The Women (2008)

A wealthy New Yorker wrestles with the decision to leave her cheating husband, as she and her friends discover that women really can have it all.

Director:

Diane English

Writers:

Diane English (screenplay), Clare Boothe Luce (play)

Stars:

Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Annette Bening

4 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Meg Ryan	...	Mary Haines
Annette Bening	...	Sylvie Fowler
Eva Mendes	...	Crystal Allen
Debra Messing	...	Edie Cohen
Jada Pinkett Smith	...	Alex Fisher
Bette Midler	...	Leah Miller
Candice Bergen	...	Catherine Frazier
Carrie Fisher	...	Bailey Smith
Cloris Leachman	...	Maggie
Debi Mazar	...	Tanya
India Ennenga	...	Molly Haines
Jill Flint	...	Annie
Ana Gasteyer	...	Pat
Joanna Gleason	...	Barbara
Tilly Scott Pedersen	...	Uta

Storyline

Based on a very clever comedy by Claire Booth, wife of Time Publisher Henry Luce and later Ambassador to Italy. One of the surprises was an all-woman cast, novel in the 1930's. And although there were no men in the cast, most of the dialog was about them. The story is rather thin and depended on the fact that divorce, in the 1930's, was not only difficult but almost impossible in New York. Mrs. Stephen Haynes learns that her husband is seeing a salesgirl at Saks, and reluctantly divorces him, abetted by her friends, all of whom have romantic problems of their own. In the 1930's New York women who could afford it went to Nevada, where residency could be established quickly and divorce was relatively easy. The 1939 film, starring Norma Shearer, Paulette Goddard, Rosalind Russell, and Joan Crawford, was a hit. This one, with an even better looking cast, is definitely not, largely because someone tried to move a 1930's situation comedy into the present.

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Plot Keywords:

usa | united states | disappointment | divorce | new york | 

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Taglines:

It's all about...

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sex-related material, language, some drug use and brief smoking

Did You Know?

Trivia

Anita Loos, who wrote the 1939 screenplay, started her writing career in 1912 with her first full film screenplay The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) starring Lillian Gish for the American Mutoscope & Biograph Co. which is still in existence today. After writing many scripts for Biograph, Loos went on to write such other films such as Saratoga (1937), Another Thin Man (1939), San Francisco (1936), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

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Goofs

During the breakfast scene with Meg Ryan's character eating butter, a gold wrapper moves two to three times during the scene from the corner of the place mat to the center of the place mat.

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Quotes

Mary Haines: [about her husband having an affair] I mean, how could I not have known? Three months ago, he bought cowboy boots!

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Connections

Version of Women in New York (1977)

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Soundtracks

Everything Good Goes Away
Written by Ruby James and Rene Reyes
Performed by Ruby James
Courtesy of Ruby James, LLC

User Reviews

What Women?

To say I was disappointed is an understatement. An amateur film made by professionals. I was about to leave the theater in two or three occasions (something I've never done)I was stopped by Cloris Leachman really. She rings true, the only one I should say. This new women are less modern than the George Cukor women of the 30's. This ones are "acting" for us trying to be with it but their "conflict" is exactly the same as it has always been, in movies anyway. The fun of the original was based on a crisp, vitriolic and very funny script. A masterful direction and an unrepeatable cast. All the elements that are missing here. TV actresses mingling with models and Oscar nominees/winners. There wasn't anything organic about it. The whole thing felt like a put on, improvised in the moment without a clear objective. 2/10

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 September 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Women

Filming Locations:

Bosse Sports - 141 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,115,210, 14 September 2008

Gross USA:

$26,902,075

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$50,007,546

Company Credits

Production Co:

Picturehouse, Scion Films, Inferno Distribution

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1