Steel Magnolias

Steel Magnolias (1989) is a Southern drama with plenty of laughs that you can watch online on iFILM. Set in a small Louisiana town, it gathers six women whose friendship runs deeper than blood, mostly inside Truvy's beauty parlor.

At the heart is Shelby, daughter of the no-nonsense M'Lynn. She marries, longs for a baby, and risks her life doing it, because her diabetes makes pregnancy dangerous. Around her swirl the gossips and sharp tongues: salon owner Truvy, shy newcomer Annelle, the cranky widow Ouiser, and the wisecracking Clairee who never stops talking. They bicker, they cry, they howl with laughter. Sally Field plays a mother who would do anything for her child, Julia Roberts earned her first Oscar nomination as Shelby, and Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine and Olympia Dukakis fill out the rest.

Director Herbert Ross adapted Robert Harling's play, written after the loss of his own sister. The result swings from belly laughs to real grief with no breath in between. It's for viewers who prize tart dialogue and female friendship over plot twists. Stream Steel Magnolias (1989) online on iFILM.