Monday 20 May
 
 

The Last Stand

Early in The Last Stand, the small-town sheriff played by Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "It's my day off. Should be a quiet weekend." That's the new way of saying, "I've got one week to retirement," because it signals — with flashing neon and everything — that life is going to royally upend those plans.
05/17/2013 | Comments 0

Texas Chainsaw

One of the most inconsistent franchises in movie history is the one beget by Tobe Hooper's 1974 classic, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. How does one follow all those less-than-beloved sequels? Lionsgate's latest in the series — the seventh — has a solution: Ignore 'em.
05/17/2013 | Comments 0

Captain America: Collector’s Edition

Not long after Batman changed Hollywood in the summer of 1989, every studio wanted to have the next comics-based blockbuster. I remember visiting Penn Square Mall’s multiplex (as I did often back then) and seeing a poster for Captain America. The one-sheet was comprised of little more than a close-up of Cap’s iconic shield and a promise to arrive next summer.
05/16/2013 | Comments 0

Dark Circles

With the Broken Lizard comedy troupe becoming increasingly broken, member Paul Soter has branched off to write and direct something about as far away as one can get from the likes of Super Troopers and Beerfest: a horror film. Now that I've seen it, I'm thinking maybe he should stay on his own.
05/16/2013 | Comments 0

Die! Die! My Darling!

File 1965's Die! Die! My Darling! under that now-dead subgenre dubbed "Grande Dame Guignol." The Hammer Films production may lack the dueling duo of two twilight-era titans of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and the others, but truth be told, Tallulah Bankhead is fierce enough to provide all the fire it needs.
05/14/2013 | Comments 0
Home · Articles · Movies · Comedy · The Women
Comedy

The Women


None September 18th, 2008

women

Reviewer's grade: D+

Yes, "The Women" is yet another remake, and yes, the original picture was so good and so well cast and so much of its own time (1939), remaking it seems doomed to failure. It's only half a failure. Mary Haines (Meg Ryan) has been happily married to Wall Street hot shot Stephen for 13 years when he begins a fling with the spritzer girl at Saks Fifth Avenue. She works the perfume counter. Big joke, repeated ad nauseum. Mary's best friend, Sylvie (Annette Bening), finds out about the affair and then Mary does, too, while getting a manicure at Saks. Should she dump Stephen or forgive and stay with him? Her mom (Candice Bergen) gives her questionable advice, as do friends Sylvie, Edie (Debra Messing), and Alex (Jada Pinkett Smith).

What's a girl to do? When she finally decides to go after the department store Delilah (Eva Mendes), the backs arch and the ears get laid back. Ryan is the real flop, however. She used up her ration of cutesy years ago, and now that she has to rely on acting, she's about as necessary as house slippers for a snake.

I'm not sure why the women in the audience I was with laughed so hard at this mess, but they probably think I'm just a man and don't know any better. And I can't disagree with them about that. PG-13

"”Doug Bentin

 
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
 
 

 

 
 
 
Close
Close
Close