Widows

Laura LaPlante is a wonderful writer, but if you've ever seen a British and American version of one of her stories, you know the British are superior.

I did not see the British "Widows" but I did see the American one from 2002, starring Mercedes Ruehl, Rose Perez, Brooke Shields, N'Bushe Wright, Colm Feore, and Jay O. Sanders. The DVD for the American version is shortened from 273 minutes to 168; the original seems to have been a TV series rather than a TV movie that went over several nights.

The story concerns four women whose husbands were killed during an art heist, tied in to the Gardner Museum robbery of 1990. None of those paintings have ever been found. One of them, The Concert, by Vermeer, is worth $300 million. The men were breaking into a gallery to steal the Vermeer, and their deaths were no accident, but murder. The women, led by Dolly (Ruehl) decide to finish stealing the painting and find out who killed their husbands.

The presence of several actors here, particularly Colm Feore, indicates the film was done in Canada.

The original series could not have been about the Gardner robbery, nor did it take place in Boston as this one does.

I enjoyed this film in part because of the acting by Ruehl and also Brooke Shields, though everyone did a good job. And it's always a pleasure to see Feore, an acclaimed stage actor in Canada. Also, it's a good story that draws you in, and knowing about the Gardner Museum heist, I liked that it was part of the plot.

I look forward to seeing the original.

watched the original English version of Widows back in 1983 and thought it was exciting, so when this thing came on cable, I actually thought it was the original they were screening once again.

As it turned out it wasn't but I anyway sat through the thing feeling a little disappointed from the start.

The setting has changed from London to Boston, but otherwise the plot and the twists are the same, and it manages to keep a fairly good tempo (it is also a lot shorter than the original, which was 6 episodes of roughly 60 minutes).

Unfortunately the acting is nowhere near the original, which was one of the aspects that made it stand out - and justify the length, because you could get a feel for the main characters. This never happens in the American update, but it is still not half bad, primarily because of a decent story.

Conclusion: 5, but I prefer the original any day of the week.

"Widows" is a teleflick which sticks Ruehl out front as one of four women widowed when someone "offs" their "significant others" during a heist. What follows is a long, tedious black comedy about the motley gaggle of females who set out to get revenge and recompense. Perhaps the biggest problem with this 3 hour miniseries is not what's there but what's missing. There's no significant love or romance or sex; comedy or gags or laughs; heart or gut wrenching drama; etc. There is some action but the bulk of the flick is just scheming upon scheming, busy work, and developing characters who aren't very interesting and who engender little empathy. Too long, too tedious, too little, too late. Recommended as an exercise in conquering ADD. (C)

Note - This miniseries is anywhere from 168 to 273 minutes depending on where you get the info. The DVD sleeve showed 168 minutes which is probably the DVD's run time though it seemed more like 273 minutes.