This film tells the tale of Mary Haines (Meg Ryan). Haines lives a seemingly perfect life, with a wealthy husband, beautiful daughter and a foot in the door of her father’s clothing company. Haines’ best friend Sylvie Fowler (Annette Bening) lives an equally exclusive life as a happily-single editor of a prominent fashion magazine. However, when Haines’ husband decides to have an affair with glitzy perfume “spritzer girl” Crystal Allen (Eva Mendes), chaos ensues. Haines and Fowler’s relationship is tested, which causes two of their other close female friends Edie Cohen (Debra Messing) and Alex Fisher (Jada-Pinkett Smith), to question their own relationships with friends and love interests. Despite being a chick flick, this film is completely free of any male characters, a refreshing change compared to most female-targeted films of today. The movie focuses on the important principles of keeping one’s chin up in tough situations and pressing on. It also touches on staying true to personal values and beliefs, no matter what the consequence. I found this film to be both enjoyable and inspiring. It tells a story of a life before “happily ever after,” and shows how important it is to stick things out to the end. Running time: 114 minutes. Rated PG-13 (sex-related material, language, some drug use and brief smoking). I would recommend this to female students and give it a 4-star rating.