The Women DVD Review
For the record, I’m perfectly fine with an estrogen-dominated film, especially when it is interesting and entertaining. But, despite a multitude of talented female actors, The Women was one of the worst films I’ve seen in a long, long time.
The cast of The Women is lead by Meg Ryan (In The Land Of Women), who plays Mary Haines, a woman who finds out through the grapevine (in this case, a busy-body manicurist played by Debi Mazar of ìEntourageî) that her husband is having an affair with a Sakís spritzer girl, Crystal (played by Eva Mendes).
Maryís best friend, Sylvia (Annette Bening), along with their best friends Edith (Debra Messing) and Miriam (Jada Pinkett Smith), do some sleuthing and scope the “perfume slut” out, then dispense advice both preposterous and useless to Mary, who is also getting quite an earful of bad advice from her own mother, Catherine (Candice Bergen of Sex And The City, Sweet Home Alabama, and, of course, ìMurphy Brownî).
The Women was written and directed by Diane English (creator of ìMurphy Brownî), who was spot on over two decades ago in nailing the working woman/motherís perspective, but has largely missed the mark with this rehash of Clare Boothe Luce’s play, which was also turned into a late-1930s film.
Ryanís face has had a lot of work in the past few years, and is very distracting and unnatural looking, as is her performance, which seems strained and forced in this film. Bening (Running With Scissors, American Beauty), on the other hand, is fun to watch and steals every scene sheís in. Messing (ìThe Starter Wifeî, ìWill & Graceî) is used purely for physical comedy in The Women, and Smith (The Matrix franchise) is given so little to do that her best imitation of a lesbian is sitting with her legs splayed out. Mendes (We Own The Night, Hitch) plays her mistress role a bit trashy, but whoís to say if thatís due to writing/directing or acting?
The cast is round out by the ever-funny Cloris Leachman (Scary Movie 4, The Longest Yard, Spanglish), as well as Carrie Fisher (Wonderland, Heartbreakers), Joanna Gleason (Sex And The City), Bette Midler (Then She Found Me, The Stepford Wives), and Ana Gasteyer (ìSaturday Night Liveî, Mean Girls).
The Women is presented in both 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and full frame, with audio in Dolby Digital 5.1. Extras include two additional scenes that include Midler and Gasteyer, and two featurettes. The first, “The Women, The Legacy”, references the play and earlier film (with clips), as well as behind-the-scenes tidbits with cast and crew. The second, “The Women Behind The Women”, is about just that.
The Women is rated PG-13 ìfor sex-related material, language, some drug use and brief smokingî, and has a much-too-long run time of 114 minutes.
Unfortunately, a cast of talented women canít save The Women from itselfóitís a drawn out, clichÈd story that brings nothing new to the table, and manages to make several notable actresses seem downright dull.
I give The Women Ω star out of 5 stars (the half star is only because Bening was in it).