Steel Magnolias (1989)

The Worst Film Ever

Good concept, poorly executed.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This movie makes me laugh and cry every single time. I can watch it twice in one day and I will cry every time. These women perfectly summarize the southern American woman. Strong, smart, witty, sarcastic, caring, compassionate, naughty, God-fearing. Every actor felt like a real person going through real life events. You felt what they felt. My sister's and I will randomly exchange the one liners and they never get old. Sally's portrayal of M'Lynn has to be the best performance I've EVER seen. No other actress or movie scene can rip your heart out like Sally did. She'll leave you on your knees in tears. This movie could never be topped much less replicated.

28 years after its megahit release the ten versatile leads seem as strong a closely knit ensemble as ever and the story as deep and timely as ever. In a small southern town in Louisiana not far from the Texas panhandle border Sally Field struggles with daughter Julia Roberts' unwillingness to recognize the lifestyle restrictions of her type 1 dabetes and makes time every time she schedules Dolly Parton's beauty parlor to dish gossip with the other two very rich town ladies of leisure, Olympia Dukakis and Shirly Maclaine. A story possibility with potential depth and meaning comes alive from Herbert Ross with equally brilliant performances by Daryl Hannah, Sam Shepherd,Kevin J. O'connor, Dylan McDermott and Tom Skerrit. Magnificent sets and wardrobe and magnificent photography and editing make this brilliant, timely work of art one for posterity. Not a slow or dull second of dialogue or of editing from opening to closing credits.

Embracing women's eagerness to spread and comment about gossips, "Steel Magnolias" is extremely fertile in witty one-liners and wisecracking exchanges, yet the simple 'life goes on' emerges as the most powerful line, summarizing the very spirit that drove the six ordinary heroines of a small Southern town. You know these towns, where handy jobs are the rule, where rituals and ceremonials regularly punctuate the daily routine, towns with postcard-like charms associated with folk songs and country music, French sounding names for Southern belles and plain monosyllabic ones for guys.The set is tone through the setting: "Steel Magnolia" is a woman's movie, where men (more an observation than a critic) are foils, or tender non-entities highlighting their women's wisdom, patience and endurance. Tom Skerrit does pretty well though given the small role he has, stealing the show as a lovable buffoon of a husband. And closing the man's parenthesis, I wonder if the films most emblematic line "what differentiates women from animals is their capability to accessorize" didn't include men as parts of these accessories. Still, this is feminine speaking, not feminist, and the difference is huge.Indeed, if one thing, "Steel Magnolias" is an ode to female bonding, contradicting the myth of friendship as exclusively masculine. Still, it fairly deals some inconvenient truths notably women's adoration for gossip and benign superficiality. After all, isn't it significant that the arena of their fullest expression is a beauty parlor? The place is owned and managed by the sunny and lively Truvy (Dolly Parton), who hires a newcomer in town, a shy and lanky girl with eyes hidden under a pair of heart-rimmed sunglasses: and whose reluctance to answer basic questions immediately label her as a 'girl with a past', and while you'd expect her new circle to respect her discretion, they surprisingly display more curiosity.The rest of the group includes Julia Roberts as Shelby and her mother M'Lynn played by the quintessential strong-willed and hard-working mother: Sally Field. If the six women represent the community-within-the-community, the group's heart lies on the mother-and-daughter bond. When Shelby is victim of a diabetes attack, she's immediately healed by her mother; M'Lynn knows the process and doesn't panic while giving her orange juice. The signal is clear: this is the part of the story that will matter, starting with the new chapter on Shelby's life: her marriage, a convenient opportunity to introduce all the protagonists -a never-failing plot device since "The Godfather".And "Steel Magnolias" cleverly uses rituals and holidays as narrative check-points. During Xmas, Shelby announces her pregnancy to M'Lynn, which comes as a shock: because of her health condition, pregnancy was medically frowned upon. Yet Shelby can't do without experiencing motherhood, especially since adoption didn't rhyme with option. M'Lynn is immediately confronted to a heart-breaking paradox: as a mother, while she doesn't understand her daughter's action, she understands her motivations. "I don't know what I want" is the most sincere answer she, and any mother, could have come up, with. Anyway, the news are celebrated by the titular magnolias in a sort of "Que sera sera" resignation.Yet the health threats keep us on-guard, even after moments of reliefs. Shelby has a boy, but as we expect, her health keeps worsening. "Steel Magnolias" remind of "Terms of Endearment" on that level, and driven by a similar spirit, it effectively compensates these dramatic moments by comedy, incarnated by the Laurel-and-Hardy-like duo of Olympia Dukakis and Shirley MacLaine. Both are widows, MacLaine twice, one embraces life with a theatrical joviality, the other is your typical grumpy old women, MacLaine even borrows some mannerisms and mimics from her Aurora role in "Terms". The two elderly women are the salt and pepper that give the film its unique flavor.So "You'll laugh, and cry... and meditate about life", sounds like the predictable premise of "Steel Magnolias". And it works because Herbert Ross, the director and Robert Harling, the writer never cheat with this premise through over-elaborated plot devices, even I, was surprised by its straight-forward path to the tragic conclusion. It doesn't cheat either because there are many moments that could have easily drown in sentimentality. Not that every comical effect didn't feel awkward, but it takes some guts not to insist too much on emotions in a woman's film. Naturally, the "Terms of Endearment" comparison indirectly reflects the film's lack of narrative ambition, but from my own experience, since the night I saw it 20 years ago, I can't look at "Steel Magnolias" with cynical eyes.Yes, the magic still works, and the poignancy is amplified by genesis of the play that inspired the screenplay. I learned from the DVD features that the writer wrote the play to cope with the loss of his sister, who died in the same circumstances as Shelby, which makes the film's context and truth-to-life more palpable. Another reason to appreciate the film is to wonder, how differently handled it would have been today. The film is set in the 80's, and whatever it means, at least, we don't have a struggling wife trying to awaken the sexual beast, the mother courage with five kids, including a Gothic teenager who wants a Scorpio tattoo, no lesbian kiss or pot-smoking scene either. "Steel Magnolias" rise above these target-appealing considerations: it's about a breed of women that doesn't exist anymore, so much more appealing than the likes of "Sex and the City" or "Desperate Housewives"."Steel Magnolias" is about the joys and pains inherent to women, giving life being their greatest blessing and curse given the circumstances, and the film deals with both. It's about the exhilaration of being a woman capable to transcend its innate toughness despite their vulnerable facade. And I guess, I remembered the "Life goes on" line more than any other because it sums up what being a mother means: transmitting life's precious sparkle, the same that inhabit their hearts, their eyes, and in some cases, their talkative mouths.

