Idle Wives is a 1916 American silent drama film co-directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley.

Surviving reels of the film are preserved at the Library of Congress.

[2] Characters go to the movies to watch Life's Mirror, a film where they see their own lives turned into dramas.

A shop girl dating a young man against her parents' wishes watches her onscreen counterpart become pregnant; an impoverished family watches as a family onscreen lives beyond their means; and an unfaithful husband watches as his onscreen wife leaves him and returns to social work.

After the film characters have learned their lessons: the shop girl apologizes to her parents; the family decides to live within its means; and the wealthy man leaves his mistress and returns to his wife.