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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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 MOVIE REVIEW 
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Bees More Honey Than Sting

Sweet Southern coming-of-age story could be one for Oscar buzz

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(Newser) – The Secret Life of Bees is a pretty sweet story, critics agree, but all that honey proved a little cloying for some. The story of a troubled South Carolina teen (Dakota Fanning) set in 1964 is "an affecting ensemble piece that's destined to generate a fair share of awards-season buzz," Michael Rechtshaffen writes in the Hollywood Reporter.

Bees is "awfully gooey" but "nicely anchored in a trio of very good performances" by Paul Bettany, Alicia Keys, and Queen Latifah as the "queen bee" of a trio of sisters, Roger Moore writes in the Orlando Sentinel. The film "rustles the melodramatic curtains with its unraveling of family secrets, coincidences and tragedy,"  Stephen Schaefer writes for the Boston Herald, "but with this cast it hardly matters."

In this image released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Queen Latifah, left, Jennifer Hudson, center, and Alicia Keys are shown in a scene from
In this image released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Queen Latifah, left, Jennifer Hudson, center, and Alicia Keys are shown in a scene from "The Secret Life of Bees."   (AP Photo/Fox Searchlight Pictures, Sidney Baldwin)
In this image released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Dakota Fanning, left, and Jennifer Hudson are shown in a scene from
In this image released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Dakota Fanning, left, and Jennifer Hudson are shown in a scene from "The Secret Life of Bees."   (AP Photo/Fox Searchlight Pictures, Sidney Baldwin)
In this image released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Dakota Fanning, left, and Queen Latifah are shown in a scene from
In this image released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Dakota Fanning, left, and Queen Latifah are shown in a scene from "The Secret Life of Bees."   (AP Photo/Fox Searchlight Pictures, Sidney Baldwin)
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