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Women, The

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Women, The reviews
27
4.0 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 21 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy  |  Drama

Written by: Clare Boothe Luce (play)
Anita Loos (1939 screenplay)
Jane Murfin (1939 screenplay)
Diane English

Directed by: Diane English

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 12, 2008
DVD: December 16, 2008

Running Time: 114 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for sex-related material, language, some drug use and brief smoking

Starring Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Eva Mendes, Cloris Leachman, Candice Bergen, and Bette Midler

The Women is a comedy about contemporary womanhood and the power of female relationships. Based on George Cukor’s 1939 film and Clare Boothe Luce’s 1936 stage play, The Women whisks us into a busy pocket of Manhattan society, where the publishing, fashion and finance industries play. At the center of the tale is Mary Haines, a thoroughly modern woman suddenly confronted with an age-old dilemma: a cheating husband. The ladies in her life swiftly rally to Mary’s side, led by her best friend, Sylvie Fowler, a dynamic magazine editor. But when Sylvie betrays Mary in a Faustian bargain, the entire group is shaken to the core – and two women face the most painful breakup of all - their friendship. (Picturehouse)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

As a well-crafted, well-written and well-acted entertainment, it drew me in and got its job done.

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75

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

It's intermittently amusing, and Bening actually gives a performance instead of a star turn, but the claws should have been sharper.

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63

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

English wrangles her talent like a virtuoso. Best is Murphy Brown herself, Candice Bergen.

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63

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This is Diane English's directing debut, and it shows. Also in evidence is her familiarity with television. The movie is shot like a TV show, with frequent intercut close-ups.

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50

San Francisco Chronicle David Wiegand

Very earnest, often engaging, but not quite as much of a pleasure as the original.

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50

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

Feels the scratches of too much time and tinkling and is as disjointed as a dislocated shoulder.

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50

New York Magazine David Edelstein

It's fascinating trying to separate the thirties material from the mostly maladroit additions.

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50

The Hollywood Reporter Stephen Farber

The film repeatedly sacrifices dramatic punch for political correctness.

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50

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The movie is a feminist lesson instead of what it should have been (and once was): a tough, synthetic, high-gloss entertainment that wears its heart on its lacquered fingernails.

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50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

For all its current political incorrectness, the original film at least attacked hypocrisy; this one practises it.

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40

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Becomes unfocused as it stumbles over all the points it wants to make.

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40

Variety Peter Debruge

The Women is less about getting even than about inspiring that same mushy sense of female empowerment you might find in a Tyler Perry meller, complete with manic mood swings and full-blown diva moments.

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38

Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson

It's a high-powered cast, but it has painfully little to work with, apart from widely varying humor.

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38

Premiere Emily Rems

It would be sad if Tinseltown used this poorly executed remake as proof that there's no audience for female-driven films, because that's not the case at all.

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38

USA Today Claudia Puig

Defanged and drippy, the remake of 1939's The Women seems to have been made for the dullard granddaughters of the sassy, sharp society matrons in George Cukor's campy original.

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38

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

This Women doesn't take place in reality or even in a glamorous urban fantasyland. It's strictly TV Land.

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38

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The movie is a work of ambivalence. Is English making fun of these women? Or is she making a pilot for Lifetime?

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33

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

The original was a tart dipped in acid; this one's a biscuit sprinkled in Splenda.

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30

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Ryan, barely refining her "When Harry Met Sally" persona, is a dud; Annette Bening, playing the best friend who sells her out to a tabloid, is better in the scenes she doesn't share with her.

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30

Washington Post Philip Kennicott

Falls flat at every turn.

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25

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A total disaster.

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25

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

It's not every movie that makes you wish Vin Diesel would run in and start blowing up stuff.

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25

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's a major dud.

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25

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

So consistently, outrageously wrongheaded in every way it's hard to know where to start.

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25

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Is there anything more depressing than when middlebrow filmmakers decide to remake bona fide classics that did not, under any circumstances, need to be remade?

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20

Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams

The whole vibe is so shrill and frantic that the truly accomplished actresses, like Bening and Bergen, are left to flounder. The less nuanced ones -- that would be you, Debra Messing -- are, to use the idiom of the movie, as pleasant to watch as a bikini wax is to feel.

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20

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Isn't so much incompetent as it is hopelessly tame and muddled.

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20

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Is it an exaggeration to call The Women the worst movie of the year? Well, yeah, probably. But it may be the most disappointing, given all the effort that went into it.

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10

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

The funniest thing about The Women is that Mick Jagger is one of the producers.

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10

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A witless, straining mess.

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0

Time Richard Schickel

One of the worst movies I've ever seen.

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0

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

It's not particularly fun, or funny, for starters.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 4.0 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Tom G gave it a1:
A poor film. I realize the omission of any male cast was a deliberate stylistic decision, but it becomes conspicuously obvious and ostentatiously overt when they're walking down the street and there isn't even a single male extra walking along a public sidewalk. So much so that I have no idea what they were even talking about, as I was too focused on the absence of 50% of the population. They might well have blared THX-style "THERE ARE NO MEN IN THIS FILM!" Regardless, this must be the ultimate chick flick, since there are only chicks and only the chick point of view, which makes it inherently unbalanced. I was under the impression this was supposed to be a comedy film, but I kept waiting and waiting for the funny, but it never came. So I figured it must be a drama, but then what person really wants to see a bunch of privileged upper-upper-middle class women whining about their petty little lives. Was I supposed to like any of them or be sympathetic to them? Because they were all inherently unlikeable. Not to mention making themselves completely powerless. Meg Ryan goes in with the notion of kicking Eva Mendes' ass, and I thought, cool, it'll get interesting, but instead she just has a whine. I mean, jeez. This is your idea of kicking ass? In any event, it makes me glad that I'm gay, since if there is even a modicum of reality in this dreck, I am so thrilled that I dodged a bullet and will never have to put up with the sort of mindless crap shown in this film. Feminist? I guess so. Poor movies shouldn't be confined to just male-oriented ones. FAILure should always be an equal-opportunity phenomenon. DO. NOT. WANT.

Kendra S. gave it an8:
Fun to watch with women.

Lauren s gave it a3:
It's like watching grass grow. You're watching your own pathetic life being turned into a movie with these women who love to chat with each other about men and relationships.

Ian A. gave it an8:
I really don't think this movie deserved the bad ratings that it received. I really enjoyed it. I thought it was fast paced and funny. I'm a die hard fan of the 1939 version but I really liked this modern day version and would thoroughly recommend it.

Jessyka T. gave it a1:
I cannot beleive with some of the names in this movie what horrible performances were given. I was very dissapointed.

Jim L. gave it a6:
Great cast, some great scenes, some great lines, some laughs. Not a great movie, but certainly not the worst I've ever seen.

Jay H. gave it a6:
To remake such a classic as The Women (1939) is not a good idea. You could never ever equal the cast of the original. It's not as bad though as the reviews I have been reading, the basic story is good and hard to mess up. But, it is so pale in comparison to the original. Annette Bening is good, as is Cloris Leachman. I did enjoy most of it, but it compelled me to watch the original.

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