Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Drama

Sandra Bullock	Siddalee Walker
Ellen Burstyn	Vivi Abbott Walker
Ashley Judd	Younger Vivi Abbott Walker
Fionnula Flanagan	Teensy
Maggie Smith	Caro
Cherry Jones	Buggy
Shirley Knight	Necie
James Garner	Shep Walker
Angus MacFadyen	Connor McGill
Allison Bertolino	Little Siddalee Walker
Katy Selverstone	Younger Caro
Jacqueline McKenzie	Younger Teensy
Kiersten Warren	Younger Necie
Caitlin Wachs	Little Vivi

Director	Callie Khouri
Producer	Bonnie Bruckheimer; Scott Elias
Writer	Callie Khouri; Rebecca Wells; Mark Andrus

Screenwriter Callie Khouri makes her directorial debut with this adaptation of a pair of popular novels by author Rebecca Wells , Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere . Sandra Bullock stars as Sidda Lee Walker, a New York playwright who opens a can of emotional worms with her estranged, boozy mother, Vivi ( Ellen Burstyn ), when she discusses her painful childhood and particularly Vivi's less-than-enviable mothering skills in a Time magazine article. The eccentric Louisiana drama queen Vivi has already been barred from her daughter's oft-delayed wedding to her fiancé, Connor ( Angus Macfadyen ), so the article sends her into a rage. Coming to the rescue of the relationship are Necie ( Shirley Knight ), Caro ( Maggie Smith ), and Teensy ( Fionnula Flanagan ), a trio of bickering women, who, along with Vivi, formed a secret society of feminist empowerment and friendship 60 years earlier that they dubbed the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood." The Ya-Yas kidnap Sidda and bring her home to Louisiana, where they reveal to Sidda via a carefully maintained scrapbook her mother's painful past (with Vivi portrayed in flashback by Ashley Judd ), effecting a rapprochement between mother and daughter. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood also stars James Garner . -- Karl Williams