"The Starter Wife" (2007) TV mini-series

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

31 May 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

An ex-wife of a Hollywood studio boss starts her life after her divorce. Based on the novel by Gigi Levangie Grazer.

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Divorce | Bare Chested Male | Midlife Crisis | California

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 23 nominations

Cast

Judy Davis	...	Joan McAllister (6 episodes, 2007)
Chris Diamantopoulos	...	Rodney (6 episodes, 2007)
Peter Jacobson	...	Kenny Kagan (6 episodes, 2007)
Stephen Moyer	...	Sam (6 episodes, 2007)
Anika Noni Rose	...	Lavender (6 episodes, 2007)
Novella Nelson	...	Nana (6 episodes, 2007)
Aden Young	...	Jorge Stewart (6 episodes, 2007)
Joe Mantegna	...	Lou Manahan (6 episodes, 2007)
Bethany Whitmore	...	Jaden (6 episodes, 2007)
Debra Messing	...	Molly Kagan (5 episodes, 2007)
Miranda Otto	...	Cricket Stewart (5 episodes, 2007)
Trilby Glover	...	Shoshanna (5 episodes, 2007)
Hailee Denham	...	Skylar McNeil (5 episodes, 2007)
Gigi Edgley	...	Chloe (5 episodes, 2007)
Paul Gleeson	...	Aaron (3 episodes, 2007)
John Atkinson	...	Detective Parks (3 episodes, 2007)
Kate Kendall	...	Lisa (3 episodes, 2007)
Rodger Corser	...	Larry Hamill (3 episodes, 2007)
Jane Hall	...	Sharon (3 episodes, 2007)
Madeleine West	...	Katy (3 episodes, 2007)
Julia Blake	...	Mrs. Caldecott (2 episodes, 2007)
Barry Langrishe	...	Pappy (2 episodes, 2007)
Leah Purcell	...	Hannah Sprints (2 episodes, 2007)
Jared Robinson	...	Sheriff #2 (2 episodes, 2007)
Dasi Ruz	...	Ana (2 episodes, 2007)
Jerome Ehlers	...	Director (2 episodes, 2007)
Ursula Brooks	...	Country Club Administrator (2 episodes, 2007)
Christopher Kirby	...	Detective Smith (2 episodes, 2007)
Sunny Doench	...	Cosmetic Girl (2 episodes, 2007)
Matthew Scully	...	Clarity Harbor Valet (2 episodes, 2007)
Leeanna Walsman	...	Sasha (2 episodes, 2007)
David Webb	...	Dr. Peter Hexton (2 episodes, 2007)

Runtime:

Germany:43 min (6 parts) | Argentina:46 min (6 parts)

Country:

USA | Australia

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

3 Arts Entertainment

Goofs:

Continuity: When Molly and Sam take Jaiden into the surf at the end of the mini series, Sam's shorts are already soaking wet.

Quotes:

Molly Kagan: Of course I'm cranky, I haven't eaten in 12 years!

Movie Connections:

References "Emeril Live" (1997)

Soundtrack:

I Wanna Play

Utterly charming, great fun

I love Hollywood insider satires, and this is a great one, with convincing atmosphere and characters. Messing is delicious as a high-functioning Hollywood wife who is dumped by her narcissistic and spoiled movie executive husband after catering to his every need and whim efficiently for years. Needless to say, he's dumping her for a bimbo -- a Britney Spears-ish singer/starlet. In a self-imposed exile in the Malibu home of her oldest friend (Judy Davis), she meets an enigmatic surfer (Stephen Moyer) and has an ambiguous flirtation with her husband's boss, studio head Joe Mantegna. The triangle is very, very satisfying -- you're not quite sure which of these men you want her to end up with, and you like them both.

Dropped instantly by all the grasping, climbing manipulators and their wives, non-person Molly ends up falling back on her core of friends -- the wife of a director whose husband wants her to to drop Molly for tactical reasons, her wealthy dipso friend, and her gay decorator friend (Chris Diamantopoulos, who is broke after having to eat the cost of 12 hideous custom chairs a client insisted upon and then wouldn't pay for). She also becomes friends with the young black woman who works as the Malibu compound's security guard, and her mother. At one point, they all end up holed up in Judy Davis's house, like the treehouse crew in "The Grass Harp." The series is very well directed (by Jon Avnet) and the characters are very sharply drawn. Messing's husband is a monster of selfishness, but not consistently so, and he can't let go his habit of calling on Molly for (now inappropriate) favors. There isn't a line or a bit of business that Messing doesn't play to the hilt. Again and again Molly demonstrates the resourcefulness and elan that makes her husband such a fool for ditching her. There's a scene where she catches a cricket her husband has assigned his executive assistant to remove from the house (until she locates the annoying insect, she can't attend her grandfather's 80th birthday party) in no time flat that was particularly piquant.

This is a woman's story, but I think a lot of men will appreciate the sardonic portrait of a materialistic and phony Hollywood milieu, and I don't know how anybody could not want to look at all these gorgeous residences.