Director Herbert Ross' attempts to tart up the original are fussy and clumsy by turns.

MacLaine is wonderful, and she ought to be. She has all the best lines, and is the freest spirit in the Louisiana community.

For all of its faults, Magnolias is in good company.

Director Ross has so overburdened and overdecorated the little comedy that it goes as flat as uncorked Coke.