The Women

10 things you need to know about 'The Women,' Hollywood's latest chick-flick hopeful

BY JULIE HINDS
FREE PRESS POP CULTURE WRITER

It's time for the next round of the lipstick wars, not in the political arena, but on the box-office battlefront.
"The Women," which opens today, hopes to follow in the designer high-heeled footsteps of "Sex and the City" and maybe walk a mile in the sun-drenched sandals of "Mamma Mia!"
Both of those female-skewing films scored box-office successes on their opening weekends. Can "The Women" make it a three-peat?
Perhaps, if contemporary audiences can embrace a comedy with an all-female cast.
And if Meg Ryan, missing in action from high-profile projects lately, can reclaim her status as America's sweetheart.
And if director-screenwriter Diane English of "Murphy Brown" fame can find enough humor in marital infidelity, a topic linked to recent painful public scandals.
That's a lot of ifs for a glamorous, fluffy romp, but it could make for a more interesting dynamic than your average chick flick.
Here are 10 things you need to know about "The Women" before you make it a girls' night out.
1. It's based on a classic film that defined girl power.
If you think Hollywood is a boys club now, imagine what it was like in 1939, the year "The Women" defied the odds with an all-star, all-female cast that included Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell and Joan Fontaine. The story (from Clare Booth Luce's Broadway hit) was edgy for its day: A rich wife (Shearer then, Ryan now) finds out her husband has been cheating on her, a revelation that plays out through the prism of the women surrounding her.
2. It's counting on the Carrie Bradshaw effect. What's the difference between a female moviegoer and a pit bull? Lipstick and buying power. The fierce devotion of female consumers helped turn the opening weekend of "Sex and the City" into a $55 million-plus triumph. The same dogged crowd flocked to "Mamma Mia!," which grabbed more than $27 million for its debut. For a Hollywood obsessed with courting men under 25 with action flicks, it was a wake-up call on the power of the purse. "The Women" might face a rougher road, because the early buzz has been mixed and it doesn't have a built-in TV fan base or the benefit of ABBA music. But it does have a savvy marketing strategy -- a trailer that's been playing before screenings of "Sex and the City" and "Mamma Mia!"
3. It had a long, strange trip to the screen. Fourteen years ago, mega-stars Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts were ready to team up on "The Women." Then the dream fell apart, the script was revised several times, the major studios lost interest and the cast became a revolving door of rumored possibilities like Sandra Bullock, Uma Thurman and Queen Latifah. After a decade of waiting, English finally got the project made by hooking up with smaller production companies and cutting the budget back to a multimillion-dollar figure that would be spare change for a special-effects blowout like "The Dark Knight."
4. It dips a toe into the culture wars. The preview dwells on the wisecracking quartet of Ryan (the wronged wife), Annette Bening (a powerful magazine editor), Debra Messing (a hippie-ish supermom) and Jada Pinkett Smith (a chic lesbian writer), who live an upscale life of shopping and spa visits. But there's another key figure with a hint of class tension -- the other woman, who, as in the original, works at a perfume counter. She's played by Eva Mendes and called "the spritzer girl" by Ryan's loyal clique. There's even a dressing-room standoff that telegraphs who's the villain with lingerie instead of cowboy hats: Ryan wears a sexy white corset, while Mendes has a skimpy black one.
5. It tackles the moms-versus-no kids divide. There can be a gap as wide as a playground between the perceptions and assumptions of mothers and their childless pals. English touches on that in "The Women" with snappy dialogue (when Messing says she wants to keep having children until she has a boy, Pinkett Smith responds, "Don't we have enough of those?") and by treating the choices of Ryan, who plays a mom, and Bening, whose character is content not to be one, as equally valid. And for the amusement of both sides of the fence, the trailer throws in a childbirth scene with Messing that may feature the longest, loudest screen scream in movie history.
6. It gives permission -- finally -- to explore the topic of cheating. During the messy unfolding of the John Edwards and Kwame Kilpatrick scandals, most people (including members of the press) felt it wasn't fair to pry into the feelings of the wives involved. But through fiction, "The Women" touches on the tough questions: How do you react to finding out your spouse is unfaithful? What's your next step? What if you find out your friend's husband is cheating? What if she discovers you knew but didn't tell her? Although this is a comedy, some of the emotions are as raw as the butter, cocoa and cream Ryan reaches for during an angry food binge.
7. It's another fashion orgy. Taking a page from "Sex and the City," "The Women" is a showcase for designer labels like Marc Jacobs and La Perla and preppy staples like Burberry. There's even a runway show thrown in for good measure. The credit for the stylish wardrobe goes to perhaps the most important man involved in the production, costume designer John Dunn.
8. It's got AARP cred. While Kim Cattrall's Samantha showed 50 is fabulous in "Sex and the City" and Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski and Julie Walters frolicked in menopausal glee in "Mamma Mia!", "The Women" gives roles to Bette Midler, Cloris Leachman (82 and soon to be competing on "Dancing With the Stars") and Candice Bergen as Ryan's acerbic mother. "I know you don't drink in the afternoon," says Bergen after ordering a gimlet for her daughter. "But you will eventually, so why not start now?"
9. It proves Meg Ryan is ready to face the cameras. After riding high in the 1990s, Ryan's career stalled and her marriage to Dennis Quaid dissolved amid reports of her affair with "Proof of Life" costar Russell Crowe. Then she landed back in the rumor mill for speculation that she'd enhanced her lips and face with cosmetic procedures, a look derided as a "trout pout." But now Ryan is on the rebound, talking in TV appearances about how happy and centered she is as a single mom and putting forth a face that seems to have returned to a more natural, fish-free state.
10. It's a love letter to female friendships. In the 1939 movie, the women were back-biting, tart-tongued and, ultimately, insecure, because their social status and financial security depended on their relationships to the unseen men. But the remake is less about Ryan being a wronged wife and more about how it affects and strengthens her ties to the women around her. A comedy about finding out what you really want, "The Women" knows sometimes what you want most is to hang out with your BFFs.