HANGING UP

CAPSULE REVIEW –– I can understand the desire these very talented comedic actresses had to work together. What I want to know is what drugs they were on that convinced them this was a good vehicle for their talent. Matthau has made his career by playing curmudgeony men, so his role in this debacle seems pretty clear. He even manages to give it some real poignancy and humor. As for the ladies, I think they need to leave the choosing of their roles to people who can actually tell the difference between a funny script and one that sucks the life out of the picture with every passing frame. The film's biggest problem is the fact that they are rarely onscreen together. They communicate mostly by phone – hence the title – which may be the only way these three busy sisters can communicate, but it doesn't make for very interesting interactions. Ryan plays the middle sister, jealous of her older sister's success and saddled with the care of their aging father who's health is progressively declining. She's supposed to be the glue keeping this family together, but with a script this humorless, it's a thankless task. The film is such a mess, moving relentlessly back and forth through time, that you wish Matthau's character would just die already to make the melodrama stop. Family dysfunction is no laughing matter, especially in this film.