Product Details

• Actors: Adam Arkin, Ann Bortolotti, R.A. Buck, Maree Cheatham, Myndy Crist
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: November 7, 2000
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004STUM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,830 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #15 in	Video > Comedy > Comedy Stars > Meg Ryan
  #33 in	Video > Comedy > Comedy Stars > Walter Matthau

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

You've got to admire a movie that embraces womanhood as so few mainstream movies do, and Hanging Up deserves credit for combining issues of sisterhood and elderly parent care while relying on neuroses to carry its unconventional plot. But you've also got to lament this botched "dramedy" from screenwriting sisters Nora and Delia Ephron (adapting the latter's novel) and director Diane Keaton, who lack a coherent plan for illuminating their trio of female siblings. Despite a sharp focus on Meg Ryan as the middle sister Eve--a capable Los Angeles event planner--the movie never quite seems to know where it's going, and you feel like the best scenes are merely happy accidents. In exploring the foibles of family, Keaton fared better with her earlier film Unstrung Heroes.

In addition to directing, Keaton plays the eldest sister Georgia, a celebrity magazine editor, and Lisa Kudrow is kid sister Maddy, a soap-opera actress who's nearly as self-absorbed as Georgia. They leave it to Eve to care for their declining father (Walter Matthau), a retired screenwriter who slips in and out of lucidity and is, at best, a cantankerous curmudgeon whose estranged wife (Cloris Leachman) has long since severed all family ties. This is potent material--at least it could have been--and Ryan admirably struggles to hold the film together. But it's ultimately a losing battle as the movie, so full of cell phones and disconnected people (hence the title), becomes disconnected itself, offering hollow humor and a few memorable moments with characters whose problems are too minimal to worry about. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hanging Up Dosn't Connect, March 1, 2000

By	Ben hayden (Grand Rapids) - See all my reviews

What could have been a very funny and a very moving movie is not much of either. The movie revolves around three sisters trying to make amends when there father is diagnosed with a terminal disease. Meg Ryan plays Eve the responsible middle child who has to put their father in a nursing home. Diane Keaton plays the older sister Georgia who owns a magazine named Georgia and Lisa Kudrow plays the youngest sister soap opera actress Madie who is almost as self absorbed as Georgia.

The always cute Meg Ryan is trying hard to keep the film together but ultmately fails Despite sharp focus on her character. Walter Matthau plays the aling screenwriter. He is a delightful old codger who is able to develiver some very funny lines on his way out. Matthau always a pleasure to watch is the only thing holding this film together. Directed By Diane Keaton and Written by Nora and Delia Ephron this should have been a first rate tearjerker and a prime chick flick. But most of the characters are too out of focus to care about them or feel for them. A real dissapointment.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Drama--Not Comedy, December 11, 2001

By	K. Hill (Windsor, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's now strange to see Meg Ryan outside her usual genre--the romantic comedy. This movie is a touching drama of an ailing parent and his three daughters. I think the reason so many people were disappointed with this film is because it was advertised as a comedy. Though the main theme is sad, the film also has comic touches. Overall though I don't believe this could be called a comedy. Good acting was turned in by all. Well worth seeing at least once.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Hanging Up, July 18, 2001

By	Jeffery Bauman (Holland, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hanging Up (DVD)

Bad connection. Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton, and Lisa Kudrow play three quarreling sisters who live most of their boring lives on their cell phones. This movie was poorly written by Nora Ephron, and BADLY directed by Diane Keaton. All anyone did during the film was fight. The movie goes for cute overeal, but the attempts to be cute miss by a long shot. This film is such a travesty to all dramas. It's just plain BORING. I really was ready to turn it off, but my conscience got the better of me. I'm sorry I watched the rest. I'm so sorry I wasted my money renting this DVD. Thank god I didn't buy it! I agree with all the critics who gave this a negative review. This film, in my opinion was the worst film of 2000. Avoid!

Eve (Meg Ryan) has just put her father (Walter Matthau) in a hospital because he is dying. her sisters Georgia (Diane Keaton),who is a celebrity magazine editor, and Maddy (Lisa Kudrow), who is a soap opera star, are no help whatsoever. We go into the sisters' pasts, and see that their father was an alchoholic, and their mother could care less. The worst memory was when their father ruined Eve's son's birthday party. But through true sisterhood, and the spirit of family, the sisters are able to forgive and forget.

Overall Grade: F (3+)