Many women have been waiting impatiently for Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood, the film adaptation of the popular book by Rebecca Wells. The tale of mothers and daughters and accepting the past to get on with the future was a best seller in 1996, but the complex story proved a challenge for first-time director Callie Khouri (writer of Thelma and Louise) despite a first-rate cast. Sandra Bullock plays Sidda Lee Walker, an up-and-coming playwright who gives a too-honest magazine interview about her difficult childhood and, especially, her vivacious and troubled mother, Vivi. When Vivi (Ellen Burstyn) reads the story and explodes, her life-long friends - the Ya-Yas - come to the rescue. They go to New York, kidnap Sidda, and bring her to Louisiana to teach her about her mother and her past. Through a series of flashbacks, we - and Sidda - begin to understand why the young Vivi (Ashley Judd) grew into the woman she is today.

The acting in Secrets is top-notch, and the older Ya-Yas (Fionnula Flanagan, Shirley Knight, and Maggie Smith) are a joy to watch. The flashbacks also provide an interesting, though sometimes confusing, way for the story to unfold. But the men in the film (including James Garner as Sidda's father) are given no depth whatsoever. And the ultimate reason for the rift between Vivi and Sidda proves to be anticlimactic. In the end. Secrets may make for a divine time at the movies if seen with a bunch of girlfriends, but don't get your hopes too high.