BET+'s First Wives Club is a flavorless TV sitcom that would've worked better as a multicamera comedy

The Hollywood Reporter

"A nod to the original (1996 movie) in structure only, First Wives Club features three long-married college friends who reunite after some years of passive estrangement to support each other through divorce, adultery and plain-ole matrimonial discontentment," says Robyn Bahr. "But that's about where the parallels end. Instead, executive producer Tracy Oliver (co-writer of Girls Trip, one of 2017's funniest hits) uses the franchise name to launch a new story centering successful black women suddenly tossed aside in favor of shinier prospects. It's a winning conceit for a TV reboot, but the broad, blue humor — which works well in a 100-minute film — renders each half-hour episode a slog. This may be the first single-cam comedy I have ever wished were multicam. At least a laugh track, an illusion of mirth, would alert me that an actual joke had been made. The show's hyuk-hyuk comic tone may have jelled better with the stagey hyper-reality that multiple cameras evoke." ALSO: First Wives Club embodies the defiant spirit of the original film.