Steel Magnolias

I absolutely love the original, but I hated the remake. The actresses failed to make the characters their own. There was so sentiment, no character development, no connection between them.

The original film has two strong scenes that they absolutely ruined in the remake. One, was the Shelby's seizure. Julia Roberts was amazing and didn't fear do push her limits. Rashad acted like she was drunk staring at nothing. No to mention the fact that Truvy poked her. I am not kidding. The moment Shelby starts having the seizure she pokes her.

Latifah may be a good actress but the role of M'Lynn was simply not for her. The highlight of the movie is her outburst. Shally Field was phenomenal during that scene. You could hear and feel her pain. Latifah said the words, but there was no emotion behind them.

The character of Shelby can be wrapped up in just one line. "I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special". Once again, they kept that quote hidden for the ending where it lost it's meaning.

I hated how they left out Spud and his confession in the end that he can't live without his wife. Anyway, I wouldn't watch it again. In fact I wanna watch the original once more just to get this fiasko out of my memory.

With the exception of Queen Latifa, Alfre Woodward and Felicia Rashad, there was not a single actor in this movie who had any grasp on their character. The old familiar lines are delivered abrasively, almost sarcastically, like not a one of them understand the undertones. I cannot say how many times over the years I have watched the original and I still love it, crying and laughing along with those ladies. I still don't understand why they thought they needed to remake a classic, but to do it so badly is a crime. Most disturbing of all is Shelby is comes off not just abrasive, but ugly inside, not at all what the character of Shelby is and there is zero chemistry between her and her mother. All in all, this remake was a fail, a major disappointment. It lacks the chemistry between the group of women; instead of filling the soul, it just tears into it with desperation.

I tried, really I tried, to enjoy this version. I didn't. About half way through it I was checking the time to see how much more there was to it. I kept hoping it would get better. In the original, The characters had a chemistry that enhanced their performances. You believed they liked each other, and were longtime friends. There was something missing, the attachment the characters were supposed to have for each other seemed forced. The actress playing Shelby missed the character's sense of humor and play, as well as her determination to live a normal life, despite having a devastating chronic illness. The scene in the cemetery in the original where there was laughter through tears is classic. You can't duplicate that.

Sorry, but this movie was bad. I mean really bad. The first movie was lighthearted and uplifting for the most part, making you feel proud of being a Southerner. This one was dark and depressing, and felt more like it was filmed in New York instead of Louisiana. All of the idiosyncrasies and accents that made the original truly Southern were barely existent here.

Alfre Woodard's portrayal of Weezer was more angry than eccentric. Felicia Rashaad's "Clerice" was too reserved. The girl who played the beauty shop assistant was not naive and unrefined enough.

In closing, I love the over the top nature of black comedies in general, and considering the cast that was present, I really expected better. They really did this movie a huge disservice.

People relate to others by sharing similar experiences and shared emotions.That's what I THOUGHT! But apparently in the US there is such a big racial difference that the actors have to be Af.American in the SAME story to entice the market of af.am audience. Hopelessly condescending and bias. Women all over the world just loved the original regardless of the mid-west whiteness of the cast at the time. My European, Turkish, African friends loved it as much as my Asian coworkers and my Moroccan neighbour. This is just plain stupid since the whole movie doesn't contribute anything, it's not creatively adjusted to this age, no special differences in character. It's a money grab with ridiculous racial bias.