Oct 3, 2012 3 min read

c. 2012 SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

San Francisco — Remaking that rousing celebration of Southern womanhood “Steel Magnolias” with an African American cast is such a great idea, you’d have to work very hard to screw it up.

The team behind the Lifetime channel remake, airing Sunday, hasn’t screwed it up entirely, but they’ve somehow lost much of the heart and the humor from the 1989 Herbert Ross film based on Robert Harling’s play. At every turn, the new “Magnolias” reminds you of what could have been.

If you know the Ross film, you’ll find it impossible not to compare it to the Lifetime version, and just as impossible not to think how much better Sally Field was as M’Lynn, the Mother Courage of the piece, than the new film’s executive producer, Queen Latifah. If the rest of the new cast doesn’t quite compare well to their earlier counterparts, blame it on the lackluster direction. When it comes to Queen Latifah, there’s no one else to fault but her: She is simply not up to the emotional depth and range of the character.

The story is set in the modern-day South where Truvy’s beauty parlor serves as a place where the women of the town can let their hair down, figuratively and literally. They can gossip about the men in their lives, and about each other, and no one gets away with anything. They may enjoy ganging up on the town’s richest and meanest lady, Ouiser Boudreaux (Alfre Woodard), but at heart, they are truly a band of sisters.

Their lives aren’t perfect, but these women are survivors. Truvy herself (Jill Scott) tries to put on a brave face about her marriage and her husband’s lack of interest in her. And while M’Lynn is excited about her daughter Shelby’s (Condola Rashad) forthcoming marriage, she’s also worried about the younger woman’s health and, in specific, the kidney damage caused by diabetes. Still, she knows her friends, including widow Clairee (Phylicia Rashad), are always there for support.

There was a lot of humor in Ross’ film, but somehow it’s been lost in translation to the Lifetime remake. The script is virtually the same, but Kenny Leon’s direction is lackluster-where the film should crackle, it ambles; where it should be crisp, it’s too often flabby.

M’Lynn is the broken and ultimately resurgent heart of the story, a woman who has to face the greatest loss a mother could ever imagine, and Latifah simply can’t pull it off. She’s always been fine at playing strong, but playing shattered to the core just doesn’t seem to be in her acting vocabulary.

“Steel Magnolias” isn’t a disaster by any means. It has some winning moments and clearly the cast members are having fun with their roles. In the end, though, it just doesn’t connect the way it really should have. What a missed opportunity for something much better.

David Wiegand is The San Francisco Chronicle’s Executive Features Editor and TV critic. E-mail: dwiegandsfchronicle.com Twitter: WaitWhatTV Blog: http://blog.sfgate.com/dwiegand