Comedy/Drama/Romance. Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debi Mazar, Eva Mendes, Candice Bergen, Cloris Leachman, India Ennenga, Bette Midler, Carrie Smith. Director: Diane English.

AN ALL-STAR cast adds lustre to writer-director Diane English’s rather dull, contemporary remake of the 1939 George Cukor classic, which chronicled sisterly rivalry in Manhattan society.

Mary Haines (Ryan) is a successful, part-time fashion designer with a handsome Wall Street husband called Stephen, a 12-year-old daughter Molly (Ennenga), plus a coterie of loyal friends. This inner circle includes women’s magazine editor Sylvie Fowler (Bening), clucky mother hen Edie Cohen (Messing) and sassy lesbian author Alex Fisher (Smith).

When the pals learn from motor-mouth manicurist Tanya (Mazar) that Stephen is having an affair with gold-digging salesgirl Crystal (Mendes), they rally to the cuckolded wife’s side.

Men are nowhere to be seen, not even on Manhattan’s bustling streets, and only one male actor appears in the entire film, very briefly.

As re-imagined by English, The Women is an inoffensive clone of Sex And The City — minus the sex and with only fleeting glimpses of the distinctive New York City skyline.

Carrie Bradshaw and her clan had much more fun on these streets barely three months ago, and dealt with the very same issues — infidelity, pregnancy, choosing the perfect shoe/skirt combination — with greater elan.

Touchstones from the original film — the showdown in a women’s hanging room, a climactic fashion show and 'Jungle Red' nail polish — remain intact; sadly, the biting wit does not.

The Women is a pointless remake, distinguished by performances from the veteran cast members, particularly Bergen as the feisty matriarch who instructs her daughter, “Don’t be bitter, Mary, it leads to Botox!”