The Women (2008)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Bethany M

  
  Really, really crap!

• ♥˩ƳИИ &

  
  Cast: Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Natasha Alam, Carrie Fisher, Candice Bergen, Bette Midler, Annette Bening Director: Diane English Summary: Shocked by the discovery that their pal Mary's (Meg Ryan) husband is having an affair with a beautiful… More
  Cast: Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Natasha Alam, Carrie Fisher, Candice Bergen, Bette Midler, Annette Bening Director: Diane English Summary: Shocked by the discovery that their pal Mary's (Meg Ryan) husband is having an affair with a beautiful young shop girl (Eva Mendes), a tight-knit circle of New York socialites comes up with a devious plan to help Mary win back her man. My Thoughts: "Great cast of female actresses. Some had strong performances some not as strong. But I enjoyed the story and the friendships between the girls. This is a girl driven film that I am not sure any guy will want to watch, unless forced to by their better half. But I must say, if I was to come face to face with my husbands mistress there would be little conversation happening. But I guess the way Mary Haines handles it is a bit more classy. I just don't have patience for talking when I see red lol. It's a funny film with strong females. Great chick flick."

• Dean M

  
  This remake of George Cukor's 1939 version in the plot is full of women only in the screen, none of men hanging around and chewing up on screen time, but except in the voice on the telephone conversations and give birth a baby boy at the final scene. I like the cast are Meg… More
  This remake of George Cukor's 1939 version in the plot is full of women only in the screen, none of men hanging around and chewing up on screen time, but except in the voice on the telephone conversations and give birth a baby boy at the final scene. I like the cast are Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing and Jada Pinkett-Smith fit on their roles well. Messing's character is funny and cute and could have really had a good storyline to go along with Mary's (Ryan) marital woes but they give her next to nothing other than a few good lines and funny moments. There is strong comedic acting in some of the supporting roles, including Cloris Leachman, Eve Mendes, Candice Bergen and Bette Milder. Carrie Fisher gets points for playing her entire scene while furiously pumping a workout machine. This isn't great movie, but how could it be? Too many characters and too much melodrama for that, and the comedy has to be somewhat muted to make the characters semi-believable. But as a well-crafted, well-written and well-acted entertainment, it drew me in and got its job done.

• Richard C

  
  this sucked really bad. F

• Nicki M

  
  Could have been better. It was okay and cast are good, but something about it just fell flat and I downright hated the ending. Actually Debra Messing's character in general I found irritating, and I usually like her.

• Red L

  
  Lots of A list actors. A little unrealistic. Start your own clothes designs and Saks wants to buy them? A friend writes a best seller on her first try? I guess the movie is OK to watch if you don't think too much.

• paul s

  
  The film walks on very well-trodden ground, and really has nothing new to say, but... as entertainment, it delivers very well. A witty script, with some truly funny one-liners; delivered by a fantastic cast, including Meg Ryan and Annette Benning in the central roles; with great… More
  The film walks on very well-trodden ground, and really has nothing new to say, but... as entertainment, it delivers very well. A witty script, with some truly funny one-liners; delivered by a fantastic cast, including Meg Ryan and Annette Benning in the central roles; with great supporting roles by Candace Bergen and Cloris Leachman; not to mention wonderful cameos by Carrie Fisher and Bette Midler. The message - that a woman has to love herself before she can be and give love, is swathed in upper class New York power women - so it is perhaps a fable and dangling the same kind of carrot that it supposidly is railing against. Still, the actresses convey an ease of manner which seems totally organic, and only once (during Meg and Annette's reconcilliation scene) does it come across as the reading of lines (though they recover beautifully by the end of the scene). If you want revelations and deep philosophical discourse, then this is not your film. If you want to watch some fantastic actresses performing with ease and grace, and want to simply be entertained, then this film is certainly worth the 1:45 investment.

• Film C

  
  I really quite enjoyed this movie i thought maybe it could of been better but it wasnt to bad! Its funny in places and even though some laughs are far between each when they come they are hilarious! i like this film even more because its a chick flick and a completely woman cast… More
  I really quite enjoyed this movie i thought maybe it could of been better but it wasnt to bad! Its funny in places and even though some laughs are far between each when they come they are hilarious! i like this film even more because its a chick flick and a completely woman cast there isnt a male at all in the entire movie they talk a bout male bosses and bf'f but you never see them which i thought was diffferent and a good idea!! Meg ryan finds out her husband has cheated and thinks the good idea is to just divorce him with her friends taking her side they are funny all together! there isnt much to the story really and can be boring in places but still a worth a while movie with great performances worth a watch!!

