Welcome to the MariahDaily.com "WiseGirls" movie page.
"WiseGirls" is Mariah's second movie after "Glitter", in which she played one of the leading roles. The movie was shot in the early summer of 2001 while Mariah was still making the final touches to the "Glitter" movie, its soundtrack and the promotion for the single "Loverboy".
A character-based comedy that paired Mariah Carey with Mira Sorvino and earned good notices and a standing ovation at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, "WiseGirls" landed on cable television rather than gaining wide distribution in theaters.
Mariah tells the New York Post, "That made me see how good an experience movies can be. When we showed it at Sundance, we got a standing ovation. Too bad nobody remembers the good movie, they just remember the great debacle. Sean Penn came up to me at a party after Sundance and told me he saw and enjoyed 'Wisegirls,' and not to give up just because of one bad movie. I was thrilled. You can't get better praise and advice in the movie business."
PLOT
David Anspaugh's mix of female bonding and mob drama, Wisegirls concerns a trio of waitresses. Meg (Oscar winner Mira Sorvino), wise-talking Raychel (Mariah Carey), and wannabe dancer Kate (Paul Thomas Anderson regular Melora Walters) grow close while working at an Italian restaurant. After saving a man's life at the eatery thanks to her time in medical school, Meg begins to realize that the establishment is mob-controlled. Soon she must hide the dead body of her boss (whose "whacking" she indirectly caused). Eventually, Meg discovers secrets about her two friends and is forced to risk her life in order to gain information on the mobsters. This mix of gangster film and female bonding screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
~ Perry Seibert,
All Movie Guide
David Anspaugh
Written by
John Meadows
REVIEWS
Hollywood Reporter
By Kirk Honeycutt, January 15, 2002
~ Perry Seibert,
All Movie Guide
CAST
| Mira Sorvino | ...... | Meg Kennedy |
| Mariah Carey | ...... | Raychel |
| Melora Walters | ...... | Kate |
| Arthur J. Nascarella | ...... | Mr. Santalino |
| Saul Stein | ...... | Umberto |
| Joseph Siravo | ...... | Gio Esposito |
| Christian Maelen | ...... | Frankie Santalino |
| Anthony Alessandro | ...... | Lorenzo |
| Louis Di Bianco | ...... | Deluca |
| Noam Jenkins | ...... | Garcia |
| Jeremiah Sparks | ...... | Detective Levine |
| Dax Ravina | ...... | Tony |
CREW
Directed byDavid Anspaugh
Written by
John Meadows
PICTURE GALLERY
MOVIE POSTER AND STILLS 
PREMIERE AT SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2002
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
REVIEWS
Hollywood Reporter
By Kirk Honeycutt, January 15, 2002
Comedy and crime melodrama blend smoothly in David Anspaugh's "Wisegirls," a female buddy movie about three waitresses at an Italian restaurant on Staten Island. This is a movie that could almost be a play because the action seldom leaves this crowded diner, with its hardworking staff and testosterone-revved wiseguys trying to relax with food and alcohol. Working from a tight, well-balanced screenplay by John Meadows, Anspaugh goes for a lively surface but one with a strong emotional undertow.
With Mira Sorvino, Mariah Carey and Melora Walters starring, this is a crime movie that also is a "chick flick." Lions Gate has not finalized its domestic release plans, but the upside potential is promising. Indeed, "Wisegirls" is almost too commercially slick for the Sundance festival.
Sorvino gives a spirited performance as Meg, a former medical student fleeing a tragic past. She moves in with her ailing grandmother on the Island and takes a job at a restaurant more mobbed up than the three "Godfather" movies combined. Her comrades-in-arms are Carey's gregarious but hardened Raychel, who dares the mobsters to get cute with her, and Walters' Kate, who like Meg has escaped Manhattan but still dreams of an acting career.
The story moves from easy comedy about the perils of on-the-job training to the intertwining of the women's lives as they bond to form a united front at the male-dominated eatery.
Gradually, Meg realizes that her mere presence at such an establishment compromises her ethics and might get her in trouble with the law. Then the owner (Arthur J. Nascarella), who has grown fond of a waitress from whom he can get free medical advice, drops hints of the matrimonial availability of his cocky, dangerous son (Christian Maelen). As Meg struggles with these issues, she is witness to a murder.
The piece plays as well as it does thanks in large measure to Anspaugh's three lead actresses. One anticipates a strong performance from Sorvino, especially in a role written with some depth, and she doesn't disappoint. Following rave reviews for her drug addict in "Magnolia," Walters too delivers predictably stellar work as a woman whose complexities emerge gradually.
But who knew about Carey? Those scathing notices for "Glitter" will be a forgotten memory for the singer once people warm up to Raychel. She's a don't-mess-with-me woman who develops a joyous sense of family in friendship with her fellow waitresses.
Linda Burton's restaurant set works terrifically, and Johnny E. Jensen's camera glides effortlessly through its large, well-lit interiors. "Wisegirls" can't help suffering a bit from overfamiliarity; we've been in this restaurant in too many movies already. But Anspaugh and his actors bring enough vigor to the enterprise that the film comes off as a well-done genre piece rather than yesterday's leftovers.
