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I went in not expecting much and therefore wasn't too disappointed. This version has none of the humor, the sauciness, the cattiness of the original and with the exception of Candice Bergen none of this cast is up to the standards of the 1939 actresses.
Both
films don't have any men in them but the newest one makes the glaring
error of having shots where men must/would be seen whereas the former
avoided such scenes and men were really in the background unseen.
I
don't understand why film people remake classics--why not tackle films
that were almost classic? Very few remakes---Psycho, Manchurian
Candidate, etc.--are any good though there have been exceptions like
the second versions of A Star Is Born, Imitation of Life and An Affair
To Remember.
Getting back to the remake of
The Women aside from deviating so far from the original the biggest
disappointment was the cast. AnnetteBening was the biggest disappointment to me as she is a fine actress but seems very phony and had none of the fire of Roz Russell. Eva Mendes
is/was no match to/for Joan Crawford in the role of Crystal Allen--in
fact Eva, especially in the bath scene looks like she would be more
comfortable with JadaPinkett Smith playing a lesbian--why?? To make the movie feel more 2008??? I don't remember Debra Messing's role in the original or at least the whole baby thing. Bette Miller has, maybe, 5 minutes on screen asa The Countess who was more important in the original.
Meg Ryan neither adds or distracts from the movie in sort of a Norma Shearer way--both played the bland Mary Haines. Cloris Leachman and Tilly Scott Pedersen try to lighten things up but don't succeed.
Candice
Bergan gets the few laughs in the film and plays her role more honestly
with feeling and really gives the only performance worth watching
The biggest failure of the movie was that
these women are facing more meaty issues than those in the original but
they don't deal with them! And the actresses in the original brought
more to their roles making them outrageous and memorable! :O)
I would suggest getting both films on DVD and watching the original first to see why it is a classic and then watching the remake to see why/how it failed.
