The Women (2008) Film Review - Meg Ryan

Catching up on my reviews - I actually watched this on December 27th, over a week ago!

Plot Summary - Meg Ryan stars as Mary Haines, living in a big house in Connecticut, married to Stephen, a successful Wall Street businessman, mom to preteen Molly, and drudge at her dad's fashion company. Things begin to change for Mary when her best gal pal Sylvie Fowler (Annette Bening) becomes aware of some gossip about Stephen, revealed to her by a very gossipy manicurist - Stephen is having an affair with one Crystal Allen, sleazy younger woman who works behind the perfume counter. Soon Mary's life is coming apart - her own father fires her from his business, and Mary finds out herself - from that same manicurist, no less - about the affair. Soon on the outs with pal Sylvie, who then sort of becomes a second mom to young Molly, while Mary throws Stephen and all his stuff out of the house and files for divorce. How will Mary turn around her life now?! Well, becoming her own woman seems to be her first step, and she opens up her own fashion design company. Will she go back with that louse, will her clothing company become a success, will she make friends again with her old pal? Hmmm.

Review - Okay, this is a loose remake of the 1939 classic film "The Women", actually one of my faves from the thirties, which I have seen a number of times. Of course, the comparisons between the two versions are going to be made - and it's hard to not make a comparison between Joan Crawford, who is just great as Crystal Allen in the older version, and Eva Mendes who plays her here okay, but without quite the spark that Crawford brings to the role. But if you look at this film on it's own, without thinking about the thirties film, it's not really so bad - I did find it pretty entertaining and I know that this new version received loads of terrible reviews. Meg Ryan and Annette Bening are both very good in their parts - in the older version Norma Shearer and Rosalind Russell appear in those same parts, and are great, of course. I haven't seen Meg Ryan in a film in awhile, she's still that same bubbly and cute blonde I remember from things like "Sleepless in Seattle". In this newer version, the women are seen pursuing various careers - in the old film, being the thirties, the women don't work. One thing I like that they kept the same in both versions - there are no males in the cast at all, not even as extras. This film features a number of scenes in department stores and on the streets of NYC, not a man to be seen! They even manage to fit in a restaurant scene by making them dine at a lesbian club (one of the group of gal pals seen in this is a lesbian). The circle of girlfriends in this appears a bit smaller than in the older version, but provides entertaining scenes (except the birth scene at the end - ugh, too much screaming). Bette Midler is good here, in an all too brief part though. Rating - 7/10 stars

Then She Found Me (2007) Film Review

Plot Summary - Melodramatic romantic comedy directed by and starring Helen Hunt as April, a very recently dumped schoolteacher who, at 39-years old, is very fragile and absolutely desperate to have a baby. She feels that adoption is out of the question as she was adopted herself and feels that she would never be as close to the adopted baby as her own. She meets the handsome father (Colin Firth) of one of her young students, a recently dumped single father of two and they have sort of a fling as they start to fall for each other. Meanwhile, April has been contacted by her birth mother (Bette Midler), a quirky New York morning talk show host who likes to twist the truth a lot. April spends her time juggling her relationships with her birth mother, new boyfriend, and her ex-husband (Matthew Broderick) who steps back onto the scene and "wants her back" (ugh).

Review - I found this film - what some might call a "chick flick" - an interesting watch, filmed on-location in NYC, and helped along by the fact that I really like all the actors that are in this (um, and Colin Firth will always be my favorite filmland Mr. Darcy). The story is quite a soap opera that really pulled me in, the characters and their complex relationships came across as realistic - the meat of the story seems to revolve around adoption. Helen Hunt is very good in this as the woman who really finds herself in the end (she does look really thin and so, so tired in this, but it fits with the character). Rating - 8/10 stars