The first thing Andie MacDowell does in “Crush” is deliver a lecture on the evils of smoking. The second thing she does is light up a ciggy-butt.

For its entire length, “Crush” continues in that self-contradictory vein. It says female friends provide lifelines for each other, but they also can’t help stabbing each other in the back. It says women are strong, but what they really need are men. It’s not a good movie, but it’s good fun, anyway.

MacDowell plays the headmistress of a British school, and she tries to seem more teachery by donning lots of mud-colored jumpers. She and her pals (practical Imelda Staunton and outrageous Anna Chancellor) have regular get-togethers to lament their lack of sex, but things change when MacDowell hooks up with a former student/ongoing stud. The friends go to such lengths to 86 the boy toy, you’ll find it hard to believe these people like each other.

The less of that sort of insight you bring to “Crush,” the better. The characters don’t behave like recognizable humans, and if you expect them to, you’ll be disappointed. If you expect this to be MacDowell’s breakthrough performance, you’ll be similarly bummed. She’s good at doing one thing at a time (being sad, for instance), but when she has to do two (being sad but pretending to be happy), the effort shows.

Limitations aside, the radiant MacDowell is well-cast. She displays much of the natural, laid-back charm that was used so well in “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” Like that movie, “Crush” has many sharp, witty lines, most of which are spoken by Chancellor, who is bitter and biting and other words that begin with “B-I-T.” You wouldn’t want her as a friend, but she’s great to have around in a movie.

Not incidentally, Chancellor played Duckface in “Four Weddings.” “Crush” is clearly attempting to duplicate that movie’s appeal, and, in fact, it could accurately be called “Two Funerals and a Wedding.”