Autumn’s must-see movie, starring Eva Mendes, Debra Messing and Carrie Fisher

This September, grab your friends, your slickest pair of shoes and a baby bottle of bubbly and head straight to your local cinema to catch The Women – this season’s smartest, funniest It-flick.

Starring a never-seen-before roll-call of Hollywood’s finest leading ladies, including Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Carrie Fisher, Bette Midler and Candice Bergen, The Women swirls around Manhattan’s glittery social scene in movie magic not seen since Sex and the City.

At the centre of this poignant tale sits Meg Ryan’s Mary Haines. Confronted by the oldest tragedy in the book – a cheating husband – she seeks solace with her female friends, only to be betrayed by the one person she truly thought she could trust: best friend Sylvie Fowler, played by Annette Bening.

Suddenly the break-up in her marriage is overshadowed by the most painful break-up of all: her friendship.

The Women might be based on Clare Boothe Luce’s 1936 play of the same name, which in turn was first shot for the big screen in 1939 by George Cukor, but is a thoroughly modern take on what it means to be a woman in the 21st century, and also what it means to be a friend.

The Women is released in the UK on 12 September.