I guess the thing that strikes me about this film is that a couple decades earlier there was a film called "9 to 5" about three working ladies who had a conniving boss. They put their heads together and overcome his scheming to benefit all. And yet this film, for all the similarities in terms of the number of lead women, their commonality of circumstance and so forth, their solution only benefits them and others like them.The other thing that hit me while watching this film is that it wasn't that funny. It was amusing in parts, it moved well, was well acted, had a decent story, but there wasn't much comedy in it. There really weren't too many clever and unexpected moments that typically make an audience laugh in the theatre. And that's the thing that's been missing from a lot of film since the early 80s. Truly. No joke.It was nice to see Keaton, Midler, and Hawn in a very energetic film, but the script wasn't that funny. In fact it was hardly funny at all. I can't help but think of "9 to 5" again when Parton leans out from the trunk of Tomlin's car with a dead body and says "Judy, could you come here for a minute?" with a knowing bright eyed grin. That's comedy. That's humor. That's funny. But "First Wives Club"?"First Wives Club" is about revenge and empowerment of wives who were dumped for younger men. Not having been married, also being a male, I have to say that I'm not the target audience for this thing, but even if I were I think the film could have been broader reaching in appeal. We've all been taken advantage of. It's a universal truth about both sexes. And that's the missed golden opportunity here that this film missed out on; i.e. these women may have been victims because they were married to these guys, but surely their ill behavior affected more than just them, and that any justice served by the three women would be a universal blow for all who were mistreated by these ex-husbands.But that isn't what we get, and so the film falls flat on that score, but manages to eek out a few smiles and nods of agreement among divorced women. The film has a certain zest to it, but it's not a very well written script. Or, better yet, the scripts focus of whom to allow to identify with these characters is way too narrowly focused, and needed a major rewrite to show the suffering from husbands with flawed characters is not just "a ladies' thing", so to speak.Maybe give it a shot if you have nothing better to do (as I did), but there are better films out there.

I came into this film with fairly low expectations as I wasn't sure that it would be my sort of thing. However, I must admit that I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.The premise is rather simple and focuses on 3 old college friends who end up re-united due to the death of their old college friend Cynthia (Stockard Channing). The 3 college friends are Elise Elliot (Goldie Hawn), Brenda Cushman (Bette Midler) and Annie Paradis (Diane Keaton). Whilst, the circumstances surrounding their reunion are unfortunate, the 3 women use this opportunity to catch up. Whilst, it is clear that they have lived rather different lives since they left college, they find that they all have one thing in common; their husband's have left them for/cheated on them with young women. With the 3 protagonists feeling disgruntled about the way they've been treated, they decide to set up the First Wives Club and take revenge on their cheating husbands;Whilst, the film is rather slow to get moving, I did find that this to be an enjoyable film. This film was a lot of fun with plenty of laughs. The 3 protagonists characters were all well developed and some of the schemes they come up with to get their own back on their respective partners were rather clever. I felt that Goldie Hawn gave the stand out performance, but that's not to discredit Midler and Keaton who were also fantastic.What really impressed me about the First Wives Club was the ending (which I won't give away), but let's just say that there was slightly more to it than meets the eye.All in all, this was a fun ride with plenty of laughs. The plot summary will suggest that it is geared more towards women and if I'm honest I think that more women will enjoy this than men. Having said that I'm a man and I still enjoyed it. Give it a try!

This film is, I think, more one for the sisterhood than anyone else. I don't mean that in any derogatory sense, but whatever buttons it presses rather pass us guys by. It is something of a mish-mash, redeemed, in part, by rather good and definitely entertaining performances from Bette Midler, as the abandoned wife of a Jewish merchant, and Goldie Hawn, an ageing Oscar-winning film start, who has also been abandoned by her film producer husband. Making up the threesome is Diane Keaton (who is never my favourite actress, I'm sorry to say) as the doormat wife of an philandering adman. The trio is brought together by the suicide of the fourth member of their college group, the abandoned wife of a wealthy Wall Street money-man, who hurls herself to her death from the balcony of her Central Park apartment. The trio she leaves behind had all promised to stick together through thick and thin on their graduation day, but in the event had lost touch. Meeting up again after all those years at their friend's funeral, they get roaring drunk afterwards 'catching up', with Hawn and Midler admitting they have been traded in by their husbands for younger model and Keaton, still in denial and insisting she and her husband are only temporarily separated, obviously soon to be in the same boat. One thing leads to another, and the trio decide to form a First Wives Club in order to get revenge on the husband's who discarded them. And so on. The story itself isn't really important: it could be a roaring success in some director's hands and a dire disaster in those of another. That's the thin with films derived from books: they are entities in themselves. They are not a silver screen realisation of some novel or other. There have been many poor films based on cracking novels (and even works of non-fiction). And there have been great films based on very poor material (and films which consciously set out to be a faithful 'film of the book' tend to be pretty poor). In the hands of director Hugh Wilson and based on Olivia Goldsmith's novel, this is no great shakes, though it has to be said that a pretty average film is shot through with several gems – great scenes, great acting and great one-liners – from Midler and Hawn. But overall, as I suggest, this is one for the sisterhood. Given its soul and 'message' (yes, I'm afraid there does seem to be a message of some kind, although one pronounced in such a half-hearted fashion, I do wonder why they even bothered), the sisters might well love it. There are curious elements which add absolutely nothing to the film but makes sense if this is, as I suspect it was intended to be, some kind of sanitised sisterhood tract. Why make Diane Keaton's daughter a lesbian? There is no reason not to, of course, and I have many gay and lesbian friends and colleagues. But what was the purpose of having this lesbian character in the film. It seems purely grafted on to no effect. Then there is the character of Keaton's character's mother: what purpose does she have in the film? Beats me. The inclusion of Maggie Smith as the queen bee of New York society (with a very dodgy American accent even to my Brit ears) seems more like an attempt to attract the punters and gain a little spurious 'class' for the film. She plays hardly any part in the film, except as a cackhanded plot device, and even that might have been achieved with a small re-write. Me, I'll remember the good bits involving Midler and Hawn, but I wouldn't have been heartbroken had I fished another £3 DVD out of my supermarket bargain bin rather than this one and never seen it.

That's it.You'll thank me later for saving you the cost of renting this truly appalling movie starring three women who all know men better than to really believe this pseudo - feminist horse puckie. And it's not even true to its outrageous premise because they all take their exes back in the end.... And its got Maggie Smith in it.My cup runneth over. Miss Midler is very loud and Jewish,Miss Hawn scatty and blond,Miss Keaton fragile and WASP.How daring is that? There is a scene on a window cleaner's hoist that is so long and unfunny I was holding my head in my hands by the end of it. Does Miss Midler get to sing "The wind beneath my wings"?You'll have to watch it to find out,but if you're rather hoping she does then "The first Wives' club" may well be right up your street.