The Women

So far this year, I've seen three films about a group of four female friends tackle relationships and the world around them. First was Sex and the City, which was watchable but nothing special. Then there was The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, which I just couldn't care about. Now there is The Women, and my reaction is pretty much the same as Sex and the City. This is fitting, since both films are fairly similar at their core. The Women has been a project that's been stuck in "development hell" for about 15 years now, but it's obvious that writer-director Diane English (a former writer on TV's Murphy Brown, making her big screen debut) was more than a little inspired by the structure and success of the Sex TV show and film.

The four best friends this time around involve Mary Haines (Meg Ryan), a wealthy mom and wife who can't see that her relationship with her husband is falling apart, Sylvia Fowler (Annette Bening), a cutthroat editor of a woman's magazine who is trying to hold onto her job in a man's world (even though no men actually appear in the film itself - more on that later), Edie (Debra Messing) who is pregnant with her fifth child, and Alex (Jada Pinkett Smith), who fills the role of both the pre-requisite black girl and the pre-requisite lesbian, and not much else. The plot concerns Mary discovering that her husband Steven is having an affair with the girl at the perfume counter at Saks 5th Avenue - an icy cold gold digger named Crystal (Eva Mendez). As Mary tries to deal with the emotions she feels about her relationship falling apart, and how to reach her increasingly emotionally isolated preteen daughter Molly (India Ennenga), she goes on a personal journey of self discovery to find out who she really is, and what she wants out of life.

The film is billed as a remake and update of a classic film from 1939, but to be honest, it's really just a patchwork collection of scenes inspired by just about every "chick flick" ever made. The Women is far from bad, and hosts some strong performances from its undeniably talented cast, but there is just absolutely nothing to get excited about here. English's direction style definitely shows her television roots, as there is absolutely no visual flair to this movie. As the four friends make their way about New York City, gossiping about men and their personal lives, there's a heavy sense that we've seen it all before, which we of course have. This wouldn't be so bad if the characters were more interesting, but aside from Ryan's Mary and Bening's Sylvia, the characters are thinly development. The other two friends who round out the main group, Messing's Edie and Smith's Alex, may as well have been written out of the film, since they only pop up in the film sporadically, and when they do, don't really add anything. Edie is there so the movie can end with that standard of comedies aimed at women - the childbirth scene. And yes, it plays out exactly as you'd expect. As for Alex, I'm still trying to figure out why she was in the movie, since we don't learn anything about her except for the fact that she likes to sleep with women.

The thing is, there are some strong scenes to be found that at least prove that The Women is on the right track at times. Some moments that stand out are the scenes where Candice Bergen pops up in a small role as Meg Ryan's mother. The scenes between mother and daughter here are sweet, and hold an honesty that a lot of the movie lacks. I also liked the scene where Annette Bening's character strikes up a relationship with Mary's young daughter, and wished they could have expanded upon that relationship more, since it's pretty much dropped after their big scene together where they talk about Molly having a hard time relating to her mother, and the feelings she's experiencing about her parents divorcing. That's a big problem in this film. Good ideas or characters are introduced, and then nothing is done with them. There's a scene where Mary goes to some kind of health retreat to get away from her problems, and befriends a spirited woman who speaks her mind played by Bette Midler. Midler's scene with Meg Ryan is so good here, and yet, it's her only moment in the film. It made me wish they had made her character one of the four friends, and gotten rid of the worthless Edie or Alex.

But if there is one core problem to the film, it falls back on its own gimmick, which is that there are no men in the cast, not even as extras in the background. Men are constantly spoken about, but never seen, as if they were as elusive as Bigfoot. I understand that the filmmakers are being faithful to the original film, as that had no men in it either. But, it really hurts the emotional drama when we don't even get to see Mary's husband, or even get to see their confrontation. We just get two of Mary's hired help at her house talking about it in hushed whispers in the kitchen. It's just not the same, and it really lessens what is supposed to be an important moment of the film. The gimmick winds up hurting the film in the end, because quite frankly, I think male characters were needed in order for this film to work. If it had been written in a certain way, then yes, I think the "no men" gimmick could have worked. But the way this film is written, it comes across as contrived and awkward as it constantly calls attention to itself throughout.

The Women feels like a missed opportunity all around, and is never quite as strong as it should have been. I'm sure it will make money, as it pretty much has a guaranteed built in audience. However, the filmmakers seemed to stop there. They knew certain people would see it, so it's almost like they didn't feel like they didn't have to try so hard. Maybe if they had tried, this movie could have not only reached its target audience, but also beyond. Just a thought, it all I'm saying.

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