Hanging Up [DVD] [2000]

[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.

The saving graces of the film are Meg Ryan's moments with Walter Mathau, some well-made and believable flashbacks and a fairly decent central idea that no amount of over-writing and heavy syrup could quite manage to spoil. I suspect that a second viewing may actually be more enjoyable since I'll know when to switch off!