Without Men

Film has a good enough premise but little else. Small Mexican community loses all of its men when they're all rounded up against their will to fight in some unnamed war and the women end up taking over just fine thank you...but as time goes on they find themselves missing their men and wonder what they're gonna do for survival ultimately deciding to try and repopulate their town by sleeping with the one man who is still there--the local priest! (played in a Way over the top performance by Oscar Nunez from "The Office" and "The Proposal") Meanwhile in an almost completely tacked on subplot hotshot intrepid war correspondent Chrisitan Slater is told of this village and sets out on his own to find it as a human interest story in the midst of all this war.

Movie keeps you watching in hopes that it will go somewhere interesting or so but ultimately goes nowhere. It doesn't help that almost every character in the movie is a one dimensional cartoon character--and even less subtle too boot. Film would actually be a complete and total mess were it not for the professional performance of Eva Longoria here. In fact I would go so far to say the reason why the film works at all would be because of the slightly greater depth Longoria gives her character. She actually manages to make her character seem like a better thought out character then the other assorted characters here and while i don't know if that's because the script focuses more on her or if its because Longoria gets to resemble an actual human being as opposed to the more comically exaggerated people here, i give her all the credit in the world for providing the film with someone to actually somewhat care about. (if only Slater's character had been given as much screen time to develop into someone worth caring about as well) Longoria plays the uptight wife of the mayor who gladly takes over after her husband is taken alongside the other men. Film is mostly about how she comes into her own while taking charge and making decisions for once, and also how she learns to loosen up while engaging in a flirtation with a lesbian drifter who becomes the sheriff of the town (as well as the town's resident bad ass) As a case of a former wallflower coming into her own the film actually works---as anything else however the film really doesn't. The film's tone is very broad and played in an over the top farcical style which doesn't really gel with the subject matter. While its nice to see a film with this subject matter not played in heavy handed award baiting sympathy mode...i'm not sure if taking the complete opposite tone was the right track either. The mixture of tones-- wild sex farce and true love amongst suffering village women could work well but doesn't really come off as well as it could here. The film should play well on cable TV tho where the bright colors and bouncy energy will help it stand out from what else is on tho it might not sustain your interest past the second or third commercial break.

Some movies beg indulgence form the audience. This movie should beg forgiveness from the people who financed it. Based on a novel by James Canon and adapted for the screen and directed by Gabriela Tagliavini, the story (what little there is of it) concerns the women of a remote Latin American town who are forced to pick up the pieces and remake their world when all the town's men are forcibly recruited by communist guerrillas. They are devastated that they have to do 'men's work' such as cleaning the town and governing the village. The local priest (Oscar Nuñez) prays to God and is instructed that he must populate the village with new men by sleeping with all the women of childbearing age. Unable to perform his duties, he is ostracized. One woman (Eva Longoria) becomes mayor and the women gradually make the town a women's place - yes, even to the point of deciding that physical relationships between women are just fine and clothing is optional. A side bar story that simply doesn't fit is the presence of a reporter (Christian Slater) who is sent by his boss (Camryn Manheim) to get a front page article about the little town of only women. Et cetera.....

The lines these poor actors are giving are so poor that they are embarrassing, but the level of acting in general is on the junior high school level. Slater has so little to do that it seems as though he was hired simply to sell tickets in the theaters. This is a 'must miss' little bit of deflated fluff.

Grady Harp

Get your friends, get your popcorn and simply sit back and relax. The film is lighthearted, funny and vivacious, Eva Longoria shows she can indeed carry a movie, Christian Slater is so charismatic and especially Fernanda Romero sticks out in the cast. A new star is born. A town without men bares its challenges an when even the priest fails to keep the women in line and his fertility is an issue, you know you are in for an interesting ride. Tagliavini proves herself as a savvy screenwriter AND director both, sticks close to the book, yet gives its own strength and colors. The cinematography is stunning...matched by wonderful score. All in all simply a movie to love.

I thought that the title was interesting and hoped to see a world without men in a more societal aspect (in a comedy way of course) but OH MY GOD it's such a terrible movie from beginning to the 30 minutes I was able to handle. I'm impressed that in 2012 they could produce a movie so diminishing to women using only half naked stupid girls to make it more interesting... more interesting to who? I don't know... when you create a title like this you can imagine that your audience is gonna be mostly women and this is definitely not what you want to see in 2024/2025. It should be removed from streaming platforms to give space to better movies.

I truly do not understand the negativity towards this film at all, it dosen't deserve such a low rating. The premise of an entire town of women is carried out pretty well, I can see how some might be offended by the female characters not being able to read or wanting to do work, but if you can look past that, you'll see a charming, witty(funniest part for me was the women learning the joys of masturbation), lighthearted film with warm and likable characters, the relationship between Eva and Castillo is truly beautiful and heartwarming. There's also some interesting social commentary and female customs, for example, the women decide to make up their own time of 28 suns instead of 30 days(to go along with a women's cycle), the male performers do an adequate job, though their shortsided(understandable given the premise)Oscar Nunez is a hoot as the impotent priest and Slater does well enough as the straight man, all in all this film was a very pleasant surprise and I would highly recommend it.