HANGING UP
The film skips back and forth between the present, when father Lou (Matthau)
is placed in an L.A. hospital for observation after becoming "disoriented,"
and several different periods in the family's past, when various father-related
events molded our three sisters into the women they have become. Georgia
(Keaton), the eldest, is the egocentric publisher of a successful women's
magazine named after her. Eve (Ryan) is an accident-prone party planner
with a husband (Adam Arkin) and son (Jesse James or Ethan Dampf, depending
on the time period), whose panicky nature causes her to be the only one
to care for Dad — she constantly worries that he'll die. And Maddy
(Kudrow), the youngest, is a spoiled soap opera actress who can't get enough
respect from her sisters no matter how hard she says she works. They spend
most of the film on the phone to each other, with Eve trying to convince
the others to come and take part in the caregiving duties, and the others
being too busy.
I think what impresses me about this film is not the plot but the simple reality achieved among the four leading players. Keaton was wise not to overdirect Ryan and Matthau; their spontaneous interaction, which comprises more screen time than her own part or Kudrow's, is comfortable and down to earth. Matthau, especially, is convincing as ever in this grumpy old man role, but with more edge and less humor than in his films co-starring Jack Lemmon. One scene, in which he bursts in on his grandson's birthday party in a drunken stupor, is surprisingly real and disturbing. The few scenes where all three women are actually in the same room are well-performed (partially improvised) and cleverly scripted; they serve to delineate clearly the three separate characters. The unfortunate exception is the final scene, which is such a blatant ripoff of Keaton's 1986 three-sister vehicle, Crimes Of The Heart, it's shameful. I've stuffed plenty of turkeys in my life, folks, and I've never had a need for a bowl of flour nearby. ****