Hanging Up

Three sisters lead separate, busy lives and stay in touch mainly by telephone. Eve, the middle sister, is the responsible one, juggling her marriage, work and son. Georgia, the eldest, edits a women's magazine and is used to being in charge, while Maddy, the youngest, is a struggling television actress. Their father, Lou, has been a difficult and selfish presence for years, and when he is hospitalized in Los Angeles, Eve takes on most of the burden of his care. She grows frustrated that her sisters do not help enough, and the phone calls that once carried gossip and complaints now carry arguments, reconciliations and old grievances.

Diane Keaton directed the film, released in 2000, from a screenplay by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, who also produced. Keaton had previously directed several features, including Unstrung Heroes, and here she also plays Georgia. Meg Ryan stars as Eve, Lisa Kudrow as Maddy, and Walter Matthau as Lou, with Adam Arkin and Jesse James among the credited cast of 34 and a crew of 105. The production, spanning Germany and the United States, cost about 60 million dollars and took in roughly 52 million worldwide, so it did not recover its budget at the box office.

Audience response was middling: on TMDB it holds 5.3 out of 10 from around 190 votes. A film critics' rating of 3.9 out of 10 from 85 reviews places it noticeably below even that modest audience score.