JPF Home Page Forums Creative Arts Forums Acting, Theater, Film and TV Forum "Gimmie-A-Clue" Review: "THE WOMEN"/Meg Ryan/Annette Bening/etc.

I like women. AND The MOVIE "The Women"... Because, just like Real-Life, it portrays women as both Sweet-&-Vulnerable, YET as Tough-as-Nails (When-Necessary.) &..in their Own Special (Often "Catty") Ways, too...;-)>

Based on a 1939 Grorge Cukor Film by the same name, this re-make is a tribute to Great Casting & Fine Re-Writing. Official Credits mention Diane English (Screenplay & Director) and Clair Booth Luce (For the Play-that-launched-the-First-Movie.) {Google Clair Booth Luce if you have doubts about "The Power of A Woman"...she both warned the FBI that the Attack on Pearl Harbor was emminent..& was ignored..AND was the first to discover Russian Missiles on Cuban Soil in 1962!} What a Gal!!!

OK..Back To The Movie..(I just couldn't resist that juicy piece of Confirmable-Gossip..heh!) The Cast includes (A great job by) Meg Ryan (as Mary Haines), a wealthy NY Lady with a young, challenging Daughter (India Ennenga), Molly..and an Off-Camera Stockbroker-Businessman Cheating Hubby, Steve. Mary's BFF is Sylvia Fowler, (Super Acting by Annette Bening), a Single Career-Gal who tenuously-heads a NY-Based Fashion Magazine, under the thumb of a quite-demanding Male Publisher..who's also always Off-Camera. (The ONLY Male you'll ever SEE in the ENTIRE Movie arrives in the last 5 Minutes...as he's BORN!)

I tagged along with my Wife to watch (what I'd Call) "The ULTIMATE Chick-Flick" unfold...& Laughed (and Squirmed) in all the right places. Eva Mendes plays her "Other Woman" roll (Crystal Alen, the Sach's "Spritzer Girl") to Perfection..she's easy-to-look-at, easy-to-hate..& easy-to-sympathize-with, too, if you can understand how this "Attraction-Thing" operates..after 13 years of Marriage. (Cue-in "Waiting for A Factory Girl" by The Stones...heh..& lemmie add that Mick Jagger was one of the Producers of this flick!)

Candace Bergen (as Catharine Frazier) does an Admirable Job portraying the "Old-Style Mom" who's already survived Marital Infidelity & Male-Domination..& offers her insight to a Surprised Daughter. Debi Mazar (As Edie Cohen, Sach's 5th Ave's Resident-Manicurist) plays a less-than-brilliant Shopgirl-Gossip brilliantly..& as The Gossip about Mary's Failing Marriage reaches Tabloid Proportions, Sylvia Fowler has to make a Hobson's Choice between losing her job (& Identity)..or her Best Friend's Friendship with Mary.

Helping us to deal with all these Betrayals are a bevy of Mary's Uppercrusty Friends, including Debra Messing & Jada Pinkett Smith, and her Housekeeper + Assistant, Cloris Leachman & (I think) Ana Gasteyer, (as Maggie & Pat)..all pitching-in to boost Mary's Coping Skills.

A stay at a Rehab/Health-Clinic brings on a Great Cameo by Bette Midler as a Pot-Smokin' 4 ("or is it '5'"?)-times Survivor of Failed Marriages. (You'll probably find Bette as-Inspiring as Mary..& I..did..it's a great piece of Writing+Acting on This Scenario..and a HOOT as-well!)

I found this Mostly Set-In-NY-City-&-Suburbs Struggle for Mary's Marriage (& Emergence as a Woman-of-Today) to be Very-Entertaining-Fun. (&..a couple Mist-Me-Up Bring-a-Hanky Moments, too!) It's quite interesting to see how a near 70-year-old Plotline speaks WELL to us, Generation-to-Generation..on a seldom-discussed, yet pretty-Universal theme: "Betrayal-Recovery-Survival".

I'd rate it an "8-Outta-10", recommend ya see it (Guys-Included), & hope ya take note of India Ennenga--she's only 14, but a real Heart-Warmer..portraying the Broken-Marriage Kid who's gotta make sense of it all...(& does!)

I like women even-more after watchin' this one.

JMO..Keep-or-Sweep-it!
Big Hugs,
Stan

Stan,
You are such a hoot! I'd love to see you review films for a paper or magazine! I am planning on seeing this one. Thanks for the information.

HiDee Mz Heidi!

I'm sure you'll find Lots To Like about this Pic! (I kinda pity the guys who write these reviews for a living...ONE Bad Flick per-Week is easy-to-take, but 3-5 would kill me!)

I found this to be very UN-Male-Bashing, even tho a lot of it centers around Mary's Hubby's Infidelity. The Original Careful Handlin' of the Storyline probably owes its Sensitivity to the fact that Claire Booth Luce had a lifelong extramarital affair with Financier/Presidential Advisor/Witty-Guy Bernard Baruch (After she, herself, divorced..then married New Hubby Henry Robinson Luce, wealthy Editor of Time/Fortune/& Life Magazines.)

CBL was definitely one of the ORIGINAL Women's Libbers, & a Love-Child of Dancer Ana Snyder & Violinist William Franklin Booth. Dad deserted them when she was 9/Childhood spent in Chicago, Memphis, Illinois, & Tennessee..& in France, tagging along with Mom. Age 10, she understudied for Mary Pickford on a Broadway Play/had more Acting Schooling in NYC..Married George Tuddle Brokaw (NY Clothing Tycoon/Alcoholic) & divorced, w/ 1 child, in '29. '35, she married Henry/Wrote several Plays (The Women ran 657 performances..it was her Second one.) Battlefront Reporter for TIME in WW2..Interviewed Chian Kai-Shek & Jawaharal Nehru/Got into Politics, 2 Term Congresswoman, once Ambassador to Italy, Reagan awarded her a Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1983. Most Memorable Quote she pioneered: "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished"....

By the time of her death in '87, she bequeathed HER fortune to her Hubby's Already BIG Foundation, & to this date grants of $120 Mil have supported 1,550 women in Higher Education. (Not bad for a Love-Child, eh?) ;-)>

Bernard Baruch was Quite a Guy, too...Give the Guy a Google!
(Among HIS better Quotes:)
"Never Follow The Crowd"
"To Me, Old Age is always 15 years Older Than I Am"...
And..he was the First to use the term "Cold War"..in a speech Apr 16, 1947. (You'll find HIS views on "how to manage a US Wartime Economy" to be Quite-Interesting...)

Apologies for the Info Overload....BUT..CB Luce and her Lover ARE Quite Interesting People. (&..their REAL Lives certainly Outshadow anything in this Flick..Incredibly-So!)

None of which I'd have learned if it weren't for this Movie!
Thanks for Your Encouragement & Kindness, M'LadyChum!
Big Chipmunky Hugs,
Stan