The Women

I took a break from the festival films to go see The Women. It's a remake of the 1939 film that starred Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell and Joan Fountaine about a wealthy woman who comes to find out her husband is having an affair with a shop girl, and her friends rally around her for support. I have never seen the original, so I'm going to keep this review mercifully short since there isn't much to say about this film other than- some films just shouldn't be remade.

In the newer version, it's as if to make up for a pretty dismal script, the casting agency beefed up the cast hoping audiences would be so wowed by star power that they overlooked the writing (Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Cloris Leachman, Candice Bergen and even Bette Midler gets a cameo). The story line seems the same for the most part: Meg Ryan plays Mary Haines, a wealthy, over scheduled woman that finds out her husband is having an affair with a perfume girl ( sexy Eva Mendes) while at Saks getting a manicure. And so her friends (Bening, Messing and Pinkett-Smith) try help her in her time of need, and of course she grows to understand herself, love her friends more and accomplish the professional goals she always dreamt about.

The two saving graces of this film were Leachman and Bergen, who had the only laughs in the movie and save it from being totally unwatchable. And I was surprised that I liked Bening, she gave a solid performance. I'm not really sure why movies about a group of women always has to have a birthing scene in it. Is that the only thing that can bring women together? In guy buddy movies they go on all night benders, or take crazy trips together or even play sports. Can somebody please tell me what is so funny about birthing?

I went to a pre-release screening, and most of the audience was comprised of women between the ages of 35 and 70, and they seemed to enjoy it more than I did. I guess I am just not in the target demographic, and I couldn't imagine a guy watching this movie, it would be absolute torture. While I had some issues with the film, I did enjoy some of it, especially Bergen's snarky comments and the final fashion show. All of the clothes were designed by fashion guru Narciso Rodriguez - and some of the dresses were absolutely fabulous! If you like estrogen soaked chick flicks (and I mean that very literally - this movie is all chicks, there are no men in the film - they are just evil outside forces that are never seen), you may like the film, but to me it just fell flat.