Der Club der Teufelinnen

THE FIRST WIVES CLUB is a sparkling all-star comedy that hits all the right notes and makes you want to cheer out loud while you're watching. This is the story of three former college girlfriends (Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler) who are reunited after many years due to the suicide of a mutual friend (Stockard Channing) and all learn that they have been dumped by their husbands for younger women. They bond and not only plan revenge on their husbands but take their revenge to another unexpected level that is curiously refreshing for a comedy of this type. Keaton, Hawn, and Midler are marvelous as the women out for their ex-husbands'blood. Stephen Collins, Victor Garber, and Dan Hedaya are all on the mark as the scummy ex-husbands. There are funny bits contributed along the way by Rob Reiner as Hawn's plastic surgeon, Sarah Jessica Parker as Hedaya's mistress, Maggie Smith as a wealthy divorcée, Bronson Pinchot as a faux designer, Eileen Heckart as Keaton's mother, and Marcia Gay Harden as Collins'therapist/mistress. A wonderful script is smartly mounted by director Hugh Wilson with an energetic cast to produce a terrific film comedy which can easily be watched several times and discover new pleasures on each viewing.

This older film still holds up well after 20 + years. It has an edge to it that makes you laugh, but not all the jokes hit home every time. It is fun seeing the performers who went on to even greater acclaim later on, such as Sarah Jessica Parker and Victor Garber. And, of course, you can't miss with a powerful threesome like Goldie, Diane, and Bette. Two thumbs up for this one.

If you watch "The First Wives Club" because you need a good laugh, perhaps you should try another film. Yes, it clearly has some funny moments but it also is filled with dark ones--and a message you wouldn't expect to find in a simple comedy. You KNOW it's going to be a dark film at the beginning, as a lady whose husband has left her takes her own life. This horrible event brings some of her old friends to the funeral--and there they compare notes and see that they, too, were used and cast aside by their husbands--husbands who have no replaced them with trophy wives. So, the three friends (Bette Midler, Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn) concoct a plan--a plan that involves fleecing their unfaithful ex-husbands and creating a club for wives going through the same sort of situations they have.

As I said, there are some dark moments and some funny ones. But the film never falls to the level of slapstick or becomes mostly comedy--but a mix. Some may not like this and the film is a bit heavy-handed at times, but the overall film is well worth seeing and has a decent feminist message. Worth seeing.

Like Nine to Five, First Wives Club purports to be making a statement - albeit in comedy mode - about a serious feminist issue, but like that movie is simply an opportunity to portray women getting back at men who have taken advantage of them - and why not?! While the film may have little practical application to the majority of women who are "traded in" for newer models, but whose men are not as well heeled as the husbands in this film, it does provide them with 100 minutes of escapist entertainment from three great American actresses - OK Bette Midler may not be the best actress in the world but she's certainly hugely entertaining.

Midler plays one of three 60s college friends, who meet 25 years later and find that they've each been deserted - her businessman ex-hubby keeps her short of cash while buying skimpy designer dresses for his skimpy girlfriend (Sarah Jessica Parker). The other two in the triumvirate are Diane Keaton as a diffident door-mat, and Goldie Hawn as an alcoholic and facelifted filmstar. But this is one movie where there is no doubt about the characters undergoing an "arc" during its course, and hardly anyone emerges unaltered. Along the way, there are lots of laughs, a few tears, and an unforgettable rendition of You Don't Own Me. Elsewhere on IMDb, some ungenerous souls have used the word hysterical to describe this movie; hysterically funny is nearer the mark.

I found this movie frustrating. I read Olivia Goldsmith's novel and found it deep, emotional, and justified in its revenge. The novel involves much deeper issues, like a father taking money from his retarded daughter, a man who beat his wife and forced her to allow their daughter to die following an accident, a man who refuses to support his children, et cetera.

This movie focuses on petty revenge because they are not happy with being discarded for twenty year olds. It has NONE of the book's depth, characters, or deep emotional satisfaction in revenge. It has nothing more than cheap satisfaction and cheap revenge. I watched it once and would never look at it again.