We took a weekend trip from Baton Rouge, LA to Natchitoches, LA, where fifteen years earlier the filming of Steel Magnolias in 1989 remains about the biggest thing that ever happened. Having never seen the movie, we rented it as soon as we got back home. Everyone had a reason for watching it in two segments--mine was my sense that this was one of the "cutest" movies I'd ever seen, and I'd had quite enough "cute" lately, especially after sitting through Will Smith in "Hitch". The accents and the caricatures of the characters were all so thick that it reminded me of The Beverly Hillbillies, though more embarrassing than funny. One "Hillbillies-like" moment that pretty funny was the few non-female characters' effort to shoot some "crows" out of a tree so that they won't "sh*t all over the reception". Their creative use of a crossbow is a classic.
Sad to say there isn't much else classic in a story that is at the same time saccharine and maudlin. I saw another review that noted the choppiness of some scenes (as the movie was adapted from a play that never left the beauty shop). I can think of two scenes in particular--one where the town-big wig Clairee (played by the noted-Southern belle Olympia Dukasis) buys the local radio station so that she can do the color commentary on the local football games (the scene features the same guy filmed bare from the back waist-and-lower view as he walks in front camera in the locker room three times.) In another scene, the Darryl Hannah (hard to recognize) committed Christian character argues with her boyfriend over his repeated taking of the Lord's name in vain. Neither scene has any impact on the rest of the story.
Dolly Parton is her usual big hair, big smile, big **** self as the lead hairdresser. Shirley MacLaine has a very unsympathetic character as the Eatonton's (Julie and Sally, and family) ill-tempered neighbor. The male characters are more or less wasted, especially the estimable Sam Shepard, who spends most of the film underneath a car, or sitting lifelessly in front of a TV.
The movie moved up from a 2 during the seemingly endless wedding prep and wedding of the first half to a 6 in the second half, which became more dramatic. Sally Field has a pretty good scene near the end, she and the story make you think a little about the motives of the main character (Julia Roberts as Shelby).
Overall, I thought that Steel Magnolias was a relatively embarrassing depiction of life in the beautiful town of Natchitoches, LA. Given that the locals seemed not to mind too much, I may be overreacting. They even showed us where the truck made an illegal left turn in the final scene. I hope this is not a spoiler.
I don't really understand the almost universal overwhelming praise by the reviewers here. I understand the overall rating under 7, as all the 10's from the reviewers are being offset by 4's and 5's by people who saw the movie as I did, but were too nice to submit a comment.
Sad to say there isn't much else classic in a story that is at the same time saccharine and maudlin. I saw another review that noted the choppiness of some scenes (as the movie was adapted from a play that never left the beauty shop). I can think of two scenes in particular--one where the town-big wig Clairee (played by the noted-Southern belle Olympia Dukasis) buys the local radio station so that she can do the color commentary on the local football games (the scene features the same guy filmed bare from the back waist-and-lower view as he walks in front camera in the locker room three times.) In another scene, the Darryl Hannah (hard to recognize) committed Christian character argues with her boyfriend over his repeated taking of the Lord's name in vain. Neither scene has any impact on the rest of the story.
Dolly Parton is her usual big hair, big smile, big **** self as the lead hairdresser. Shirley MacLaine has a very unsympathetic character as the Eatonton's (Julie and Sally, and family) ill-tempered neighbor. The male characters are more or less wasted, especially the estimable Sam Shepard, who spends most of the film underneath a car, or sitting lifelessly in front of a TV.
The movie moved up from a 2 during the seemingly endless wedding prep and wedding of the first half to a 6 in the second half, which became more dramatic. Sally Field has a pretty good scene near the end, she and the story make you think a little about the motives of the main character (Julia Roberts as Shelby).
Overall, I thought that Steel Magnolias was a relatively embarrassing depiction of life in the beautiful town of Natchitoches, LA. Given that the locals seemed not to mind too much, I may be overreacting. They even showed us where the truck made an illegal left turn in the final scene. I hope this is not a spoiler.
I don't really understand the almost universal overwhelming praise by the reviewers here. I understand the overall rating under 7, as all the 10's from the reviewers are being offset by 4's and 5's by people who saw the movie as I did, but were too nice to submit a comment.