moviefreak

Before watching this movie, I had a low expectation since it’s only rated 4.6 in imdb. Plus I wondered why the title wasn’t more interesting than that. After watching the movie, I realized why it’s called “The Women”, because they never showed any of the men in the women’s lives. The Dad, the boyfriend, the husband, NONE of them!!! However, that never disrupts the plot. I think the basic of the movie is about finding yourself after you hit rock bottom.

At first glance, the movie would remind you of Sex and the City or other chick flick like that. But then again I like the messages embedded in the movie, most especially these two:

a. In a relationship, there are always two sides of the stories.

b. You’ve gotta own up to your own mess and not blame the other party fully and be willing to start over again if both people commit to it —> it isn’t only about marriage, but also about friendship.

So, I think I’ll give this movie a 7.2 stars out of 10. It’s never too dull, never too heavy and depressing, yet it stays realistic and it cracks me UP in some scenes (I mean really make me laugh like crazy!) though the theme isn’t new.  

The Story:

Four women are best friends with one another. They are Mary Haines (Meg Ryan), Sylvia Fowler (Annette Benning), Edie Cohen (Debra Messing), and Alex Fisher (Jada Pinkett Smith). Let’s take a small recap of each woman, shall we?

1. Mary Haines is deemed to be successful in many areas in life. She has a successful, rich husband and one preteen daughter, Molly (India Ennenga). 

2. Sylvia Fowler is the editor of a fashion magazine who tries to lead the way in the magazine world by pushing forward plenty of ideas about representing real women instead of promoting diet tips and using young hot models as the covers of the magazine. She’s single and she has no kids.

3. Edie Cohen is married with many daughters and she still wants to have a son, so she’s pregnant again in the beginning of the movie.

4. Alex Fisher is a lesbian author who’s been having a writer’s block as she hasn’t produced anything anymore in a long while. (Side note: I think Jada Pinkett Smith did a GREAT job in portraying Alex!!! )

Now who hits rock bottom? Mary Haines. First she gets fired by her father, then she finds out that her husband is having an affair with a perfume saleswoman at Saks, Crystal Allen (Eva Mendes). Now she’s at a loss on what to do. She still loves her husband, but when she meets Crystal at one boutique, she realizes that she can’t stand living with her husband again, so they have a fight and her husband moves away from home. She also files a divorce against her husband. Meanwhile, her relationship with Molly becomes strained as she tries to cope with her pain and in the end she can’t be there for Molly. 

All her friends are there to support her, but things get more complicated as Sylvia’s career is at stake since she wants to revolutionize the fashion magazine, so she ends up leaking up the story about Mary Haines’ husband’s affair with Crystal to a gossip columnist. Why does she do that? Because she wants the gossip columnist to write articles in her fashion magazine.

Distraught and angry by the betrayal, Mary tries to find peace by going to a camp. There she realizes that she’s always tried pleasing other people, so she basically doesn’t even know what she wants. Now she starts the journey to find herself.

Will Mary forgive her husband AND Sylvia? What will she do when she finds herself? Will she give her husband another chance or will they just get a divorce? Will Mary be able to rekindle her relationship with Molly?

Notes:

1. The last scene of the movie is HILARIOUS , even though I think it’s rather exaggerated, but still it’s fun to watch and I LOVE hearing what Mary tells her husband on the phone.

2. When you reach the end of the movie, just keep on watching it until the credits roll since you’ll find out what Sylvia and Alex do. 

3. One of my fave lines in the movie is this: “Remember when they said we couldn’t have it all? I believe we can have it all. The question is ‘do we want it?’ … I don’t want it all because it’s exhausting.”