SummaryBette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton portray mid-life Manhattanites who have more than a longtime friendship in common. After years of helping their hubbies climb the ladder of success, each has been dumped for a newer, curvier model. But the trio is determined to turn their pain into gain. They come up with a cleverly devious plan to hit t... Read More
Directed By:Hugh Wilson
Written By:Olivia Goldsmith, Robert Harling
The First Wives Club
Metascore
Mixed or Average
59
User score
Generally Favorable
6.8
My Score
Drag or tap to give a rating
Hover and click to give a rating
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
59
48% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
33% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
19% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
100
It's a glamorous revenge romp, a "9 to 5" mixed with "Auntie Mame," and it gives each star the opportunity to do her best work in a long, long time.
80
And thanks to great existential one-liners from scriptwriter Robert Harling (with appropriate plaudits to novelist Olivia Goldsmith, of course), gender warfare is made amusing for almost everyone.
70
The film is played as witchy, all-star vamping with a lethal sting. What makes its premise especially funny is that, at heart, it's no laughing matter.
60
Yet with so much going for it, the film's creators have made the classic Hollywood choice and treated its actresses like flesh-and-blood special effects. If you've got talent like this, or so the theory goes, a coherent story is a luxury that can be dispensed with.
50
But as badly as the younger women in The First Wives Club are treated, none of the three central characters, with whom we're supposed to identify so strongly, comes off that well either.
38
It's difficult to say who is more misguided here: the men (director, screenwriter and producer) who made the movie, or the women who signed on to play the parts.
30
As a satire this film would be hilarious, but writer Robert Harling's ("Soapdish") script doesn't quite hit the mark.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.8
62% Positive
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
31% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
8% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Aug 28, 2014
7
Hugh Wilson could not have selected a more stellar trio to form the First Wives Club. They are all in top-form and have unbelievable chemistry. Plus, it's revenge, it's fun.
Feb 21, 2018
6
Good, entertaining movie about justice with amusing performances from the leading ladies, but nothing original or heart touching, lacking depth and verging on man hating.
