It's been a minute, apologies mum. Way back in 2018, Part 2 of this series was a real stinker - a movie that aged like the hardboiled egg you took out of the fridge to bring with you to the airport for a snack but forgot it on the counter in your sun-drenched house in July while you went on that long-awaited 2 week trip to Fiji.
Part 3 is a lovely little palet cleanser, I think. Sure, there's elements that would be written differently today, but the overall character archetypes and storylines feel fairly modern and inclusive. The movie this week is 1996's The First Wives Club.
I remember loving this movie as a young tween, but I don't remember why. Was it because I was watching it with my 2 best friends on a weekend sleepover with no parents around? Was it because the characters had money and cute clothes? Was it because two of the witches from Hocus Pocus were in it? I couldn't put my finger on it so I decided to rewatch it and see if I could recall the reasons.
Summary: Three close friends from college meet up at the funeral of their fourth friend after she kills herself. The group had drifted apart over the years, and conversation is a little slow to flow. That is, until they realize that each of them has been, or is about to be, dumped by their long-time husband in favor of a younger woman. Stoking each others flames of anger, they band together and hatch a plan to get back and get even, and in the course of doing so, discover bits of themselves lost to time.
Goldie Hawn's character is a self-made actress with success stemming from both her looks and her talent. She taught her husband everything he now uses to run his business. Bette Midler's character was married young(ish) to a man she loved, and worked along-side him for years as they grew their family and his business from small startup to successful lovable local appliance outlet. And Diane Keaton's character, the most meek of the group, was dealing with empty-nest syndrome and working hard to save her long-time marriage without realizing it was an emotionally abusive relationship.
What starts out as a standard fluff plot of stealing all their soon-to-be ex-husbands money soon evolves into something much deeper - 3 women rekindling lost friendships, supporting one another, re-discovering their strengths and talents, and putting their newfound enlightenment to work in a cause bigger than themselves.
Goldie Hawn's character makes peace with her unavoidable aging in an unforgiving industry. Diane Keaton's character finds her voice, stands up for herself, and confronts her abusive husband. And Bette Middler's character reconciles her stagnant decades-old marriage after taking stock of what's important to her, to her husband, and to their teenage son. Cumulatively, after realizing what helped them the most during this process, they use the money of their ex-husbands to open a crisis center for women with the hopes of reaching women who need someone to open up to about their lives, before it's too late.
