Hanging Up

The trailers for this movie lead you to believe that it's going to be a comedy.  A half hour into the movie, you realize that you have just spent money for something that ends up being an incredibly depressing event with a few attempts at humor thrown in there.

Diane Keaton (The First Wives Club) directs this movie starring herself, Meg Ryan (You've Got Mail) and Lisa Kudrow (The Opposite of Sex, tv show Friends). They are three very different sisters trying to come to terms with their miserable childhoods and their post-stroke father, who now needs to be cared for 24/7.  Problem is, the father (Walter Matthau - Grumpy Old Men) was the source of most of their misery growing up.  The writer and director would like us to believe that this is the cause of each sister's deep internal struggle and moreover, they wish us to believe that we actually want to witness it.

The ridiculous use of phones throughout the movie (used to insult the viewer by spelling out the reasoning behind the title) becomes annoying and tiresome.  Luckily, you can't make the same mistake I did and pay full price for this flick.  But nevertheless, my advice is to just hang up your ideas of renting this film - there isn't much there to redeem.

Rating -  *