Widows Review: 6 Ups & 3 Downs
Downs...
3. The Disappointingly Generic Plot
Widows is sure to earn many comparisons to David Fincher's Gone Girl, primarily because both films were written by Gillian Flynn (in this case with McQueen), who also wrote the Gone Girl novel.
Both Fincher's movie and this one are frustrating in the sense that, if you strip away the A+ director and cast, the script and narrative are honestly pretty uninspired.
Though the marketing suggested that Widows would be a subversive, feminist spin on the heist movie formula, it's surprising just how straight-up generic and workmanlike the film's plotting really is.
From the character drama surrounding the three focal women to the various B-plots running through the film and the execution of the climactic heist itself, without Steve McQueen and a top-drawer cast it'd be incredibly easy for this film to have turned out a totally average thriller.
It's hard to shake the feeling that Flynn really lucked out convincing both Fincher and McQueen to helm her scripts, because while they have an obvious mainstream appeal, they also tend to feel a bit rote and lacking in nuance.