Writer/director Diane English is best known for creating the television series Murphy Brown, which ran from 1988-1998. After years of working in television, English decided to make her big screen directorial debut with The Women. The film is based on Claire Boothe Luce’s 1936 stage success of the same name, and was subsequently made into a feature film in 1939 directed by George Cukor. The 1939 version features a who’s-who of actresses: Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Joan Fontaine, Paulette Goddard, Ruth Hussey, and others who turned it into a classic. Following Cukor’s lead, English did gather some of Hollywood’s best female talent; unfortunately for her, what she produced is far from classic material.
The cast is first rate: Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Cloris Leachman, Bette Midler, Carrie Fisher, Candace Bergen, Debi Mazar, Ana Gasteyer and more put in appearances. With all that talent, it’s really a shame their all given so little to do. There’s no doubt that The Women is a true ‘Women’s Picture.’ There isn’t one man in the entire cast. Men are discussed constantly, but they are always working, on business trips or engaging in athletic pursuits. It’s a running gag that no matter what the location–from restaurants to department stores to New York City sidewalks–there are only women in the scene. Unfortunately, it’s a running joke that wears out its welcome pretty fast.
Meg Ryan stars as Mary Haines, a woman who apparently gave up a promising career as a fashion designer when she married a very successful businessman and had a daughter. Mary has all the trappings of affluence; she lives in a luxurious Connecticut home with a housekeeper (Cloris Leachman) and a nanny (Keegan Connor Tracy). Mary has very few real responsibilities, and spends her days hosting charity luncheons and shopping in New York City.
Mary’s seemingly perfect life comes crashing down around her when she learns that her husband is having an affair with a sexy perfume girl at Saks, played by Eva Mendes. This revelation gets Mary’s friends involved in a plan to help her through a divorce. Playing Mary’s best friends are Annette Bening as Sylvia Fowler, the editor of a high-end women’s magazine; Debra Messing as Edie Cohen, the pregnant head of a robust family; and Jada Pinkett Smith as Alex Fisher, their lesbian friend.
Also making brief appearances are Bette Midler as a Hollywood agent who gives Mary some advice on her life; though Midler’s appearance is so brief, it’s almost as if she dropped by the set to visit someone and decided she’d like to be in the film too. Candice Bergen drops in as Mary’s mother, who gives her some advice on her life.
The 1939 version of The Women is a truly witty and insightful film. The women talked fast, making their lines seem spontaneous and fun. Here, the women talk with such a sense of dread, there’s no fun in it. In the old movie, the characters only implied the extramarital affair, referring to it as “stepping out”; here, even though the movie carries a PG-13 rating, the women discuss sex openly and in frank, sometimes profane terms. It doesn’t improve the story; if anything, it detracts from it, because the women’s conversations lack the sense of mystery the older film allows.
I suspect that Ms. English intended to make a sophisticated ‘women’s picture,’ but it comes off as rather superficial and pointless. The film concludes with a really tasteless, desperate scene in a hospital delivery room that pretty much negates every point about self confidence and growth Ms. English had been trying to make up until that point.
This remake of The Women is truly a disappointment, and I highly recommend watching the 1939 classic.
The film has been framed at 1.78:1 for this Blu-ray release, and it’s delivered at 1080p using the VC-1 codec. Though color is strong, flesh tones natural, and sharpness above average, there’s nothing particularly striking about the transfer. There’s a bit of line shimmer to be seen and some edge enhancement, though neither present major issues.
We have another high definition transfer with only a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps) track for the audio mix. It’s a predictable front heavy sound design with both various pop tunes and Mark Isham’s score being the only real occupants of the rear channels and then only sporadically.
The Women has a few special features:
“The Women: The Legacy” is an 18 ¾-minute documentary on the original play and film The Women and how director-writer Diane English spent 13 years bringing her variation of it to the screen through seven drafts of the script and many changes in the cast. English speaks about her reasons for altering the slant of the play and her notions about casting the roles in the current film. It’s presented in 1080i, and the multiple clips from the 1939 The Women make that film look absolutely stellar in high definition.
“The Women Behind The Women“ finds 15-year old Cammie Nelson doing a report about “What Is Real Beauty?” by interviewing various cast and crew members of this production. This 1080i featurette also lasts 18 ¾ minutes.
Two deleted scenes are included for viewing. They can be viewed separately or in one 6 ½-minute clump. They’re presented in 480i.
