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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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The Secret Life of Bees (2008)

Rating: 2 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Honey Child

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy The Secret Life of Bees on DVD

In 1964 a young white girl (Dakota Fanning) escapes her violent, hateful, redneck father (Paul Bettany) and hides out with three African-American sisters (Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys and Sophie Okonedo), who make honey for a living. Based Sue Monk Kidd's 2002 novel, this has the benefit of a mostly female, mostly black cast, which is then almost entirely squandered. Writer and director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball) keeps the cast locked into character descriptions, rather than characters; it plays more according to calculations than feelings. The film lurches from terrible tragedy to happy montage and back again, never attempting to rise above a typical weepie. But the formula sometimes works, and the actors' charm makes certain moments successful. Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson co-stars. Also available on Blu-Ray.

With: Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo, Paul Bettany, Hilarie Burton, Tristan Wilds, Nate Parker, Shondrella Avery Renée Clark, Sharon Morris, Nicky Buggs, Jasmine Burke
Written by: Gina Prince-Bythewood, based on a novel by Sue Monk Kidd
Directed by: Gina Prince-Bythewood
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material and some violence
Running Time: 110 minutes
Date: October 17, 2008