Schmaltz and the city

Betrayal is the name of the game in a
cheesy remake of The Women

by CHRISTOPHER SYKES

There’s a certain risk involved in having a pasty white dude like yours truly review a film devoted entirely to championing inter-female relationships. In fact, there’s not a single Y chromosome throughout The Women, a dramatic comedy remake starring the ageless Meg Ryan and Annette Bening.

As such, I feel it necessary to divulge a bit of info so as to level the playing field: I’m a big fan of the empowered woman. Huge fan. Close the wage gap and good riddance to the patriarchy. We’ve thankfully come a long way since George Cukor’s 1939 original with Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford.

That said, I should feel comfortable delving into the directorial debut of Diane English (producer/creator of ’90s sitcom Murphy Brown) based on its merits as a film alone. It should be a moot point that English struggled for over a decade to get the project greenlit, until producers Victoria Pearman and Mick Jagger finally came on board in the post-Sex and the City climate. It’s a sad truth that production companies in this age still hesitate to open the purse strings for female-centric films.

As in the original, multi-tasking socialite Mary Haines (Ryan) appears at first glance to have it all: enormous house in Connecticut, part-time job as a designer, boatloads of moolah. But when best friend Sylvie (Bening) finds out Mary’s tycoon husband is schtupping perfume counter “spritzer girl” Crystal (a vampy Eva Mendes), things quickly unravel. Yet after Sylvie reluctantly makes a Faustian bargain and sells out her oldest friend’s privacy to keep her job, infidelity is not the most painful betrayal for Mary to deal with.

The notion of watching the break-up and reconciliation of two straight yet loving women is certainly less tired than that of two spouses. And the ensemble cast of Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Candice Bergen and Bette Midler ensure there’s a few laughs accompanying any tears. But when the gloves come off, The Women is a schmaltzy, NYC-centric and maladroit inversion of the in-vogue bromatic comedy. While Messing and Midler in particular are very funny ladies, there’s far too much emphasis on cheese, no matter what your gender.

THE WOMEN OPENS THIS
FRIDAY, SEPT. 12

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