THE FIRST WIVES' CLUB (33)

Directed by: Hugh Wilson

Starring: Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler

The Pitch: Three middle-aged divorcees, dumped for younger women, take revenge on their ex-husbands.

Theo Sez: Feelgood fluff, yet one could get dizzy trying to keep up with all the things this movie tries to do: to be sharp and catty about its three heroines (their big fight, all name-calling and face-slapping, is the film's highpoint) while also celebrating their beautiful sisterhood; to roundly bash marriage while carefully not rejecting family and "family values"; to nab the "go, girl!" audience while reassuring the more thoughtful crowd that it's alive to women's problems (the titular trio end up opening a battered-women's Crisis Centre!); even to reinforce the comic stereotype of lesbians while also making them admirable and mainstream-friendly. The result is predictably confused and exhausting, though the litmus test is probably the long early scene of the three heroines in a bar, swapping horror stories: those who roar with laughter will love the film, those who smile politely won't. Even non-fans must concede that the three stars can light up the screen, and that Diane Keaton remains a superb comedienne; though, when it comes to the characters, even fans must surely sense that there's no way these three women could ever have stood each other for five minutes on any recognisable planet, let alone become best friends.