• Morgan S

  
  ok the person that got the most laughs from me was The Old Maid! housekeeper/ whatever! she was pretty good!

• Rachel F

  
  Loved it! It is exactly the type of movie that I really get into. All of the lead actresses were great, especially Meg Ryan. Cute story and it's pretty damn funny too.

• Mason W

  
  The Women starring a very good cast is a good film overall...not as good as the original from MGM in 1939 at all. If you want to see the best watch the original starring Norma Shearer and Joan Craford. The new film stars Meg Ryan as Mary Haines whom finds out her husband in NYC is… More
  The Women starring a very good cast is a good film overall...not as good as the original from MGM in 1939 at all. If you want to see the best watch the original starring Norma Shearer and Joan Craford. The new film stars Meg Ryan as Mary Haines whom finds out her husband in NYC is cheating on her with Crystal Allen (Eva Mendes). Crystal is a perfume girl at Sacks 5th Ave. and wants the wealth of the married man. With a strong cast such as Debra Messing. Jada Pinckett Smith, Annette Benning, Candice Bergin, Bette Midler, Cloris Leachman and more help this movie which is on the weak side overall. The script is weak and dissappointing overall. The beginning of the film is not that bad but then it drags out and lost me....try to see it but if you want a true classic rent the original.

• Candy R

  
  Good girl flick about a group of friends who find out one of their husband's having an affair. It is like an older Sex and the City mix of relationships, careers, etc. Be warned, it is difficult to look at Meg with her plastic surgery she smiles like the Joker!

• Manu G

  
  I was kinda hoping to learn something from this movie but didn't lol, the movie was boring, the only good thing was Meg Ryan's and Eva Mende's beauty. A wealthy New Yorker leaves her cheating husband and bonds with other society women at a resort. A remake of George… More
  I was kinda hoping to learn something from this movie but didn't lol, the movie was boring, the only good thing was Meg Ryan's and Eva Mende's beauty. A wealthy New Yorker leaves her cheating husband and bonds with other society women at a resort. A remake of George Cukor's 1939 film "The Women."

• William D

  
  [size=3]The idea of remaking "The Women" was inspired. But writer/ director [b]Diane English[/b] simply was not up to the task. The script was just awful. Every line was crushingly pedestrian. The direction was also among the most flat-footed of the decade.[/size]… More
  [size=3]The idea of remaking "The Women" was inspired. But writer/ director [b]Diane English[/b] simply was not up to the task. The script was just awful. Every line was crushingly pedestrian. The direction was also among the most flat-footed of the decade.[/size] [img]http://images.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2008/09/12/the_women/story.jpg[/img] [size=3]Just about the only thing Ms. English got right was the casting. Seeing [b]Annette Bening [/b]and [b]Meg Ryan[/b] on screen together was a great treat. It's too bad that these titans of cinema had almost nothing interesting to say in the main roles. The many supporting actresses, [b]Jada Pinkett Smith[/b], [b]Debra Messing[/b], and [b]Eva Mendes [/b]among them, had very little to do but offer paper-thin caricatures. Only [b]Candice Bergen[/b] succeeded at taking her thin dialogue and spinning gold out of it. Bergen positively jumped off the screen in every scene she was in. [b]Bette Midler[/b] in a small cameo was dreadful. She also looked a fright in what has to be the worst wig of 2008.[/size] [size=3]The film was marginally pleasurable throughout, and there was a sweet ending. I also liked very much the attempt to embrace glamour but also critique it. I liked that one of the characters was made a lesbian. And how could anyone dislike the subplot concerning the girl who admires her newly independent mom? But these good ideas never come to life in a compelling way in this fourth-rate screenplay. "The Women" is so bad at times that I thought it was an insult to women.[/size] [size=3]Bening and Ryan play upper-class women. Bening runs a fashion magazine, while Ryan is a fashion designer who put her career on hold to be a wife and mother. The central plot line surrounds an affair that Ryan's Wall Street husband is having with a department-store clerk played by Eva Mendes. The big question is how Ryan should handle it. She gets widely differing advice from her best friend (Bening) and her mother (Candice Bergen). [/size][size=3]Complicating matters is Ryan's 13-year-old daughter, who is heartbroken when she learns that the marriage is hitting rough water. [/size] [size=3][/size] [size=3]Around the edges of this central story is a parade of diverse types of women: a black lesbian, a super-model, a frumpy woman who is always pregnant, a sixtysomething housekeeper, a European au pair, a working-class manicurist from Queens, etc. The diversity is a nice touch, but the characterizations are only skin deep.[/size] [size=3][/size] [size=3]The best sequence by far is the final one, which takes place in a hospital delivery room. One character is giving birth, and all her friends assist. This scene gives Jada Pinkett Smith and Debra Messing a chance finally to spread their comic wings. If only the rest of the film had the spirit, spunk, and humor of this sequence.[/size]

