The Sisterhood is portrayed in "now and then". The casting of the older sisterhood was Ellen Burstyn as Vivi, Fionnula Flanagan as Teensey, Shirley Knight as Necie and Maggie Smith as Caro, all brilliant. The problem was the casting of the four actresses who portrayed the sisterhood when they were younger.
Ashley Judd does not resemble Ellen Burstyn as a younger woman and neither do the other three actresses portraying Teensey, Necie and Maggie, respectively. This made the film very confusing to watch. The film often reverted back and forth, from present day to the past. As the writers did not use the sisterhood names enough in the script, the viewer could not readily identify who they were.
EXAMPLE (SPOILER ALERT): Ashley Judd is riding a bike with a friend (never identified, is it Carol or Necie or somebody else?) over a bridge. They are stopped by a young man. Who is he? (I had to look up his face on IMDb to find he is listed as Vivi's brother, Pete!) The young man says, "Vivi, we have to go to Teensey's house." He was sad. They leave to go to Teensey's house. I still do not know who is the other girl on the bike. If the writers had added to Pete's dialogue, "Caro (or Necie?), come with us" then it would have helped the viewer know who she is. When the three arrive at Teensey's house, you slowly realize that Teensey's brother is Jack, Vivi's fiancé, who was killed in the war. And the viewer was to know they were related, how? This happened so often in the film that I kept rewinding scenes to "get" the film.
The film is a disturbing look at Vivi's life. She never recovered from Jack's death, married Shep (James Garner) on the rebound, had 4 children, and was completely unhappy, almost to the point of hating everyone around her. She heads on a downward spiral, ending up an alcoholic.
(SPOILER ALERT) When Siddalee (excellently portrayed by Sandra Bullock, as Vivi's eldest daughter) was a young girl, Vivi had a total nervous breakdown. Vivi then disappeared, in Siddalee's eyes. Siddalee and her siblings thought their mother went away because they were bad. Siddalee remembers it wrongly because Vivi made Shep swear never to tell the children she had been committed. Because this tragic secret had never been revealed to Siddalee, she had been in and out of therapy her entire life.
I am honestly not an Ashley Judd fan. Most of the film rested on her shoulders. We realize that Vivi is emotionally scarred due to a jealous, mentally unstable mother. I could've felt sorry for Vivi, but Judd did not make the character likable. In many scene, Judd either underacts or overacts. Later in the film, the modern-day Necie says to Siddalee, "I wish you could've known your mother when she was younger. She was so likable." And I said out loud, "no, she not."
Ashley Judd does not resemble Ellen Burstyn as a younger woman and neither do the other three actresses portraying Teensey, Necie and Maggie, respectively. This made the film very confusing to watch. The film often reverted back and forth, from present day to the past. As the writers did not use the sisterhood names enough in the script, the viewer could not readily identify who they were.
EXAMPLE (SPOILER ALERT): Ashley Judd is riding a bike with a friend (never identified, is it Carol or Necie or somebody else?) over a bridge. They are stopped by a young man. Who is he? (I had to look up his face on IMDb to find he is listed as Vivi's brother, Pete!) The young man says, "Vivi, we have to go to Teensey's house." He was sad. They leave to go to Teensey's house. I still do not know who is the other girl on the bike. If the writers had added to Pete's dialogue, "Caro (or Necie?), come with us" then it would have helped the viewer know who she is. When the three arrive at Teensey's house, you slowly realize that Teensey's brother is Jack, Vivi's fiancé, who was killed in the war. And the viewer was to know they were related, how? This happened so often in the film that I kept rewinding scenes to "get" the film.
The film is a disturbing look at Vivi's life. She never recovered from Jack's death, married Shep (James Garner) on the rebound, had 4 children, and was completely unhappy, almost to the point of hating everyone around her. She heads on a downward spiral, ending up an alcoholic.
(SPOILER ALERT) When Siddalee (excellently portrayed by Sandra Bullock, as Vivi's eldest daughter) was a young girl, Vivi had a total nervous breakdown. Vivi then disappeared, in Siddalee's eyes. Siddalee and her siblings thought their mother went away because they were bad. Siddalee remembers it wrongly because Vivi made Shep swear never to tell the children she had been committed. Because this tragic secret had never been revealed to Siddalee, she had been in and out of therapy her entire life.
I am honestly not an Ashley Judd fan. Most of the film rested on her shoulders. We realize that Vivi is emotionally scarred due to a jealous, mentally unstable mother. I could've felt sorry for Vivi, but Judd did not make the character likable. In many scene, Judd either underacts or overacts. Later in the film, the modern-day Necie says to Siddalee, "I wish you could've known your mother when she was younger. She was so likable." And I said out loud, "no, she not."