There are a couple reasons why everyone should watch this movie.First, Steel Magnolias is led by a strong female cast whose snappy and comedic dialogue are enjoyable to watch. Their performances are so raw and believable that it's a shock to learn that only Julia Roberts was nominated for an Oscar.The supporting cast is full of wonderful characters from Dolly Parton (Truvy) (she's so cute!), Olympia Dukakis (Clairee) and Shirley McLaine. McLaine was my favorite as Ouiser, a sarcastic, grouchy, two-time widow. Daryl Hannah was the one weak point within the tight group. Hannah's performance was spot on, but I found her character exhausting and annoying at times. Roberts was lovable as Field's daughter Shelby, whose Type One Diabetes casts a somber cloud over the otherwise cheerful movie.Second, the story is adapted from the play written by Robert Harling (The First Wives' Club). Harling's inspiration for the story came from his own tragic real-life experiences of dealing with his sister's sickness and eventual death.Third, Sally Field. Field is fantastic as Robert's strong and overprotective mother, M'Lynn. Field's monologue at the end gave me the chills, it was perfect representation of what M'Lynn was going through. It's enough just to watch the movie for that one scene. I have not seen many of her movies so I didn't realize how incredibly talented she is. I really really like her, I really do.Throughout the movie, I got confused with the time jumps and what was going on during some scenes. Sometimes the next scene jumps ahead a couple of years and I wouldn't realize it until the next scene. Other than that issue, I really have no complaints. The cinematography, hairstyling (the southern big puffy hair), and the acting by everyone (even the men) was perfect for this chick flick.A heartwarming and charming tearjerker, Steel Magnolias is a movie that everyone has to see at least once. Highly recommended. 8 out 10.