The Women
Picturehouse Entertainment | Release Date: September 12, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
27
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
8
Negative:
20
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
As a well-crafted, well-written and well-acted entertainment, it drew me in and got its job done. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
It's intermittently amusing, and Bening actually gives a performance instead of a star turn, but the claws should have been sharper. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
English wrangles her talent like a virtuoso. Best is Murphy Brown herself, Candice Bergen. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This is Diane English's directing debut, and it shows. Also in evidence is her familiarity with television. The movie is shot like a TV show, with frequent intercut close-ups. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
It's fascinating trying to separate the thirties material from the mostly maladroit additions. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterStephen Farber
The film repeatedly sacrifices dramatic punch for political correctness. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The movie is a feminist lesson instead of what it should have been (and once was): a tough, synthetic, high-gloss entertainment that wears its heart on its lacquered fingernails. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Feels the scratches of too much time and tinkling and is as disjointed as a dislocated shoulder. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid Wiegand
Very earnest, often engaging, but not quite as much of a pleasure as the original. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
For all its current political incorrectness, the original film at least attacked hypocrisy; this one practises it. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter Debruge
The Women is less about getting even than about inspiring that same mushy sense of female empowerment you might find in a Tyler Perry meller, complete with manic mood swings and full-blown diva moments. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Becomes unfocused as it stumbles over all the points it wants to make. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneTasha Robinson
It's a high-powered cast, but it has painfully little to work with, apart from widely varying humor. Read full review
38
PremiereEmily Rems
It would be sad if Tinseltown used this poorly executed remake as proof that there's no audience for female-driven films, because that's not the case at all. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Defanged and drippy, the remake of 1939's The Women seems to have been made for the dullard granddaughters of the sassy, sharp society matrons in George Cukor's campy original. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The movie is a work of ambivalence. Is English making fun of these women? Or is she making a pilot for Lifetime? Read full review
38
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
This Women doesn't take place in reality or even in a glamorous urban fantasyland. It's strictly TV Land. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The original was a tart dipped in acid; this one's a biscuit sprinkled in Splenda. Read full review
30
Washington PostPhilip Kennicott
Falls flat at every turn. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Ryan, barely refining her "When Harry Met Sally" persona, is a dud; Annette Bening, playing the best friend who sells her out to a tabloid, is better in the scenes she doesn't share with her. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's a major dud. Read full review
25
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
So consistently, outrageously wrongheaded in every way it's hard to know where to start. Read full review
25
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Is there anything more depressing than when middlebrow filmmakers decide to remake bona fide classics that did not, under any circumstances, need to be remade? Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
A total disaster. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
It's not every movie that makes you wish Vin Diesel would run in and start blowing up stuff. Read full review
20
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Isn't so much incompetent as it is hopelessly tame and muddled. Read full review
20
SalonMary Elizabeth Williams
The whole vibe is so shrill and frantic that the truly accomplished actresses, like Bening and Bergen, are left to flounder. The less nuanced ones -- that would be you, Debra Messing -- are, to use the idiom of the movie, as pleasant to watch as a bikini wax is to feel. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Is it an exaggeration to call The Women the worst movie of the year? Well, yeah, probably. But it may be the most disappointing, given all the effort that went into it. Read full review
10
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A witless, straining mess. Read full review
10
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The funniest thing about The Women is that Mick Jagger is one of the producers. Read full review
0
TimeRichard Schickel
One of the worst movies I've ever seen. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
It's not particularly fun, or funny, for starters. Read full review
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