According to “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” all problems feel better with a fresh coat of pink lipstick and a bucket of gin.

Based on Rebecca Wells’ beloved book, “Divine” probably plays better as a visualization of things readers loved than it does as a stand-alone movie. There are wonderful moments: I loved Sandra Bullock tenderly asking her dad (an underwritten role that has the good fortune to be played by James Garner), “Daddy, did you get enough love?”

I liked the big, corny helpings of goddess worship and sisterhood. The emotional finale is a satisfying destination. But getting there shows that rocky road is not just a flavor at Baskin Robbins.

Even more than most books, “Divine” gets dented in the transition to the screen. The story mostly takes place in the fuzzy past (apparently, it’s the 1990s the people have cordless phones as big as canned hams), with flashbacks extending more than 60 years.

Four girls formed a secret society, the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and have remained friends as adults. So, when Vivi (Ellen Burstyn) disowns her daughter, Sidda (Bullock), the other Ya-Yas (Maggie Smith, Shirley Knight and Fionnula Flanagan) vow to reunite them, by hook, by crook and by gin.

“Divine” flits back and forth between the past and the present, something that’s tricky to do on-screen. Here, we never get a handle on which present-day woman is which in the flashbacks.

As a result, with the exception of Vivi (Ashley Judd in flashbacks), the characters are indistinct. The Burstyn/Judd thing doesn’t work, either, because no effort is made to make these very different actresses seem like the same woman and because the movie alternates that story with the modern one about Sidda being bullied by her mom, doing neither story justice. Meanwhile, the lighthearted tone diminishes the serious subjects, which include alcoholism and abuse.