The First Wives Club (film)

1996 - USA - 102 min. - Feature, Color
Director, Hugh Wilson
Genre/Type: Black Comedy, Comedy Drama
Flags: Questionable for Children, Adult Humor
MPAA Rating PG

Keywords: affair, revenge, divorce, friendship, funeral, mid-life-crisis, reunion
Plot Lines: Family-interaction (involving dysfunctional family), Friendship (between women), Mid-life-crisis (@woman), Reunion (of class), Revenge (for love unrequited)

Produced by Paramount

Three middle-aged women from the class of '69 gather to mourn the loss of another classmate (who spectacularly killed herself after her husband left her for a younger woman) and discover that their lives have run disturbingly parallel, especially in their choice of husbands. After graduating from Middlebury, each went on to marry a wealthy fellow and raise a family. Recently, each has been dumped in favor of younger women. This acidic comedy follows what happens when they conspire to get revenge upon their ex-husbands and come to grips with their own middle-aged crises. Brenda (Bette Midler) was married to Morty, the owner of a successful chain of electronics store. He dropped her in favor of a gold-digging cashier named Shelley (Sarah Jessica Parker). Annie (Diane Keaton) gave up everything so that her husband could have a successful advertising agency and is justifiably miffed when her hubby Aaron cheats her out of her share of the company and then takes up with their psychoanalyst. Then there is Elise (Goldie Hawn), an Academy Award-winning actress who married aspiring producer Bill and helped make him a Hollywood big shot. He not only leaves her for a sexy aspiring actress (Elizabeth Berkley), he also has had the gall to ask her for alimony so he can fund a new picture to launch the girl's career. Using every resource available, the three vengeful women turn their husband's lives into living nightmares. -- Sandra Brennan

Cast

  • Goldie Hawn is Elise Elliot Atchison
  • Diane Keaton is Annie McDuggan Paradise
  • Bette Midler is Brenda Morelli Cushman
  • Eileen Heckart is Catherine MacDuggan
  • Dan Hedaya is Morton Cushman
  • Philip Bosco is Uncle Carmine Morelli
  • James Naughton is Gil Griffin
  • Sarah Jessica Parker is Shelly Stewart
  • Bronson Pinchot is Duarto Feliz
  • Rob Reiner is Dr. Morris Packman
  • Maggie Smith is Gunila Garson Goldberg
  • Victor Garber is Bill Atchison
  • Heather Locklear
  • Stockard Channing is Cynthia Swann Griffin
  • Ari Greenberg is Jason Cushman
  • Marcia Gay Harden is Dr. Leslie Rosen
  • Elizabeth Berkley is Phoebe La Velle
  • Stephen Collins is Aaron Paradise
  • Jennifer Dundas is Chris Paradise

Credits and review provided by All-Media Guide, http://allmovie.com/

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