Review of Hanging Up (2000) by Leena L — 28 May 2012

Pretty bad excuse for a comedy. Three women (Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton and Lisa Kudrow) who stay in connection constantly over the phone, mostly chatting about their curmudgeonly father. A few scenes generate mild laughs, but it tries too hard to be a moving story about the relationships between the four characters.

It's sentimentality, and sometimes downright inexplicable behavior of these people, makes it sappy instead of warm-hearted. This was the final appearance of Walter Matthau, who had been wonderful only five years earlier as a lovable Albert Einstein in "I.

Q." (also with Meg Ryan) and had enjoyed recent hits with his pal Jack Lemmon, just mugs a lot here. He's not particularly likable, even annoying in several scenes. Ryan comes off best, but even her character is horribly written and we lose interest half-way through.

The same is true of the usually dependable Keaton and Kudrow. Keaton directed this. If I hadn't seen her terrific work on "Unstrung Heroes" (1995), I might have said 'stick to the day job.

' This one's a mess.