Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Three histrionic Louisiana dames (Fionnula Flanagan, Shirley Knight, and Maggie Smith) broker a reconciliation between a hysteria-prone fourth (Ellen Burstyn) and her equally excitable daughter (Sandra Bullock) in this estrogenically fortified drama based on Rebecca Wells’ 1996 best-seller of the same name. The predictability of the genre contributes to the wilt, but the specific droopiness in the ovarian jungle stems from the basic ol’ irritatingness of the many showy magnolias on display.