• William S

  
  I will admit to going to see this more out of curiosity than actual interest. The 1939 original is great - a biting social satire that is one of the cattiest, bitchiest, funniest and sassiest films there is. It was also an excellent showcase for the female talent of it's time -… More
  I will admit to going to see this more out of curiosity than actual interest. The 1939 original is great - a biting social satire that is one of the cattiest, bitchiest, funniest and sassiest films there is. It was also an excellent showcase for the female talent of it's time - Hollywood's Golden Age. But what the hell do we have here?? All the sass, the bitchiness, the biting wit and glamour is gone and in it's place is a totally anaemic tale of sisterly love played out by the most mind numbingly boring and screechy characters ever put to celluloid. It felt more like Sex and the City rewritten by some Christian Womens' Institute. I really have NO idea what the other people at the screening I attended were laughing at! Maybe it was Meg Ryan's cosmetic surgery - all collagen pout and cat's eyes stare! Very disconcerting - especially haloed by all that bloody curly hair (is anyone's hair THAT curly?). But hang on... Oh she's straightened it, just so we know she's a changed woman! ZZZzzz... Poor Annette Bening was the only real talent on show here. I felt SO sorry for her because she deserves so much more than this. I just hope she gets a better offer soon. This is why these kind of films aren't called Women's Films anymore and are dismissed as Chick-flics! The cinematic equivalent of nails being clawed on a chalk board Ouch!

• Sarah G

  
  <u>Director:</u>Diane English <u>Released:</u> 2008 <u>Stars:</u> Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes and Debra Messing <u>Genre:</u> Comedy/Drama <u>Country:</u> USA <a… More
  <u>Director:</u>Diane English <u>Released:</u> 2008 <u>Stars:</u> Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes and Debra Messing <u>Genre:</u> Comedy/Drama <u>Country:</u> USA <a href="http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q202/sarah88_uk/?action=view¤t=thewomen.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q202/sarah88_uk/thewomen.jpg" border="0"alt="Photobucket"></a> The story centers on a group of gossipy, high-society women who spend their days at the beauty salon and haunting fashion shows. The sweet, happily-wedded Mary Haines finds her marriage in trouble when shop girl Crystal Allen gets her hooks into Mary's man. Naturally, this situation becomes the hot talk amongst Mary's catty friends, especially the scandalmonger Sylvia Fowler, who has little room to talk - she finds herself on a train to Reno and headed for divorce right after Mary Now I picked The Women purely on the basis it had a cast of A list actresses that I have come to admire over the years, some more than others. Also the fact that an all female cast is a rarity even in the 21st century, so naturally being female I went to see whether it could deliver. It does and does not. What it fails to do in the screenplay, it makes up for with the cast, which many I?ve come to associate with certain characters they?ve played, i.e. (Annette Bening-American Beauty) and Debra Messing(Will and Grace.) The Women is a fairly average film, but in a good way. It doesn?t try to be something it?s not, just sticks to what it intends to set out to do. I did enjoy it, despite the three star rating. The Women, by the end of the film, feels like one of those films that pops up on a Sunday afternoon on the television and you sit and watch it even thought you?re not 100% interested. The Women is a very predictable film and you find yourself discovering what?s going to happen before the characters do. But for some reason that didn?t annoy me. Perhaps it?s because I?m watching female characters which I have seen and can relate to or because these actresses are ones which aren?t irritating in anyway. However there is one actress in particular, who has only confirmed that she can?t act and will never deliver anything remotely good. Most of the cast excel at their performances, Eva Mendes seemed all too familiar in the role of Crystal Allen, and her performance was very uncomfortable to watch. In some ways the reason I?ve given it 3 stars, she does bring down the film enormously and make you really wish you you hadn?t entered the cinema. I?m not sure what else to say about her performance but if there?s any justice in the world of cinema, she gets a Razzie nomination. The chemistry between Meg Ryan and Annette Bening is just brilliant and their performances where good I have to say. Debra Messing, was the only thing that is funny in the film. Most of the scenes she?s in I did laugh especially the end sequence, which you?ll see once you watch it. One other flaw in terms of acting was Jada Pinkett Smith, who over-played her character, who was a lesbian. I found myself getting incredibly irritated by her. Unfortunatly I went to the toilet when Bette Midler was on screen, so I can?t comment on that. The Women, despite being in a ?Comedy? genre isn?t exactly as funny as you would expect. There are many old jokes that appear in the film, which I found myself just sitting there wondering what they were thinking when they wrote the script. I think there are about 3 moments where I laughed and 1 ou tloud. I just ended up following the story, which for some reason I did site and watch. The film isn?t as bad as some reviews, which I have read, stated. Whilst the story is very predictable and albeit a little poor the delivery of the lines and the direction make up for that. The Women is a very average film, however it?s enjoyable and you can sit and watch it. Definatly watch out for Debra Messing in the final sequence which was very funny. The film is probably not for everyone, most likely for many women but if you want to see it I recommend going but take someone along with you!

