The Women (2008/I)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Diane English

Writers (WGA):

Diane English (screenplay)
Clare Boothe Luce (play)

Release Date:

12 September 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

It's all about...

Plot:

A wealthy New Yorker leaves her cheating husband and bonds with other society women at a resort.

Plot Keywords:

Pregnant | Baby | New York | Glamour | Department Store

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Meg Ryan	...	Mary Haines
Annette Bening	...	Sylvia Fowler
Eva Mendes	...	Crystal Allen
Debra Messing	...	Edie Cohen
Jada Pinkett Smith	...	Alex Fisher
Bette Midler	...	Leah Miller
Candice Bergen	...	Catherine Frazier
Carrie Fisher	...	Bailey Smith
Cloris Leachman	...	Maggie
Debi Mazar	...	Tanya
India Ennenga	...	Molly Haines
Natasha Alam	...	Natasha
Ana Gasteyer	...	Pat
Joanna Gleason	...	Barbara Delacorte
Tilly Scott Pedersen	...	Uta

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sex-related material, language, some drug use and brief smoking.

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Finland:K-11 | Ireland:15A | UK:12A | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Netherlands:AL | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Bosse Sports - 141 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Picturehouse Entertainment

Trivia:

Before development was put on hold in 2006, Annette Bening and Uma Thurman were rumored to have been considered for the roles of Mary Haines and Crystal Allen respectively. Also Lisa Kudrow and Anne Hathaway were in talks for the roles of Mirian Aarons and Peggy Day, but the roles were cut out of the final script.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the tampon-burning scene, Mary's hair goes behind her right ear and back over the right side of her face several times without her touching it.

Quotes:

Mary Haines: Oh, is this about the perfume bitch?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Michael Phelps/Lil' Wayne (#34.1)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

You don't know how it feels

The Women 08 It's Not A 30's Movie

It was an impossible task to update a classic that was embedded in its time and as such could travel the waves of time intact because we could adapt to its historical context. Now this 2008 version seems the one that's dated. I used to love Meg Ryan, reminded me of Carol Lombard now she's more like Joan Rivers, in appearance if not in spirit. There is nothing funny about her. Strangely enough she looks better in the second part of the film. In any case, the modernity of Norma Shearer's performance is unbeatable. Annette Bening is better but couldn't cancel the memory of Rosalind Russell, who could? If one can divorce oneself from the George Cukor original, and one must to be able to sit through it, there are a few pleasures to be had, mostly thanks to Cloris Leachman, Candice Bergen (playing Meg Ryan's mom for the second time, remember "Rich and Famous"?) and Bette Midler in a much to brief stint playing the part once played by Mary Boland. The most unforgivable blunder is Eva Mendes's Crystal. She couldn't fill Joan Crawford's shoes not even by mistake. Her performance is vulgar, jarring and ugly. How strange that someone as smart as Diane English could give us such a confusing picture of women. Oh well, I had to see it, I saw it and I'm very disappointed but hardly surprised.