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So Gwen and I went to the movies yesterday afternoon. We go pretty rarely, because OMG expensive! Even for a matinee, it is expensive. Anyway, I have a grand love for the original movie (made in the late 1930s) that was based on a play of the same name by Clare Booth Luce (on Broadway in 1937) - also something I love - and acted in several years ago for a local community theatre company.
So I know the story quite well. I love the story. And they did an AMAZING job with this updated version by Diane English. She did use several hunks of dialogue from the play - and it is amazing how it translates as well today as it did then.
One thing about the original movie is that all of the characters that show up in the movie are women - or female (all the dogs/horses used were female as well). This is something they kept true to in the update.
Every person wandering down the street, getting a taxi, in the stores, in the restaurants were women. Wholly, without exception, all of them women.
The casting is brilliant. And the journey of friendship is way stronger in this version than it is in the original. And it is the strength of that friendship that makes the movie. Mary is betrayed, not just by her husband, but in a different way by her best friend. It is the friend's betrayal that cuts her deeper, and it is her friend's betrayal she forgives first. The journey to independence and strength is better thought out, less "surface."
Love the way they changed the Molly-Mary dynamic to have Sylvie step in and be the "aunt" that Molly can confide in and ask questions about. Jada Pinkett Smith does an amazing job as Alex (an updated Nancy in the original) - their wonderful lesbian author friend. In the original Nancy describes herself as a "frozen asset" and it is never expressly stated, but reading between the lines it is pretty clear she is supposed to be gay - but in the 1930's "spinster" is the closest you can approach to that subject. Today, Alex is out, loud and proud. And also perved a little on Crystal when Mary's friends went to check her out. I didn't know Jada could do such broad comedy - physical, not slapstick, but also turn around and be incredibly subtle.
Debra Messing as Edie, the one who is perpetually pregnant was wonderful - and the birthing scene is one of the funniest in the movie. Annette Benning was perfect as Sylvie, Candice Bergen was a great choice for Mary's mother, and Meg Ryan did a terrific job as Mary - and making Mary a capable woman in her own right.
Debi Mazar as the manicurist, and Eva Mendez as Crystal Allen (aka the Other Woman) round out the cast.
So many cameos that were pitch perfect. Bette Midler as the "countess," Carrie Fisher as the gossip reporter, Joanna Gleason as a society matron. Well done, everyone! I recommend everyone see this - preferrably with your best female friends. Really fine update. True to the spirit of the original.
On the list to own.
So I know the story quite well. I love the story. And they did an AMAZING job with this updated version by Diane English. She did use several hunks of dialogue from the play - and it is amazing how it translates as well today as it did then.
One thing about the original movie is that all of the characters that show up in the movie are women - or female (all the dogs/horses used were female as well). This is something they kept true to in the update.
Every person wandering down the street, getting a taxi, in the stores, in the restaurants were women. Wholly, without exception, all of them women.
The casting is brilliant. And the journey of friendship is way stronger in this version than it is in the original. And it is the strength of that friendship that makes the movie. Mary is betrayed, not just by her husband, but in a different way by her best friend. It is the friend's betrayal that cuts her deeper, and it is her friend's betrayal she forgives first. The journey to independence and strength is better thought out, less "surface."
Love the way they changed the Molly-Mary dynamic to have Sylvie step in and be the "aunt" that Molly can confide in and ask questions about. Jada Pinkett Smith does an amazing job as Alex (an updated Nancy in the original) - their wonderful lesbian author friend. In the original Nancy describes herself as a "frozen asset" and it is never expressly stated, but reading between the lines it is pretty clear she is supposed to be gay - but in the 1930's "spinster" is the closest you can approach to that subject. Today, Alex is out, loud and proud. And also perved a little on Crystal when Mary's friends went to check her out. I didn't know Jada could do such broad comedy - physical, not slapstick, but also turn around and be incredibly subtle.
Debra Messing as Edie, the one who is perpetually pregnant was wonderful - and the birthing scene is one of the funniest in the movie. Annette Benning was perfect as Sylvie, Candice Bergen was a great choice for Mary's mother, and Meg Ryan did a terrific job as Mary - and making Mary a capable woman in her own right.
Debi Mazar as the manicurist, and Eva Mendez as Crystal Allen (aka the Other Woman) round out the cast.
So many cameos that were pitch perfect. Bette Midler as the "countess," Carrie Fisher as the gossip reporter, Joanna Gleason as a society matron. Well done, everyone! I recommend everyone see this - preferrably with your best female friends. Really fine update. True to the spirit of the original.
On the list to own.
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