. Instead, it is a story of reconciliation.
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| Rating | | | Date | May 18, 2005 | | Summary | Sisters overcoming differences | Content
| Meg Ryan is particularly adorable here mainly because she is so sweet to her poor old dad (Walter Matthau) and is so good and long-suffering compared to her sisters Diane Keaton (self-obsessed tycoon, Georgia) and Lisa Kudrow (irresponsible soap actress, Maddy). Yes, this is a Nora Ephron chick flick, and yes it takes dead aim at a female audience and hits the bull's-eye; however the combination of realistic family dynamics and the all too true characterizations lift this above--quite a bit above--the usual exploitation fare. Personally I think this is superior to the Ephron/Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks hits, You've Got Mail (1998) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993). There is, as part of the plot, this curious thing that Ephron has with communications media. In You've Got Mail (a remake, by the way, of Shop Around the Corner (1940) starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan) it was the Internet that figured in. In Sleepless In Seattle, it was the radio. Here it's the telephone. Hence the title, "Hanging Up."
[Imagined dialogue from real life:
Delia Ephron: (Staring incredulously at her cell phone in hand): Geez, everybody's always hanging up on me!
Cut to:
Nora Ephron (hanging up the phone; speaking aloud to herself): You know, that would make a great premise for a movie: Plucky, earnest younger sister always getting hung up on! Ha! (Grabs personal organizer.) Make a note...]
Matthau as the senile old rake of a dad behaving badly is funny and lovably pathetic; Kudrow is annoying as usual (= "good casting"), and Keaton is adequate as the "thinks only of herself and her career" magazine publisher. (The name of her new fashion 'zine is "Georgia." Enough said.) But the star here is Meg Ryan, make no mistake about that. Director Diane Keaton dresses her oh so cute and has her do gumby kind of stuff and be vulnerable and caring and keeps the camera on that pixie face as much as possible. (There are a couple of shots of her in an agreeably tight white tank-top style blouse. But never mind.) As the sweet, earnest, slightly ditzy Eve, Meg Ryan, looking younger than springtime (although she was 38--it's amazing how she looks younger at 38 than she did at say, 32, when she made Sleepless), will steal your heart. If you like her you will love this cute movie about the trials and tribulations of some of America's well-to-do ladies even if you're a 18-year-old male stoner with rings through your nose.
Yes Diane Keaton directed this, not Nora Ephron, who produced and co-wrote the script with her sister Delia Ephron, and I have to say Keaton did an excellent job and ought to take a spin as a director more often. Of course the movie is distinctly an Ephron affair. Nora's influence is obvious, and it is no coincidence that Henry Ephron had, like King Lear, three daughters who undoubtedly loved him well but with less than equal fervor. (The third Ephron sister is Amy.) So the family dynamics and dysfunctions are to some extent fictionalized bits from the life of the Ephron clan. I wonder which sister is Meg? Clearly Georgia is Nora.
But enough of the "biographical fallacy." It doesn't matter one whit about where the material came from. The fact remains this is a highly entertaining movie. Besides, believe it or believe it not, for those who want to know more, there is a TV documentary entitled The Making of "Hanging Up" (2000) in which Ryan, Keaton and Kudrow appear. Two of the three Ephron sisters also get acting credits. (I wonder what the story is with Amy? Hmm... I guess Maddy is Amy.)
But see this for Meg Ryan (anagram of her screen name: "Germany"), one of the top stars of our time and always a delight to watch. And did you know that there's a PBS-style documentary of her riding elephants in southeast Asia? Yes, and having fun doing it. Julia Roberts, take that. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 25, 2005 | | Summary | Get out of here! With that ill fitting wig! | Content
| Ever had a busy day? Ever had a busy week? How about a busy life thus far? Well, if so you have something in common with our three leads whom most often have a hard time just HANGING UP. Alot of people just didn't care for this film, while it does get sketchy at times ..so does life. The story involves three sisters (one has her own magazine (Diane Keaton), one is a soap opera actress (Lisa Kudrow), and the other (Meg Ryan) whom has a more everyday career, she also is the one sister that seems to care the most about her family. Walter Matthau (last movie I think) plays the ill father who Meg Ryan visits frequently at the hospital, despite little to no visits from the other two sisters. If nothing else, HANGING UP taught me that sometimes in life, in order to make it.. you must simply hang it up. When life seems to be non-stop.. family, friends, work, school, daycare, cooking, cleaning, driving, yard work, doctor visits, ect.. Wouldn't it be nice to have a pause button on life. Sometimes we all need to stop and live a little. HANGING UP may have ended up being known as one of Meg Ryan's weaker chick flicks, but I'd say it's a bit more than that. For those of you that have been mislead, this film is NOT a comedy. It is a drama with a few laughs. Keep that in mind if you watch the misleading trailer. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 16, 2004 | | Summary | Better than the critics would have you believe | Content
| It seems the critics really hated this movie, but I found the premise one that really deserved addressing. The issue of one child being left to care for an ailing parent, while the other selfish siblings are heard from only if things aren't going their way, is an issue with which I'm sure many people have to deal. In this movie, Meg Ryan plays the one that gets all the work and none of the credit. She does just a wonderful job, as does Walter Matthau as the father suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Though I might question some of the casting, based on ages of the actors (17 years difference between the oldest and youngest children!), even Kudrow and Keaton play their parts well...as spoiled, self centered siblings. I believe what may be a turn-off to some is the presence of TOO MANY obnoxious personalities. The movie would have been much better without the presence of Adam Arkin's or Jesse James's characters...and I probably would have felt more sympathy for Meg Ryan's character as well. Though the movie was far from perfect, there were some emotional moments in the movie that made up for its shortcomings. I think the biggest problem with the story line was the unrealistic unity of the sisters at the end of the movie. Self-centered individuals do not suddenly change their ways. Had Meg's character gone on her way, leaving the sisters to SEE the error of their ways, it would have been a much more effective ending. As for the transfer....as usual, a fantastic anamorphic widescreen picture from Columbia. The special features are not great, but certainly more than one gets on most basic DVD's. In the end, I would say this is an enjoyable...though not completely fulfilling movie. It could have been better, but it is definitely worth a rental...or if you can find it in the bargain bin as I did....a cheap purchase. {As an added challenge....see if you can recognize the film error as the cars are racing to the hospital toward the end of the movie.) |
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