Review of The First Wives Club (1996) by Steven V — 18 Dec 2009

The First Wives Club should have been a much better movie than it is. All of the elements are there to make its comedy not only dark, but biting, cruel, politically incorrect and not tack on the saccharine, cloying mess that pretends to be an ending.

Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn do better with what little material they've been given while still being little more than caricatures. Goldie Hawn at least does poke fun at Hollywood's treatment of actresses which may also be at her own "persona" which has refused to age, but other than that, there's not much bite in her resolve to do her husband in.

Then we have the supporting characters, none which fare any better. None of the younger women are written as little more as props, though at least Sarah Jessica Parker has a couple of lines that hint of a different version of Carrie Bradshaw.

Stockard Channing's death scene is so badly filmed it might as well been an afterthought from another movie that somehow found its way here. It just proves that a bad screenplay filled with unsympathetic characters will kill the central idea in a story, but also, that an equally bad direction with odd takes and bad editing will further the damage.