I had never seen The First Wives Club before, but my wife spoke very highly of it. I saw what an incredible cast the movie had and as I have been having fun watching 90s movies recently I thought it would be a decent watch. I did have some fun with this, but it very much felt like a movie that I would have had to have seen in the 90s when it was released to really appreciate it now.
How to Download The First Wives Club
The First Wives Club was released on September 20, 1996. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform such as Amazon Prime Video. Click on the Download button at the end of this review.
Detailed Review and Cast Insights
Hey, I am not saying it was bad, but I could happily go the rest of my life without seeing this movie. Our three leads are Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton. The supporting cast is so stacked that there is not enough room in this review for me to write the names of all the people in this movie.
However, I do want to mention two people who were in this movie that I thought were cool. First of all, Jessie Sparrow herself, Elizabeth Berkely was in this movie, I did not know that so it was so much fun to see her here instead of bossing people around in the halls of Bayside High!
Also, Timmothy Oliphant was in this movie and I am a huge fan of his. Timothy Oliphant looked so young here, playing an ambitious movie maker. He looked so young I had to check how old he was and it turned out that this was the first movie that he was ever in! I love bits of movie trivia like this.
Plot Overview and Character Dynamics
Our three main characters are, Elsie who is a big-time actress, but drinks way too much, Annie who has major self-esteem issues, and Brenda who is recently divorced and struggling to get by. During their college days, they had another friend, Cynthia who after being ditched by her husband, killed herself before sending a letter to her friends.
Despite being tight at college, they had drifted apart and it was Cynthia’s funeral that brought them together where they bonded again. They all open up about the stuff they are dealing with in their personal lives, especially their husbands and this is the creation of The First Wives Club!
The Revenge Scheme and Its Impact
The idea is to get revenge and make their husbands pay. They all believe that the only reason their husbands were successful was because of them and now they have been traded in for younger models. They want to make their husbands and their new partners/wives pay and come up with some plans to make it happen.
As I write this, the premise of The First Wives Club is a lot of fun and I think that the movie has amazing potential, especially with the very talented cast. However, this movie just did not click with me. I never found the lead ladies all that likable, to be honest with you. As I said, I am not saying it is bad, but to me, it was like it could not decide if it wanted to be more of a drama or a comedy. I think that if it had leaned into the comedy more it would have been more enjoyable.
Conclusion and Personal Reflections
However, with that being said, my wife disagreed and she said she liked the “drama” and the real-life aspect of these ladies dealing with being replaced so what the heck do I know? I can see why some people really like this movie and as I said, the cast was great. Yet, The First Wives Club is not something that I would consider one of the all-time classics of the 90s.
