The Women

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue.

Burn After Reading
The Coen brothers do criminals well and in this film they got an impressive group of actors to play "accidental" criminals in a very funny way. Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand play Chad and Linda, two gym employees who find a CD in the locker room that contains data belonging to a former CIA analyst. Assuming that someone will pay big bucks for the return of the sensitive info, they attempt to blackmail the analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich). But old Ozzy is far more concerned about his recent unemployment and impending divorce from his wife (Tilda Swinton), who's having an affair with a pinhead womanizer played by George Clooney.

The whole thing ends up feeling like kids playing a spy game but the laughs are smart and result is solid entertainment.

DVD featurettes include: "DC Insiders Run Amock — An all-star cast creates the world of Washington, DC," and "Welcome Back, George" described as a comedy piece featuring Mr. Clooney as he returns for his third collaboration with Ethan and Joel.

Two more up next so read more

Lakeview Terrace, a thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson, came in at No. 1 at the box office over the weekend and performed relatively well with an estimated $15.6 million. Second place went to the Coen brothers' comedy Burn After Reading which continues to also do well at the box office, earning an estimated $36.4 million over its first ten days.

Around the No. 3 spot on this weekend's box office report things start to look a little gloomy, starting with the Dane Cook-Kate Hudson comedy My Best Friend's Girl. The movie only earned about $8.3 million, perhaps a result of some harsh reviews (or maybe it was just the poster, as Cook whined, that drove audiences away).

The animated family film, Igor, came in fourth place followed by Righteous Kill in fifth. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys and The Women rounded out the sixth and seventh place respectively, and a movie I enjoyed, Ghost Town, opened at No. 8.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Like many of you, I saw The Women this weekend. While I was pretty disappointed with the movie overall, the film did bring up some interesting topics. Without giving too much away, all the characters come together to support Mary, played by Meg Ryan, whose high profile husband of 13 years cheats on her. Though they are all on her side, Mary's best friend Sylvie ends up selling her story to the press in order to save her job. When the source of the story is revealed, already broken Mary tells Sylvie that her betrayal was far worse than that of her cheating husband's. The deception from both is no doubt heart-breaking, but the notion of a best friend's bad faith stinging more than that of a significant other's really got me thinking. As someone that values friendship like family, I can completely sympathize with Mary's pain but ladies, tell me, do you think the betrayal of a friend hurts more than the betrayal of a lover?

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The Coen Bros. helped give the box office a needed Autumn boost with their comedy Burn After Reading, which debuted at No. 1 with an estimated $19.4 million. It was a lucrative weekend overall, actually, with many of the week's new releases doing better than expected despite a "crowded marketplace for adult-skewing films."

In second place came Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys earning $18 million, followed by the Al Pacino-Robert De Niro reunion, Righteous Kill. And despite unflattering reviews, even The Women did alright over the weekend, coming in at No. 4 with an estimated $10 million followed by The House Bunny in fifth place.

Alan Ball's Towelhead also opened and "nabbed the best per- location average of the weekend." Finally, for those of you keeping track, The Dark Knight is up another $4 million, putting its total domestic gross so far at an estimated $517 million.

Photo courtesy of Focus Features

Eva Mendes took a break from all her Fashion Week duties last night to attend a screening of The Women in NYC with her costars Jada Pinkett Smith, Meg Ryan, and Debi Mazar. Unlike last week's big premiere in LA, Annette Bening and Debra Messing sat this one out, but Julia Stiles and Bette Midler stepped in. Even Mick Jagger, who is one of the film's producers, joined them for the afterparty at the Gramercy Park Hotel — though it probably wasn't hard to convince him to spend the evening surrounded by beautiful ladies. The reviews for this movie aren't exactly raves, but hopefully the all-star women cast can still bring out the audiences.

To see more photos from the evening, just read more

Philosophically, the very existence of The Women is something that makes me cheer. As its title suggests, it's a movie full of only women — and many of them "women of a certain age," at that. Director and screenwriter Diane English spent years trying to steer her remake of George Cukor's 1939 classic to the screen, and I respect and admire her determination. A powerful remake of The Women could have sent yet another signal that moviegoers want to see women on screen in all their beautiful, imperfect, daffy, lovable, clueless, fantastic glory.

On screen, though, The Women disappoints to an almost depressing degree. It's not an outright disaster; there are good moments from nearly everyone in the gigantic cast. But it's not screwball enough to honor its '30s movie heritage, not clever enough to make for a fun night out at the theater. And its own message on women is utterly conflicted, threatening to undermine the potential positive impact of bringing an all-female movie to the big screen.

Meg Ryan stars as Mary Haines, whose life comes complete with adorable daughter, fabulous luncheons, and blooming garden she planted herself. If there are cracks in that shiny veneer, she'd hardly notice; as a friend, Alex (Jada Pinkett Smith), points out, she's too busy filling them in. So it knocks her flat when she finds out — thanks to her gossipy manicurist (Debi Mazar) — that her husband is having an affair with the Saks perfume "spritzer girl" (Eva Mendes). That betrayal would be bad enough, but before long, there's another one, courtesy of her best friend Sylvie (Annette Bening), who sells out Mary to save her own floundering career. The Women does fine with that broad sketch of a plot. It's in the details that the movie loses its footing, so read more

It's a good thing Annette Bening's character, Sylvia Fowler, is talking on the phone in this scene; it gives her the perfect excuse to display her Elsa Peretti bone cuff from Tiffany & Co. Paired with a short-sleeved camel trench, Sylvia's playing the part of a very serious business woman and doing it oh so fabulously.

Photos courtesy of Picturehouse

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Eva Mendes plays sexy Crystal Allen in the 2008 remake of The Women. Crystal is the sultry perfume "spritzer" who displays her assets in the popular dress by designer Herve Leger. Since she's at work, she covers up a little with her black shrug, but she's still looking va va voom. Get two versions of her dress below.

Photos courtesy of Picturehouse

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Meg Ryan, as Mary Haines, wears this dress beautifully. It's such a simple look — black, white, and red — but it's crisp and fresh as well. That's why instead of breaking down her exact wardrobe, below you'll find various colorblocked dresses all incorporating black, red, and white as the key colors. Try one or try them all.

Photos courtesy of Picturehouse

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