'The Women': All-star cast in tale full of wit and charm
Meg is back. Big time. Annette lets loose and has fun. Debra shows that she’s no one-trick pony tied to a guy named Will. The same, actually, could be said about Jada.
Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing and Jada Pinkett Smith are four very good reasons to watch “The Women,” the long-awaited comedy-drama directed, produced and written for the screen by Buffalo’s Diane English. Candice Bergen, Cloris Leachman, Debi Mazar, Bette Midler and Eva Mendes round out the all-star cast.
"The Women"
Three stars
STARRING: Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing and Jada Pinkett Smith
DIRECTOR: Diane English
RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes
RATING: PG-13 for sex-related material, language, some drug use and brief smoking.
THE LOWDOWN: A husband’s affair has implications for a group of friends.
Based on a 1936 play by Clare Booth Luce and the well-regarded 1939 George Cukor film, “The Women” has been deftly updated by English, who modernizes the story without losing the original wit and charm.
The movie centers on a circle of well-to-do friends: Mary Haines (Ryan), a working mother living a charmed life; Sylvie (Bening), the single, workaholic editor at a high-profile women’s magazine; Edie (Messing), a frazzled mother to an ever-expanding brood (“I want to keep going until I get a boy,” she says); and the no-nonsense novelist Alex (Jada Pinkett Smith), who is dating an obnoxious supermodel.
But back to Mary and her perfect life: She has a lovely daughter, successful husband, a fantastic house in Connecticut and a job at her father’s clothing business. Despite her 24-hour schedule, she still retiled her bathroom and did her own cooking for a charity lunch. “People appreciate the personal touch,” she says.
The close-knit group has a habit of going into “the vault” — that sacred place where girlfriends can talk with the guarantee of confidentiality. When Sylvie learns from a chatterbox manicurist (in a hilarious turn by Mazar) that Mary’s husband is cheating, they call for the vault: Do they tell Mary or not?
They don’t have to. In one day, Mary’s perfect world falls apart. Dad fires her; she learns hubby is cheating with the Saks Fifth Avenue spritzer girl (Mendes); and her daughter has seemingly overnight become a rebellious kid who can’t talk to her mom.
“I got fired from all of my jobs — wife, mother, daughter,” Mary says.
With the best of intentions, the women in Mary’s life try to help: her friends, her sage mother Catharine (Bergen) and her ever-present housekeeper (Cloris Leachman). But when Mary learns of a second deception, her life is turned upside down again.
Though the idea that a broken friendship is more painful than a broken marriage is troublesome to me, the script by English is generally witty and thoughtful. (Also troubling is a birthing scene near the film’s end that is so cliched and overwrought that it’s embarrassing to watch.)
Bergen, who worked with English on “Murphy Brown,” is again the beneficiary of some great lines. “There are no 60-year-old women. I’m the only one,” Bergen says, explaining her need for cosmetic surgery. Later, she tells her daughter not to be bitter — “it leads to Botox.”
While the actresses are solid in their respective roles, the script seems tailor-made for Ryan. She is not only the charming and sweet character filmgoers love, but the actress also gets to explore a gamut of emotions that she seems to have strived for in recent years.
Fans of Cukor’s film will appreciate that English has kept some key scenes and elements, including the Jungle Red nail polish; the initial meeting of the wife and mistress in an upscale fitting room; and the bathtub scene where the mistress gets a what-for from a very smart kid.
Oh yes, a note about the men in the film: There aren’t any, as you may already know. If you find that troubling, get over it. As the advertising tag line for the 1939 film declared: “The Women . . . it’s all about the men.” That’s true here, as well. The guys are talked about, talked to (on the phone), cried over, pined for and cursed so often that you’ll forget you’re not seeing them.•
