The Other Woman

By: John Delia

Wacky and often romantic and even sometimes sensual, The Other Woman takes center stage this weekend to see if there’s enough girl power to claim the box-office.  The movie starts out intimately and then moves on to a farcical comedy insuring a lot of girl talk well after the final credits. While most men will be rooster pecking at the salacious premise of the script, the ladies who giggle during the film have either been in similar situations before or know someone who has.

The plot is a simple one; Mark King (played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) cheats on his wife Kate (played by Leslie Mann) with mistress Carly Whitten (played by Cameron Diaz). Mistress finds out man has a wife and inadvertently tells wife. The two come together for consoling and discussion of a possible divorce.  When the wife and mistress follow the man, they find out he has another mistress (Amber played by Kate Upton). This mistress knew he was married, but was told by the man that his wife was cheating on him and getting a divorce. The three team up with a plan for revenge and redistribution of his wealth.

What makes this wicked plot good is not the predictable story, but the actors who play the roles in this nicely acted situation comedy.  Cameron Diaz puts together a smart character in Carly that has empathy for the unknowing wife. Carly has been duped by Mark and she just wants it all to end between them.  After seeing Kate’s pitiful reaction and feel of rejection, she’s ready and willing to work with her to an amicable end. And then there’s the dog, but that’s another story…

Leslie Mann goes through many wacky mind-sets in an amazing show as the victim wife who doesn’t know how to handle the situation.  She starts out being aggressive by going to see Carly, but when she finds out Carly and her husband had sex she falls apart.  Mann then takes the woman to another level  in fear of her future and in disbelief that her husband had to cheat on her for sex.  She wants help so being the only person who knows about the affair, she tries to bond with Carly in an attempt to justify her impending loss.  It’s a brilliant performance and one that’s up there with Melissa McCarthy’s wacky performance in Identity Thief.

As Amber, the third wheel in this very loony movie, Kate Upton turns up the heat with her awesome figure being the center of the continuation of Kate’s downward spiral. She’s a different kind of ditsy person who really can’t figure out why all the commotion surrounding the cheating husband.  She’s totally unaware that being a “girl-toy” has any involvement in the condition of the situation.  But, Kate’s a “trooper” and jumps right in to give the girls a hand.  The character is a gift for the guys who are dragged along to see this female targeted movie, but be careful not to let on how much you enjoy Upton on the big screen.

Giving his all and then some, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau throws himself into the role of Mark making a lot of whoopee on the screen.  He’s definitely a good choice for the character having played the brawny Jaime Lannister in “Game of Thrones.” Here he’s the alpha male who gets sly looks from all the hot women and making an extra effort to let them know his interest.  Coster-Waldau does a commendable job as the cad in support of the fine performances by Diaz, Mann and Upton.

Director Nick Cassavetes who made you cringe with She’s So Lovely, made you cry with The Notebook and cry again in My Sister’s Keeper tries to make his first real comedy work.  With his worthy cast and a fairly good script, it’s all up to how he manipulates his actors in their roles to pull off the belly laughs necessary to make it box-office worthy. He succeeds in several scenes, but lets the film get away from him at times with an unnecessary side plot. Now, while I did like the performances of the actors as stated above, unless you wear dresses, don lipstick, wear girly undies and don’t have facial hair, I’d avoid this one if possible.

The Other Woman has been rated PG-13 (on appeal) for mature thematic material, sexual references and language. The ladies may want to go as a group or with a gal friend so they can have a laugh together about the storyline following the film without “him” along.

FINAL ANLAYSIS: A fun film for women and, um, more women. (C+)

Cast: Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Nicki Minaj, Don Johnson and Taylor Kinney