There's a difference between an intelligent movie and intelligent characters. The three sisters in "Hanging Up" are all capable, modern women who can articulate endlessly in twenty-five-cent phrases. But talk's one thing. Story's another. Director Diane Keaton and writer Delia Ephron manage to fill 100 minutes with contrived, pseudo-sophisticated dialogue that amounts to a big, thick puddle of superficial sap.
The story alternates between supposedly somber, bittersweet moments and casual jokiness. Walter Matthau plays the elderly father of three grown daughters, who is dying of one of those movie illnesses that's never quite explained. A little more dark and harried than his familiar "Grumpy Old Men" persona, Matthau still manages to bust out stale anecdotes about his various sexual encounters and his relationship to John Wayne.
Meg Ryan assumes responsibility as parental caretaker/middle daughter Eve, a Los Angeles party planner who juggles her duties as daughter, wife and mom to an annoying tyke who makes donkey noises. Usually, her routine involves running around or accidentally running into cars while cell-phoning older sister Georgia (Diane Keaton) and younger sister Maddy (Lisa Kudrow) to convince them that their father really is dying.
The latter two female characters are incredibly self-absorbed. Georgia takes the prize for most egotistical, spending her days basking in the glory of her job title -- publisher of a glamorous fashion magazine called "Georgia." Little sister Maddy is only a bit less self-involved -- she's an aspiring soap actress stuck in a leg cast due to her TV character's plot complications.
The movie meanders between present-day scenes where Eve panics because the next phone call could be the one where her father "hangs up," and extended reminisces of memories when the girls busted in on their pop in a sexual frenzy with their lady dentist (ha!) and a scene where Eve and Dad went Christmas tree shopping. It's also during the flashbacks that the girls' loveless mother is introduced, living in a far-off cabin, and their father's shortcomings come to light.
Throughout the events, the film follows the melodramedy formula to the letter. Ups and downs about Dad's worsening condition, bedside reunions, conflicts, resolutions and the part where the girls get silly and throw food at each other -- it's all part of a familiar plan, presented here without a trace of cynicism or originality.
The actresses muster on in their roles as if they've never played them before, but the characters barely register. Keaton and Kudrow are presented almost as cameos who exist simply to show how uncaring and uninteresting sisters can be, especially in light of a supporting force like Ryan's beam of warmth.
The actress, always winning and likable, keeps her record fairly clean. There's nothing profound or disturbing about the woman Meg Ryan plays, but she's at least her usual appealing self as she goes through the motions.
Keaton, as director and co-star, suffers in comparison. She's hindered by Ephron's cliché-filled, underdeveloped script (based on her semi-autobiographical book), but the filmmaker seems lost with this kind of comedy-drama. Only a few years ago, she expertly handled the nuances of the underrated family film "Unstrung Heroes." Here, there's either too much or too little of the light-hearted breeziness of Ephron's equally talky "You've Got Mail."
"Hanging Up" the term is supposed to be a metaphor for the main character's ability to let go of people and relationships when the time is right. A better analogy for potential moviegoers is that some calls don't need to be picked up.
*MPAA Rating: PG-13.
"Hanging Up"
Meg Ryan
Lisa Kudrow
Diane Keaton
Walter Matthau
Adam Arkin
A Columbia presentation. Director Diane Keaton. Screenplay Nora Ephron. Novel Delia Ephron. Producers Laurence Mark and Nora Ephron. Director of Photography Howard Atherton. Editor Julie Monroe. Music David Hirschfelder.