This is basically a two-hour therapy session for Sandra Bullock, trying to figure out why her mom is so whacked out.

As she reflects back on the good and bad days of her upbringing, it's a combination soap opera and sitcom, like TV's Golden Girls.

I don't qualify to comment on sisterhood, or mother-daughterhood, but this picture will strike an emotional chord in most gals in the audience.

I managed to pull out a few good moments.

The writing is awkward and the direction is clumsy; however, a great cast overrides continuity in a chick-flick filled with empowerment.

Yes, fans of the novel will be disappointed, but the high-spirited performances may help soothe even the most savage of critics, such as myself.

The movie is an old-fashioned mother/daughter family feud type.

The story is hard to put a handle on because of the rapid-fire static flashbacks that go from past to present so many times that it becomes irritating to figure out which present-day woman is which in the flashback.

By the time the film is over, I didn't find one character in this ovarian jungle that was especially likable.