The Women

Rating: 1 star

One can only imagine that the producers of The Women were dancing for joy when Sex and the City became the surprise hit of the early summer. “Hey, that movie is about a group of 40something gal pals and so is ours,” they must’ve thought. “We can’t miss!”
So let me make this perfectly clear: I’ve seen Sex and the City and The Women is no Sex and the City.
For starters, one of the great things about Sex and the City was that we believed in the friendships. The felt lived in, genuinely intimate, and therefore, we were invested in them.
By contrast, you watch The Women and think: How are these characters even acquaintances, let alone friends? How is that aspiring fashion designer and do-gooder Mary Haines (Meg Ryan) is BFFs with materialistic editor Sylvia Fowler (Annette Bening) who is sisters with ditzy stay-at-home-mom Edie (Debra Messing) and close with tough-talking lesbian Alex Fisher (Jada Pinkett Smith)?
Of course, Sex and the City had five years of a television series to establish these bonds, but that’s no excuse. A good film can make us believe anything. The Women couldn’t convince me that gravity exists.

For the rest of this review, check out the October issue of Baltimore!