Talks of "The Women" going into production began nearly 10 years ago, and now, after its release, it's no wonder it took so long to get off the ground. A remake of the 1939 film of the same name, starring Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell, "The Women" revolves around a group of gals, all friends, all with different problems with men.
Meg Ryan is Mary Haines, a do-it-all mom/wife/career woman, who does so much for others, she is even shown picking up her housekeeper's (Cloris Leachman) dry cleaning. This lady does it all and spreads herself too thin. In one week, Mary is fired by her own father and discovers her husband, Stephen, is cheating on her with the perfume girl from the Saks Fifth Avenue department store. Mary clings to her best friends and mom for support, and the women continue to discover how men are ruining or running their lives.
Sylvia Fowler, played by Oscar-winning Annette Benning, is probably the most shallow of the friends. She works for a difficult male boss and is constantly trying to earn the job she already has. Debra Messing plays the super-positive Edie Cohen whose main issue with men is the lack of birthing one. Edie has several children and is pregnant again, all to bear the son that she and her husband yearn for. Jada Pinkett Smith's character, Alex Fisher just doesn't care for men. She's a lesbian. The "other" woman that all the women hate for sleeping with Mary's husband is Crystal Allen, played by Eva Mendes. She has no shame and is in no way aware of a "girls' code" to not sleep with married men.
Though all of the actresses involved in "The Women" have made successful careers for themselves and seemingly fit their respective characters perfectly, something is noticeably absent from the movie to be enjoyable. Whether the forced dialogue or uneven direction is more to blame will remain a mystery, but the joy and class the original possessed is completely gone and replaced with cheap jokes and irritation.
In director George Cukor's original, "The Women" contains absolutely no male actors, and the 2008 version carries on that tradition, but here, it seems unrealistic and awkward rather than fun and playful. The men create all of the drama and plot points but are never seen which was done to focus on the title characters. This idea doesn't work in the updated film.
Unnecessary elements are thrown in throughout, including Bette Midler's appearance in the last act as Leah Miller, someone else we don't seem to care about.
Mandy Rodgers
The Women
Talks of "The Women" going into production began nearly 10 years ago, and now, after its release, it's no wonder it took so long to get off the ground. A remake of the 1939 film of the same name, starring Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell, "The Women" revolves around a group of gals, all friends, all with different problems with men.
Meg Ryan is Mary Haines, a do-it-all mom/wife/career woman, who does so much for others, she is even shown picking up her housekeeper's (Cloris Leachman) dry cleaning. This lady does it all and spreads herself too thin. In one week, Mary is fired by her own father and discovers her husband, Stephen, is cheating on her with the perfume girl from the Saks Fifth Avenue department store. Mary clings to her best friends and mom for support, and the women continue to discover how men are ruining or running their lives.
Sylvia Fowler, played by Oscar-winning Annette Benning, is probably the most shallow of the friends. She works for a difficult male boss and is constantly trying to earn the job she already has. Debra Messing plays the super-positive Edie Cohen whose main issue with men is the lack of birthing one. Edie has several children and is pregnant again, all to bear the son that she and her husband yearn for. Jada Pinkett Smith's character, Alex Fisher just doesn't care for men. She's a lesbian. The "other" woman that all the women hate for sleeping with Mary's husband is Crystal Allen, played by Eva Mendes. She has no shame and is in no way aware of a "girls' code" to not sleep with married men.
Though all of the actresses involved in "The Women" have made successful careers for themselves and seemingly fit their respective characters perfectly, something is noticeably absent from the movie to be enjoyable. Whether the forced dialogue or uneven direction is more to blame will remain a mystery, but the joy and class the original possessed is completely gone and replaced with cheap jokes and irritation.
In director George Cukor's original, "The Women" contains absolutely no male actors, and the 2008 version carries on that tradition, but here, it seems unrealistic and awkward rather than fun and playful. The men create all of the drama and plot points but are never seen which was done to focus on the title characters. This idea doesn't work in the updated film.
Unnecessary elements are thrown in throughout, including Bette Midler's appearance in the last act as Leah Miller, someone else we don't seem to care about.
