Women in Film (2001) User Reviews

Fictitious commentary / documentary of female Hollywood experience

[rlcsljo · 5/10 · 7 September 2002]

Talking head (mostly) alert. Three women: one black, two blonde, apparently go about their "normal" lives, including using the toilet, while they comment on their lives in the entertainment industry.

Verisimilitude is achieved by commenting on public figures of the entertainment industry. We are supposed to be shocked by the copious use of profanity and some minor nudity.

I pretty much works better than a "real" documentary and the monologues very from good to excellent. But it has all the excitement of a mediocre poetry reading night at the local java house.

I would really recommend this film to Portia De Rossi fans--probably the best exposure of her acting ability and body to date.

Women on Video

[mario.dimaio · 3 February 2001]

The boundaries of digital video are pushed to the limits. Shot composition and cinematography are original and outstanding. Acting is superb -- very engrossing. There are many industry `in' jokes and references. Very LA. The three women speak directly to the camera and never interact. They expose their bodies and, though occasionally appearing shallow, their souls. (I have to find out what Barbara Barrie furnishings are!) Fascinating, though a mainstream audience probably won't have the patience for all dialogue and no action, nor for this stylized form. This is exactly the kind of movie that I expect to find at a film festival (and nowhere else).

Pretentious pile of tripe

[kranbot · 1/10 · 30 August 2002]

This film may just kill you with ennui. Nothing like a bunch of self-absorbed pretentious characters talking about the plot whilst swimming in pools, sitting on the toilet or inexplicably dancing to induce annoyance at best and extreme boredom at worst. We don't get to see a shred of action--just a stream of narrative that is clearly taken from the written word. This movie is completely inert. People just don't talk like this. Speaking of pretense, this film often undermines itself on that count--the actors don't always pronounce their 50 cent words properly. At one point, Portia de Rossi says "irridate" when she means to say, "irradiate." I'm always shocked when actors don't take the time to use a dictionary. And what's up with the gratuitous breast shots? If someone is ever having insomnia, this film will surely help them get to sleep.

Women talking about film

[iwatcheverything · 6/10 · 3 September 2003]

I actually liked this film. It had some great dialogue and seemed to tell some of the truer sides of Hollywood. If you like good gossip or something like E! TV then this would be a good film for you. Some of the stories are hard to keep up with because besides the 3 women talking their are no faces to match the names to. There were a lot of nude scenes and also things women do on a daily basis with no real editing around it. This was a good storytelling film and if you don't mind no real action then I believe you will like this film also.

Talk-fest but with excellent performances

[jillian.diamond · 6/10 · 15 July 2014]

This is the kind of wall-to-wall talk-fest I normally avoid, but wound up watching it while stuck in bed recovering. Yes, it is pretentious and I do not love the editing. Between 2 of the characters there are at least 8 scenes filmed in the bathroom, most of which would have been better off shot elsewhere.

The whole movie is three women talking to the camera. Marianne Jean-Baptiste is the most centered of of the trio as a casting director/new mom who's marriage is coming apart. Portia de Rossi is a delusional masseuse/aspiring screenwriter/thief. Beverly D'Angelo is the producer who probably seems like she's really got it together to those on the outside, but whose monologues to her assistant Eric show she is clearly a destructive substance abuser.

I can see why all three actresses took the parts. If you are a fan of any of them you will get to see them with something they can really sink their teeth into. Without the acting this would have been a much lower score. 5 out of 5 stars for the performances and an additional star for the line about the washed-up Brady Bunchers showing up like Pentecostals.

A couple of women have endless monologues in a plot-less comedy drama.

[fedor8 · 31 December 2006]

Pretentious and self-indulgent indie "art" film with three women gabbing into the camera, on and on and on. A more-or-less anti-men film, too. One of the characters is a lesbian - but of course; when's the last time a bad indie movie didn't have at least one lesbian or gay character? Di Rossi plays the lesbian - a real-life lesbian, believe it or not; she has a very pretty face, but I've rarely seen such a pretty face so mismatched with a lousy body. Plus, the rich vocabulary that her monologues exhibit doesn't match her face at all. (Like the empty-headed Katie Holmes talking eloquently in "Dawson's Creek".) She's just a dumb ex-model so there's absolutely no way in hell she could talk that way. D'Angelo's bits are far more convincing, more interesting, she is more charismatic, and she looks great. But all in all, the film is too static and the monologues not nearly as spicy or interesting as they'd have to be given the style.