Where To Stream 'First Wives Club' To Understand Ariana Grande's Longtime Love Of The Film

If too many movies are making you say, thank you, next, why not sit down and watch one of Ariana Grande’s favorite movie First Wives Club? In fact, those who saw Grande’s performance of “Thank U, Next” on Ellen have already gotten a sneak preview of it. Those white outfits, that tablescape, that epic walkout at the end, all inspired by the 1996 film starring Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton. You don’t own the movie? Don’t worry, here’s how to stream First Wives Club right now.

For those who have a Starz subscription via Hulu or Amazon Video, it’s available for free right now. Those who don’t, though, can rent it on Amazon Video, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes. Basically, take your pick of your favorite streaming service and you can watch the breakup film in which three women set out to get revenge on their no-good ex-husbands but end up finding themselves instead.

Before you add First Wives Club to the queue, though, re-watch Grande’s Ellen performance to understand just how well she pays homage to the film. Her performance is a spot-on update of First Wives Club‘s most iconic scene in which the three women sing Leslie Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” as an F-U to their exes. Right down to the choreography and that chair dance that almost led to a spill from Grande, who recovered in the cutest way with a little help from her friends.

“First wives club 2018,” Grande tweeted on Nov. 6 after taping the performance. Ending the message with a love note to her dancers, Victoria Monét and Tayla Parx, the Elise (Hawn) and Brenda (Midler) to her Annie (Keaton).

Like the film, Grande isn’t looking for revenge with “Thank U, Next.” She thanks her exes for all she’s learned while also marking her independence and declaring freedom from all of it. That First Wives Club-inspired performance, which comes weeks after breaking off her engagement with fiancé Pete Davidson, made it clear that no one owns her. “I know they say I move on too fast/But this one gon’ last,” she sings on the track. “Cause her name is Ari/And I’m so good with that.”

Her performance also made for some very good First Wives Club x “Thank U, Next” memes. So good, in fact, that Grande retweeted one that puts her lyrics over screengrabs of the “You Don’t Own Me” scene.

This isn’t the first time Grande has pledged her love to the First Wives Club. Back in 2014, she tweeted about her obsession with the movie.

“Anything and everything can be handled with either a mean girls quote, a first wives club quote, a to wong foo quote, or a showgirls quote,” she wrote.

Two months later, she was talking about First Wives Club again. This time in response to Midler’s harsh criticism of Grande’s style in an interview with the Telegraph.

Grande would respond by saying she didn’t understand Midler’s comments since the Divine Miss M was always a “a feminist who stood for women being able to do whatever the F they wanted without judgement” but it was “all love” with her. “and I will still quote first wives club every single day of my life lmao,” she tweeted.

It was her classy way of saying no hard feelings. (Midler would later apologize on Twitter) But, in hindsight, it also shows that Grande’s always been one to choose positivity over anything else.

Grande’s looking to the future and while it probably won’t include her starring in a First Wives Club sequel, she gave the world the reboot they all needed. Now fans can watch the original First Wives Club for themselves and see why Grande just can’t get enough of it. Who knows, it might inspire her Arianators, too.

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