Hanging Up

Hanging Up
by Diane Keaton

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DVD Reviews of Hanging Up

DVD Review: Star power the only redeeming feature, yet it's a stretch
Summary: 3 Stars

The movie begins with Eve placing her aging father, whose mind is becoming increasingly unstable, in a nursing home for special care. As she is leaving the hospital, she becomes involved in a minor auto accident with a doctor, who tells her to call his mother in order to work out the details of getting the cars repaired. Throughout the rest of the movie, we follow Eve around as she receives numerous calls on numerous phones from her father and her two sisters. Maddy, her younger sister, is an actress on a soap opera, while Georgia, her older sister, is the editor of her own, self-titled magazine. Both of them are too caught up in their own lives, which leaves Eve to care for her father on her own.

The first and most noticeable thing that stands out as a problem for the movie is the unneccessary subplots and storylines which heavily bog the story down. From the very beginning, after Eve's auto accident, she continues to try and make contact with the doctor's mother, who we only meet once. While the whole setup is supposed to lead up to a heartwarming conversation between the two, which also sets up the title's symbolism, it will become increasingly irritating listening to Eve's incessant whining about her life's problems in an attempt to soften the doctor's heart as well as his mother's.

Also, the subplot of Eve's preparations for a major banquet seem to have no place in a movie such as this. This is supposed to add to the stresses of Eve's life, accompanying her worries about her father and her constant communication with both of her sisters. All of this whining and rushing around leads up to the actual event, which seems even more misplaced than the actions leading up to it. Do they really think that the banquet will make good filler in the story?

"Hanging Up" also deserves a placement alongside such movies as "Hollow Man" and "Bless the "Child" for its supreme underachievement in the story. Writers Delia and Nora Ephron seemed to think that audiences would be more intrigued by watching Eve run around day and night, talking on her cell phone and trying to do ten things at once. What really would have made this movie work so much better is if they had taken out the plot machinations mentioned above and focused more on Eve's relationship with her father. We do get a couple of brief flashbacks to Eve's past with her father, some of the heartwarming, others painful, but they always leave, and we must return back to her regular life. With this technique, the emotion is given small amounts of running time to build, and is then cut back by the plot.

However, the acting of this film does a good job in somewhat redeeming the film from becoming a total failure. Meg Ryan is well known for her brilliant comedic charm, and it shows extremely well in this film. She is also given a good opportunity to show a different, more emotional side, and she does excellent with the material she is given. Lisa Kudrow plays Maddy, the sister wrapped up in her television role, and she does good with the whiny, bratty character traits her role posesses. Diane Keaton takes on both sides of the camera, directing the film as well as playing the part of the eldest sister, Georgia, who is totally self-absorbed in her magazine and fame. She, like Kudrow, does a splendid job of playing this self-absorption bit to boot, while also giving us small hints of emotion behind the mask of fame. Walter Matthau is the ideal father figure for this movie, playing the part with excellence in credibility and authenticity. He is able to give us comedy and inspire emotion, walking both sides of the rope in a tricky but well-conquered position.

After watching "Hanging Up," I was not fully disappointed, but not fully satisfied, either. I fell in love with Meg Ryan, but not with her character. I enjoyed watching the cast at work, but not watching the qork itself. I did feel pangs of emotion and my heartstrings being tugged at, but not enough to fully immerse myself into the film. Overall, it has good intentions for itself, but falls shorts in meeting them, focusing more on the trivial than the true heart. In a way, this is a bit of a contradiction for the movie, which wishes to convey family emotion and warmth. Sometimes I just wanted to tell Eve, "Hang up the phone already; your father needs you."

Description of Hanging Up