First Hit: It was good to see a film that was only about and performed by women but it languished in its execution.
This is a remake of a 1939 film of the same name.
Back then society’s morals, perceptions, and roles of men and women were different. Mary (played by Meg Ryan) is working as a dress designer for her father and is married to big time financier. She discovers, almost at the same time, that her father is firing her when she thought he was ready to give her the business and that her husband Stephen is having an affair.
Her best friend Sylvie (played Annette Bening) overhears this latter bit of information from a manicurist. Sylvie and Edie (played by Debra Messing) talk about what they should do with this information on their way to Mary’s house for a party.
The scene in the car begins to set up the choices and the boundaries of their friendships. Added to this core circle of friends is Alex Fisher (played by Jada Pinkett Smith) a strong lesbian character and, together, this represents “The Women.”
There is lots of advice given to Mary about what to do from her mother (played by Candice Bergen) and her friends. This advice includes fighting Stephen for everything he’s got to let it go and he’ll come back.
Meg Ryan had both strong and brilliant moments as well as flashes of weak and inconsistent characterizations. Although I generally like and think Meg is a wonderful actress, this isn’t one of her better acting jobs. As well, I thought Annette Bening play Sylvie a bit too wooden. Candice Bergen was one of the better performances and was effective as Mary’s mother. I also enjoyed seeing Cloris Leachman as Mary’s house keeper.
Overall: It wasn’t a bad film but it wasn’t a great woman’s film either which is unfortunate in that there are very few films made for, by and star just women.