The Women

Dir: Diane English

2008

****

Diane English's comedy drama The Women was met with negative reviews upon release back in 2008. It was written off as a charmless and badly written Sex and the City rip-off but that couldn't be further away from the truth. I admit, on paper it looks bad. A film about four Manhattan socialites, who spend their days gossiping, having their nails done and generally bad-mouthing men is not my idea of a good time. This is no SATC rip-off though, this is a remake of the charming but woefully outdated The Women, directed by George Cukor and released in 1939. The big difference, apart from the trend and fashion, is that all the women in this updated version are independent and working. Like the original, there are no male actors at all throughout the film and the story centres around four friends. The big difference is that 2008's version is very self-aware, exaggerates but never stereotypes and is remarkably believable. It is also very, very funny. The script is as sharp as a knife and the performances match. My only grievance is that the women either work in magazines of fashion, which I find a little cliché and the birthing scene involved physical comedy that not all the actors could handle. I pretty much loved everything else about it. The film is full of great one-on-one scenes that are all outstanding. Meg Ryan's character confronting her husband’s mistress (played by the brilliant Eva Mendes) in a changing room - phenomenal, Meg Ryan's character talking to her mother (played by the brilliant Candice Bergen) just after she’s had a face-lift - hilarious, Meg Ryan's character sharing a joint with Bette Midler's Hollywood agent - brilliant, Meg Ryan's character telling her best friend (played by the amazing Annette Bening) that the separation between them was worse than the one with her husband - heart-breaking.....I could go on and on. There are more funny scenes in this film, per minute than there is in any film I've seen in the last decade, I'm not kidding. The laughs range between subtle and belly. Cloris Leachman plays Meg Ryan's house keeper and is nothing short of hilarious in every second she's on screen. The story isn't anything special, it is the script and performance that really shines through and that is why, in my opinion, why it works so well. I laughed throughout the film, the only times I didn't was because I was trying not to cry and the genuinely touching scenes. It has been criminally overlooked, which I think is terribly unfair as I would like to see much more of this type of thing. People complain that there are no funny women in film and women aren't getting the same recognition as men. I agree, but at the same time those same people are overlooking gems like this. Change the setting and change the characters but with performances and script like this you can't go wrong, there are loads of female actors of all ages and great female scriptwriters who could make films as good as this, if only Hollywood would let them and that can only happen when people support great films like this before dismissing them as something they're not.