Amazon.co.uk: Hanging Up [2000]: Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton, Lisa Kudrow, Walter Matthau, Adam Arkin, Cloris Leachman, Maree Cheatham: DVD

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Amazon.co.uk Review
You've got to admire a movie that embraces womanhood as so few mainstream movies do, and Hanging Up deserves credit for combining issues of sisterhood and elderly parent care while relying on neuroses to carry its unconventional plot. But you've also got to lament this botched "dramedy" from screenwriting sisters Nora and Delia Ephron (adapting the latter's novel) and director Diane Keaton, who lack a coherent plan for illuminating their trio of female siblings. Despite a sharp focus on Meg Ryan as the middle sister Eve--a capable Los Angeles event planner--the movie never quite seems to know where it's going, and you feel like the best scenes are merely happy accidents. In exploring the foibles of family, Keaton fared better with her earlier film Unstrung Heroes.

In addition to directing, Keaton plays the eldest sister Georgia, a celebrity magazine editor, and Lisa Kudrow is kid sister Maddy, a soap-opera actress who's nearly as self-absorbed as Georgia. They leave it to Eve to care for their declining father (Walter Matthau), a retired screenwriter who slips in and out of lucidity and is, at best, a cantankerous curmudgeon whose estranged wife (Cloris Leachman) has long since severed all family ties. This is potent material--at least it could have been--and Ryan admirably struggles to hold the film together. But it's ultimately a losing battle as the movie, so full of cell phones and disconnected people (hence the title), becomes disconnected itself, offering hollow humour and a few memorable moments with characters whose problems are too minimal to worry about. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
German
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Interactive Menus
Scene Selections
Deleted Scene
Filmographies
The Making Of
Trailer
Outtakes
Isolated Score
Arabic\Bulgarian\Czech\Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\German\Greek\Hebrew\Hindi\Hungarian\Icelandic\Norwegian\Polish\Swedish\Turkish

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Meg is adorable, 18 May 2005

By	Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hanging Up [2000] (VHS Tape)

Of course. But she 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.

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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

sisters with attitude, 26 Dec 2000

By A Customer

a good well done to all the characters. some of the lines are very funny but some parts of the film can get confusing especially when they go back in time. Meg ryan and Lisa kudrow fit there roles perfectly although they could have done a bit more work on Diane keatons character.it really relates to real sisters at home espcially going through adult times. the directin also by Diane keating is also outstanding.

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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

What a shame, 22 Oct 2002

By	Andrew Corless "luggy" (Northern France) - See all my reviews

What a shame to have found such a superb cast (was this Walter Mathau's final film?) and to have done so little with it, probably by trying to do so much. Meg Ryan plays a in strong part that loses its way when her character goes to find "Mom" - watch and you'll see what I mean. Lisa Kudrow is OK but a bit too credible as the cheesecake actress with her eye on the starring role and Diane Keaton, well, wait for her big speech and use the break to go get a coffee; her acting reminded me at times of under rehearsed school kids struggling to wring emotion from weak tacher-written lines and wooden expression. Oh and what on earth was the point of the heavy-on-the-homespun-wisdom doctor's mother? This film has moments of pure corn that make The Waltons seem like film noir.

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!

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