• Sol C

  
  Disappointing. Despite a great ensemble female cast, the film itself is flat. The pacing is off both editingwise and dialogwise. The dialog needed to be fixed. I have been told the original film is much better than this remake.

• Deb S

  
  The entire cast comprised of women; Annette Benning, Meg Ryan, Debra Messing, Candice Bergen, Cloris Leachman , Jada Pinkett Smith , Bette Midler and Eva Mendes but it's refreshing to see women on the screen grappling with decisions that affect their lives, their families, their… More
  The entire cast comprised of women; Annette Benning, Meg Ryan, Debra Messing, Candice Bergen, Cloris Leachman , Jada Pinkett Smith , Bette Midler and Eva Mendes but it's refreshing to see women on the screen grappling with decisions that affect their lives, their families, their careers, their friendships and most importantly, their consciousness. In a nutshell, the story is basically about Ryan who plays the all American lovely socialite wife Mary Haines juggling with family, career and various obligations, so much so that her husband finds enough time to engage in an extra-marital affair. Eva Mendez was stunningly and evilly cast as the other woman, Crystal Allen, who hooks up with Mary's husband just because of his social standing and platinum credit card. Annette Bening was outstanding in this film and I especially liked how her character comes clean with Meg Ryan at the table about selling her out and the scene between Bening and her best friend's daughter on the park bench was especially touching. Jada Pinkett Smith was also very likable. This movie is a light piece of entertainment and no, I didn't see the 1939 version so my opinion is totally unbiased. The NYC scenes were nice to see and yeah I do believe it was far better than the recent Sex in the City movie even though I am a big fan of Sex in the City the TV series.

• Yinalí R

  
  Very very funny!

• Daisy M

  
  The Women was such a waste of talent. With Annette Bening, Candice Bergen, Bette Midler, Meg Ryan, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messing, and Eva Mendes who were good actors, still how could the movie be so boring, predictable and simply bad?The movies like The Women give the whole genre… More
  The Women was such a waste of talent. With Annette Bening, Candice Bergen, Bette Midler, Meg Ryan, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messing, and Eva Mendes who were good actors, still how could the movie be so boring, predictable and simply bad?The movies like The Women give the whole genre chick flicks or woman in the lead movies such a bad name. Nothing against this genre, but why was it so difficult to make a really good comedy about female friendships, dealing with marriage, motherhood, and proving yourself professionally? These were all important subjects any modern woman can relate to. Why making movies with the lines, dialogs, and situations so cliche,so predictable, not funny and insulting, that as viewer you were happy when the movie finished? I don;t understand.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings