Hanging Up

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

(Matthau's) is a truly magical performance: hilarious, unguarded and deeply touching.

Mr. Showbiz F. X. Feeney

They make a believable trio of siblings, but not even their combined wit can lift this script above the maudlin.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

If you find her (Ryan) distinctive persona to be too irritatingly cute to bear, this mannered movie is likely to play like fingernails on a blackboard .

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Imagine "King Lear" art-directed by Martha Stewart and you have Hanging Up.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

A lame, glossy and disastrously misconceived film about three ditsy sisters dealing with the death of their horrible father.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

Ends up being more about her hair (Meg Ryan's) than anything else.

Miami Herald Phoebe Flowers

Meg's as cute as ever, but empty Hanging Up never connects.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

More about continuing the legend of the irascible but lovable old man into the grave, if necessary.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A flimsy sister act.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Characters seem phony.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Keaton doesn't have quite enough filmmaking savvy to balance the story's heart-wrenching and smile-coaxing aspects.

TNT RoughCut Sarah Raskin

Ryan gives her standard, likeable performance.

TV Guide Steve Simels

This is essentially a glib soap opera whose main characters are two-dimensional cliches used as clotheslines on which to hang sitcom-level jokes.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

It's hollow, forced and false.

Film.com Robert Horton

This is basically a movie about one neurotic woman and her neurotic L.A. life. .

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

All the ingredients of a success--a stellar cast, a promising premise, a strong production team--but nothing comes together in satisfying fashion.

Austin Chronicle Russell Smith

It's hard to imagine anyone ---coming away from Hanging Up with any sense of revelation, soul-enlargement, or even the simple pleasure of a compelling tale well told.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

This is about Meg. Only about Meg. Meg in the Middle.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A chilly machine-tooled comedy.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Father-daughter relationship lacks impact.

Portland Oregonian Diana Abu-Jaber

So drippy it really should be hung out to dry.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Too screwy to be really funny.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Essentially an extended cutesy session.

Newsweek David Ansen

Like people who compulsively giggle whenever they tell you bad news, the movie runs for cover in lame, comic shtick.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

That we are supposed to find something to admire in this callow crew is insufferable.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Not particularly sensitive or funny comedy-drama.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

Doesn't work as comedy or drama or anything in between.

Village Voice Amy Taubin

So hackneyed and so condescending to its potential audience (adult women) that even Lifetime might hesitate before running it.

Variety Emanuel Levy

A shamelessly sappy family meller that bears the schmaltzy sensibility of Nora Ephron.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

There is not one honest moment, not ONE, in Hanging Up.