The First Wives Club 1996 by AverageMansReviews

The First Wives Club 1996 by AverageMansReviews

Review Time

Warning: there is flashing effects/colourful effects/burning/animal cruelty/references to suicide, rainbow community and domestic violence

After a tragic loss to 1 out of 4 long-term friends: briefly; the other 3 at first vow payback on the men in their lives; first we have Annie MacDuggan-Paradis [Younger Annie MacDuggan: Adria Tennor/Older: Diane Keaton:] she is the levelheaded one out of our trio, but she is a bit of a doormat, her situation revolves around advertising and she provides voice over now and again throughout the film. Brenda Morelli-Cushman [Younger Brenda Morelli: Michele Brilliant/Older: Bette Midler:] she is a very strong, crack-wise Sicilian-Jewish mother getting her son ready for his bar mitzvah: her situation revolves around retail and finally we have Elise Eliot-Atchiso [Younger Elise Eliot: Dina Spybey/Older: Goldie Hawn:] she is an performer in movies including winning an Oscar, but the more recent times her career is circling the toilet bowl as she likes to drink and her situation is as you may have guessed in in the world of movies.

Generally speaking: the framework and pacing of this 103 minutes film is a little bit slow to begin with as it needs time to warm up, but after that it is good.

Character developments, performances and comedy; the trio of the younger trio, Keaton, Midler and Hawn: perfectly show why they were/are long-term friends as they all bring something to the table, be it calmness or streetwise sass or can come up with ideas when sober. Basically the dynamic is between the three of them they can overcome anything as if one doesn't know the answer, the other will or if not they will take pieces of each other's answer to come up with something that works. Without this trio of performers this film wouldn't have worked and I will leave and go one more step and say it; it would have fallen flat on its face, because not only do they have to be serious, then comical within the dialogue exchanges they also have to do with a very serious topic of without giving too much away, but in this case I will make an exception: they have to make references to suicide and regardless of gender this topic has to be taken seriously and they do give it the seriousness it deserves.

Character developments, performances, action, comedy and art; now behind this trio we have a very talented cast such as Maggie Smith as Gunilla Garson Goldberg: essentially she is the original first wife of first wives, she is socialite that there isn't much that doesn't go on without her knowledge: she assists our trio with giving this information to Sarah Jessica Parker as Shelly Stewart: a young woman that wants to be a social climber, but being kind isn't too bright: basically it is a distraction plan so that our trio can enter this location and retrieve some important information, but not everything goes exactly according to plan, as our trio gets informed by Goldberg that they are on their way back by telephone, so our trio has to use one of those outdoor window cleaning lift things: with Morelli-Cushman being scared of heights, but at least Eliot-Atchiso got to have a brief chat with some people on the other side of a window which they had to signal and shout loudly and separately: Eileen Heckart as Catherine MacDuggan: she is Annie's mother which can come across as controlling, but means well and finally we have Jennifer Dundas as Christine "Chris" Paradis, Annie's daughter which happens to be a lesbian, but hasn't told her father yet and will help our trio in their caper and to finish off this content we get our trio singing "You Don't Own Me" by Leslie Gore released in 1963 and yes I know this is the second time they make usage of this song in this film.

This film receives: 7/10, this film is good; I decided to award this film an extra mark, the only reason I couldn't award anything higher is because as I have already indicated this film does take some time to get going, but either way if you haven't seen it or haven't seen it in years on both counts it does well worth a watch, there is an ongoing scene when the ending credits start rolling. This film does have some awards accredited to its name such as 3 Winners that include but not limited to ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards 1997 ASCAP Award Top Box Office Films Marc Shaiman and National Board of Review, USA 1996  NBR Award Best Acting by an Ensemble Bette Midler Goldie Hawn Diane Keaton Maggie Smith Dan Hedaya Sarah Jessica Parker Stockard Channing Victor Garber Stephen Collins Elizabeth Berkley Marcia Gay Harden Bronson Pinchot Jennifer Dundas Eileen Heckart Philip Bosco Rob Reiner James Naughton Ari Greenberg Aida Linares. 8 Nominees which included but not limited to Academy Awards, USA 1997 Oscar Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score Marc Shaiman and Casting Society of America, USA 1997 Artios Award Best Casting for Feature Film, Comedy Ilene Starger