ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

Tockinit not horrible nor great

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

jcnsoflorida The tiny subplot referencing Shiite terrorists is not funny in this 21st century but if you can forgive that, this is an 80s treasure in any language. Great performances from all the women, with Carmen Maura in the lead. Women on the Verge is one of Almodovar's best and most beloved, bursting with good energy, bright colors and sad love songs, it's a celebration of life and movies and an 89-minute trip to big city Spain. The narrative is a bit complicated and fast-paced, and American viewers are unlikely to catch everything on first viewing, but relax and have fun. You'll probably want to see this classic 80s comedy more than once.

Jackson Booth-Millard From director Pedro Almodóvar (All About My Mother, Talk to Her, Volver), this sounded like a good title that I found in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and it was rated highly by critics, so I was glad to watch this Spanish film. Basically Pepa Marcos (Carmen Maura) is a TV actress suffering depression and taking sleeping pills after her boyfriend Iván (Fernando Guillén-Cuervo) has left her, both of them dubbed for foreign films, angry she has ripped the phone out, but she wants desperately to contact him to tell him something. Iván's son Carlos (Antonio Banderas), born from his previous lover Lucía (Julieta Serrano), with his snobby fiancée Marisa (Rossy de Palma) are apartment hunting, he does not know where his father is, and meanwhile her friend Candela (María Barranco) unsuccessfully attempts suicide jumping from a balcony. Candela explains that she was unknowingly allowing a Shiite terrorist into her home, she was having an affair with him as well, she is also worried that police are looking for her because of the criminal activities, so to help the situation they go to a lawyer Carlos recommends, Paulina Morales (Kiti Mánver). Pepa is told by Carlos that Lucía has been in a mental hospital because of Iván's infidelity and has only recently been released, she is no loner interested in talking to him, and later the police trace a call Carlos made, but they and a phone repair man are knocked out when they are served spiked gazpacho. Pepa works out that Paulina is Iván's new lover, and that the flight she and he will fly on is the one terrorists plan to hijack, and Lucía still crazy rushes to the airport to kill Iván, Pepa chases after her and arriving in time stops the murder attempt. Iván is prepared to listen to whatever it was she was desperate to tell him, even prepared to leave Paulina for another chance with her, but Pepa refuses and leaves him for good, and returning home she and Marisa share a moment of tranquillity on the balcony, and Pepa reveals the big secret, she is pregnant. Maura gives a good performance trying to handle emotional stuff and awkward situations, and young Banderas speaking in his own language is funny as the nerdy looking friend's fiancé, the story is just about straight forward to follow, I think I give good praise because there are a good amount of laughs from the antics of the characters, it is a great fun comedy. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Film not in the English Language, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Very good!

jpschapira I don't think Pedro Almodóvar used to make better films than the ones he makes now; I believe he's always crafted very good movies. But maybe some elements or characteristics of his older pieces are not as present in his actual work, "Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios" made me aware of this. For example, the day that the women of this film experience is unlikely to occur in an Almodóvar work today.Mostly I mean the level of craziness and the absurd. His last film, "Volver", finds a lot of women living 'at the verge of a nervous breakdown' (as the title of this movie translates in English), and although they are about to loose their minds at times, they don't find the same taxi driver three times when they stop a cab in different parts of a big city on a same day… That's delirious!But what's even more delirious is that Almodóvar's writing, with a perfect eye for understanding the female conscience, seems completely real but is cut off by situations like the one I've just mentioned; and that's a beautiful contrast. It's like watching a middle shot of Pepa (Carmen Maura) talking on the phone that suddenly changes to a close-up of her fast walking red high heels; it's like hearing things a woman in a difficult situation would think, but listening to the woman saying them out loud. I don't know if Almodóvar would want to explain what "Mujeres…" is about; maybe he'd prefer that you watch it without reading anything about it. I could just tell you it involves a woman (Pepa) having an affair with a man that left his sick wife and his nerdy son, who's involved with an ugly desperate woman that goes with him to visit an apartment to buy and the apartment is Pepa's, who at the moment is being visited by a girlfriend who's scared because her ex-boyfriend turned out to be a terrorist…Don't say that you would have preferred I hadn't told you anything.This is one of Almodóvar's first works, but don't forget this is the man who afterwards made semi-autobiographical pictures with risky images and character dramas with ruthless and pathetic characters. As a director, Almodóvar makes all his films look practically the same (the cinematography of the ever efficient Jose Luis Alcaine), although here the score is from a thrilling (Bernardo Bonezzi), before Alberto Iglesias started collaborating with Pedro. Which takes us to the differentiating factor in an Almodóvar film: the screenplay, in this movie as always highlighted by the classic credits "screenplay and direction". Better than anything else, we find Almodóvar the writer, capable of creating (in this piece) wonderful characters speaking all the same time in a small room where you can understand everything and you don't stop laughing.And therefore the performances shine; here by means of a unique and impossible to replace Carmen Maura, a beautifully over the top Julieta Serrano, a hilarious María Barranco and an unrecognizable Antonio Banderas, who shows here that he was probably something like an actor during a time of his life; Almodóvar allowed me to see that.

oazal I am a huge fun of Almodovar and Women... was the last out of all his movies I saw - I have seen all of them now. I am very happy that this one was the last as if it was first I wouldn't go any further. Early Almodovar, very square and obvious and so annoying that I couldn't get through all of this movie. Characters supposedly perfectly created - were absolutely unbearable - something too much and something else missing.At some point I developed feeling of compassion towards men in this movie. Cant believe that Almodovar was accused of being feminist after making Women.. I am very happy that later movies were better and I am looking forward to his new production to get rid of the bad taste after Women.... P.S. I am not American:)