The Women is the latest adaptation of the play by Clare Boothe Luce that was first filmed in 1939.
Meg Ryan learns that her financier husband is having an affair with a perfume saleswoman. Her friends rally around in support. The contrivance of this work all along has been that it is performed by an all female cast. All the non-speaking extras filling the background, whether indoors or outdoors, are female too.
This adaptation attempts the witty style of dialogue that used to be delivered so successfully in the 1940s by actresses such as Rosalind Russell who was in the 1939 film or an Eve Arden. But none of the women in this update matches those luminaries.
Nevertheless, Annette Bening does quite a good job of her role as do Meg Ryan, Candice Bergen, Debra Messing and Bette Midler in theirs, the last named effectively playing herself as ever.
I had a few quiet giggles but the film somehow never quite hits it's mark.
Interesting how this particular poster shows only the "younger" women, while the "older" one's names line up across the bottom.
ReplyDeleteI'd be more attracted to the poster, and maybe the film, if things were just the opposite.
Guess that says a lot about my (a) age, and (b) my queer quotient.
I think this is probably one of those films that falls down due to its 'all star' cast, which is a shame.
ReplyDeleteIt has some great actresses in it though so may still be worth a look!