The Women

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The Women

PG-13

2008

1h 54m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

13%

Tomatometer

147 Reviews

37%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Clothing designer Mary Haines (Meg Ryan) appears to have it all: a beautiful home in Connecticut, a successful husband, a lovely daughter, and the support of a close circle of friends -- led by magazine editor Sylvie Fowler (Annette Bening). When Mary learns her husband is cheating, her pals rally around her. But his infidelity does not compare to the betrayal Mary feels when Sylvie spills the beans about the affair to a gossip columnist she wants to hire for her magazine.

Critics Consensus

The Women is a toothless remake of the 1939 classic, lacking the charm, wit and compelling protagonists of the original.

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David Stratton

The Australian

10/31/2008

2.5/5

A lazy film that makes the most obvious points about the war between the sexes and, as a result, makes the characters much less interesting than they might have been.

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Jim Schembri

The Age (Australia)

10/24/2008

2.5/5

Actually quite an acceptable, enjoyable midrange chick flick that hasn't quite deserved the critical drubbing it has received in the States.

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Alissa Wilkinson

Christianity Today

09/29/2008

2/4

While The Women provides an evening of laughter and some points to ponder, relationships work only when all involved are willing to sacrifice for one another.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

04/30/2024

2/4

English turns what was a lively comedy into a sort of funny melodrama

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Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

11/03/2019

3/5

[A] fresh, revitalized script that while it celebrates women, still contains no men, retains the core story of Mary Haines who discovers her husband is having an affair with perfume spritzer girl Crystal Allen, but has its own unique twist.

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Kelly Jane Torrance

Washington Times

12/13/2018

1.5/4

The problem isn't just the flat script by director and Murphy Brown creator Diane English. It's that this film's raison d'etre seems to be not to entertain, but to sell.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Feb 12

Funny in 1 hour and 54 minutes. A success on home media.

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Melanie Y

@RT42683146 06/13/2025

One of the most horrific remakes I have ever seen. NONE of the actresses compare favorably with those in the 1939 original. Eva Mendes is NOT Joan Crawford--and as much as I love Annette Bening, but she can't begin to touch Rosalind Russell. This whole film should be banished from existence.

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alan g

@agenser 03/16/2025

Pales in comparison to the original film. Bad actresses, bad plastic surgery.

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Sharon T

@RT65045443 11/27/2024

Loved it!! Loved the cast!! Loved the friendships! Loved the humor and playfulness so as to be light. If you take it too serious you missed the tenderness and beauty. And the heart felt love.

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andrea c

@Charst 07/01/2022

Remake invecchiato malissimo, che dopo nemmeno 15 anni sembra un insulto alla lotta per l'emancipazione femminile e per la parità dei sessi. Una serie di donne, nelle posizioni sociali più diverse tra di loro, vengono raccontate con una banalità disarmante, talmente evidente da risultare quasi una caricatura di tutti i luoghi comuni sul genere femminile. Tutto "perfettamente" riassunto nella sequenza del parto, irritante e sgradevole. A nulla serve il messaggio di un film totalmente al femminile, se a mancare sono i contenuti.

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04/30/2022

Some one liners in the script are very, very funny and the actors are likeable . The problem is, the women they are playing are highly privileged, out of touch, fluffy rich women who look on working class women as "shanks". Self-centred snobs. I watched this with my 90 year old mother and she was ready to bail before I was, so it's not a generational thing. After 20 minutes, neither of us gave a hoot what was going on in their well manicured, shallow lives - so we switched off.

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Diane English

Director

Meg Ryan

Mary Haines

Annette Bening

Sylvie Fowler

Eva Mendes

Crystal Allen

Debra Messing

Edie Cohen

Jada Pinkett Smith

Alex Fisher

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Synopsis

Clothing designer Mary Haines (Meg Ryan) appears to have it all: a beautiful home in Connecticut, a successful husband, a lovely daughter, and the support of a close circle of friends -- led by magazine editor Sylvie Fowler (Annette Bening). When Mary learns her husband is cheating, her pals rally around her. But his infidelity does not compare to the betrayal Mary feels when Sylvie spills the beans about the affair to a gossip columnist she wants to hire for her magazine.

Director: Diane English
Producer: Victoria Pearman, Mick Jagger, Bill Johnson, Diane English
Screenwriter: Diane English
Distributor: Picturehouse
Production Co: Jagged Films, Shukovsky English, Inferno Distribution
Rating: PG-13 (Language|Brief Smoking|Sex-Related Material|Some Drug Use)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 12, 2008, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 1, 2010
Box Office (Gross USA): $26.9M
Runtime: 1h 54m