The Women
The Women could not be more aptly named since aside from one infant there is never even an ounce of testosterone on screen - although Annette Bening’s character Sylvia Fowler appears to have a fair amount of it coursing through her veins along with a quantity of ice water. Even with the magic of hair, make-up and lighting that does give her an alluring look, there still seems to be too big of an age gap to make us believe that she and Mary Haines (Meg Ryan) were college classmates. Their post graduate friendship remains constant despite Sylvia being a fashion mag shaker in Manhattan and Mary being a work at home dress designer in Connecticut. Along the way accumulated friends include baby machine Edie Cohen (Deborah Messing) and the lesbian dabbling Alex Fisher (Jada Pinkett Smith). Through a mouthy Saks manicurist (perfect Debi Mazar) they find out that Mary’s husband is spritzing Crystal Allen (Eva Mendes) the spritzer girl in the perfume department. Time passes and Mary faces even more humiliation and abandonment from others close to her. As friends rally to the rescue sage advise is meted out by a fellow retreat patient Leah Miller (Bette Midler in a weak and unnecessary role) but the best lines come from housekeeper Maggie (Cloris Leachman) and especially Candace Bergman who quietly steals every scene she’s in. The Women isn’t going to drag in many guys on any given weekend who are ready for some football but it’s a good comedy that even lampoons its roots as a 1939 movie of the same name.