Fox News
By Roger Friedman, January 14, 2002
Mariah Carey may have found her calling at last in films. Instead of carrying a movie as a heroine, she actually excels at being a tough-talking barroom girl, sort of a Thelma Ritter for the new millennium.
Let's put it this way: If Cheers were ever made into a feature film, Carey would be hands-down the best choice to play Carla.
In David Anspaugh's extremely misguided mob movie Wise Girls, Carey is third to Mira Sorvino and Melora Walters. She doesn't have responsibility for the whole movie, and this time — as opposed to the god-awful Glitter - it works.
Carey looks relaxed and comfortable as she plays a savvy waitress in an upscale Staten Island mob joint. Even though she tends to wear skimpy outfits as usual, her line delivery is sharp and she manages to get the right laughs. She shows good comedic timing in places where you wouldn't expect her to get it right.
Unfortunately, Wise Girls is really awful, a terrible mob stereotype movie that pales considerably next to The Sopranos. And The Godfather? Fuggeddaboutit.
I don't understand what's happened to Mira Sorvino, or how she picks these turkeys. One after another, her choices of films are atrocious. All this after a much-deserved Oscar for Mighty Aphrodite back in 1995.
Sorvino's dad spoke out about Italian-American stereotyping in films, and certainly this movie - which raises just about every crude Mafia reference it can think of - is guilty of just that. Nearly every word out of Carey's mouth is the f-word.
Still, Mariah may have found her forte with Wise Girls, and now it's her handlers' turn to find more roles like this - wisecracking, world-weary, street-savvy people.
And no, Carey doesn't sing in the film, although there's quite a big soundtrack. That's just as well - there are no distractions for her here.
With Mira Sorvino, Mariah Carey and Melora Walters starring, this is a crime movie that also is a "chick flick." Lions Gate has not finalized its domestic release plans, but the upside potential is promising. Indeed, "Wisegirls" is almost too commercially slick for the Sundance festival.
Sorvino gives a spirited performance as Meg, a former medical student fleeing a tragic past. She moves in with her ailing grandmother on the Island and takes a job at a restaurant more mobbed up than the three "Godfather" movies combined. Her comrades-in-arms are Carey's gregarious but hardened Raychel, who dares the mobsters to get cute with her, and Walters' Kate, who like Meg has escaped Manhattan but still dreams of an acting career.
The story moves from easy comedy about the perils of on-the-job training to the intertwining of the women's lives as they bond to form a united front at the male-dominated eatery.
Gradually, Meg realizes that her mere presence at such an establishment compromises her ethics and might get her in trouble with the law. Then the owner (Arthur J. Nascarella), who has grown fond of a waitress from whom he can get free medical advice, drops hints of the matrimonial availability of his cocky, dangerous son (Christian Maelen). As Meg struggles with these issues, she is witness to a murder.
The piece plays as well as it does thanks in large measure to Anspaugh's three lead actresses. One anticipates a strong performance from Sorvino, especially in a role written with some depth, and she doesn't disappoint. Following rave reviews for her drug addict in "Magnolia," Walters too delivers predictably stellar work as a woman whose complexities emerge gradually.
But who knew about Carey? Those scathing notices for "Glitter" will be a forgotten memory for the singer once people warm up to Raychel. She's a don't-mess-with-me woman who develops a joyous sense of family in friendship with her fellow waitresses.
Linda Burton's restaurant set works terrifically, and Johnny E. Jensen's camera glides effortlessly through its large, well-lit interiors. "Wisegirls" can't help suffering a bit from overfamiliarity; we've been in this restaurant in too many movies already. But Anspaugh and his actors bring enough vigor to the enterprise that the film comes off as a well-done genre piece rather than yesterday's leftovers.
Fox News
By Roger Friedman, January 14, 2002
Mariah Carey may have found her calling at last in films. Instead of carrying a movie as a heroine, she actually excels at being a tough-talking barroom girl, sort of a Thelma Ritter for the new millennium.
Let's put it this way: If Cheers were ever made into a feature film, Carey would be hands-down the best choice to play Carla.
In David Anspaugh's extremely misguided mob movie Wise Girls, Carey is third to Mira Sorvino and Melora Walters. She doesn't have responsibility for the whole movie, and this time — as opposed to the god-awful Glitter - it works.
Carey looks relaxed and comfortable as she plays a savvy waitress in an upscale Staten Island mob joint. Even though she tends to wear skimpy outfits as usual, her line delivery is sharp and she manages to get the right laughs. She shows good comedic timing in places where you wouldn't expect her to get it right.
Unfortunately, Wise Girls is really awful, a terrible mob stereotype movie that pales considerably next to The Sopranos. And The Godfather? Fuggeddaboutit.
I don't understand what's happened to Mira Sorvino, or how she picks these turkeys. One after another, her choices of films are atrocious. All this after a much-deserved Oscar for Mighty Aphrodite back in 1995.
Sorvino's dad spoke out about Italian-American stereotyping in films, and certainly this movie - which raises just about every crude Mafia reference it can think of - is guilty of just that. Nearly every word out of Carey's mouth is the f-word.
Still, Mariah may have found her forte with Wise Girls, and now it's her handlers' turn to find more roles like this - wisecracking, world-weary, street-savvy people.
And no, Carey doesn't sing in the film, although there's quite a big soundtrack. That's just as well - there are no distractions for her here.
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