'The Women' perfect for 'Sex and the City' withdrawal symptoms

Director: Diane English

Cast: Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Annette Bening

Cert: 15

Several doomed attempts have been made - all with big-name stars attached - to re-make George Cukor's classic 1939 story of catty New York society, a story that has always held a strong fascination.

Now director English has, like Cukor before her, assembled a mouth-watering all-female cast with a list of players that couldn't be bettered: Debra Messing, Carrie Fisher, Candice Bergen, Bette Midler, Jada Pinkett Smith.

It's good to see Ryan back on form - indeed, to see her back on screen - as the sweet Mary Haines who leaves her cheating husband and finds solace clutched to the collective heaving breasts of New York's gossiping, conniving, scheming, back-biting socialites.

Poor sweet Mary might well have stayed with her straying husband rather than fall into such a pit of deliciously muck-spreading ogres.

It's maybe not quite up to Cukor's original - he was, after all, a master at working with the females in his films - but it's still a hoot - the perfect film for a girls' night out.

Star Rating: 4/5