Spoiler alert……

I went to see The Women last week, and oh my god was I disappointed. I saw the trailer for it months ago, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting its UK release ever since.

Looks pretty good doesn’t it?

Trust me, it’s not.

I went to see the film with two of my closest friends, and I have to say I was more than relieved to discover when the final credits rolled that they hated it just as much as I did. I sat through it thinking “what if they’re really enjoying it, what am I going to do if it turns out they like this crap? Oh my god, did L just smile……..” Phew: no, she didn’t. Probably just a bit of wind from swallowing down the same scream I had in my throat – something along the lines of: “Turn this unmitigated sexist colluding shite off. Now!”

The acting is atrocious (yep, even Bette Midler can’t save this one) the storyline is crap (husband has an affair, friends rally round to offer support, but it all ends happily-ever-after with her appearing to accept him back and deciding she doesn’t want a big glamorous successful career that might take her away from her family……gah!) and the whole thing is such a fucking wasted opportunity it’s tragic.

There were so many chances in this film to say something meaningful: challenging the tyranny of the beauty myth for example (they touched on it but then it got lost somewhere {unless I nodded off and missed it, but I don’t think I did ‘cos I distinctly remember I hardly even blinked I was so mesmerised by the awfulness of it all}); or something about body fascism and the impact of unrealistic/photo-shopped representations of women on young girls and so on.

But no. Instead we were treated to yet another women-love-shopping, women-love-designer-clothes/handbags/make-up/husbands load of old bollox.

It’s a shame as Meg Ryan has been trying to get this film off the ground for years.

She shouldn’t have bothered.