A rom-com that is very much an anti-rom-com, The Other Woman is a fun time with a solid trio of lead actresses who all seem to be having fun playing off one another.
Cameron Diaz is Carly Whitten, a successful attorney who believes she may have found a special man in Mark King (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Unfortunately, there's a big problem. He's married. Carly finds this out when she attempts to surprise him at his home, which then leads to her forming an unlikely, and initially very unwanted, friendship with Kate King (Leslie Mann). The two eventually realise that there's also another woman in Mark's life, which then connects them to Amber (Kate Upton) and turns them into a united trio determined to make Mark pay for his lies and bad behaviour. Revenge is a best served cold, and most things tend to feel colder when there's a lot less money in your bank account, which is what the ladies have in their sights.
Whatever I write here could be taken as a positive or a negative by people who already have their mind made up on this film. It's the kind of thing that is easy to dismiss, but also the kind of film I like to recommend to those who don't mind straying away from their usual choices. Men may assume this is going to be unbearable, although I know I am making my own assumption there, and women may pass over it in favour of any number of movies that received bigger and better marketing, but this is a perfectly enjoyable way to pass 109 minutes, thanks in no small part to a number of people having fun with the comedy.
Diaz may not be one of the comedic strengths, she just doesn't work as well here as she has in other comedies, but she's very good as the smart and powerful woman who ends up in an awful position, and then ends up formulating a plan to help a woman avoid some painful consequences of inadvertently being married to a scheming cad. Mann is hilarious though, very funny in almost every scene, and the perfect choice to sugar-coat the bitter pill at the heart of this. Upton also does well, very sweet and silly to immediately offset the potential extra jealousy that she brings to the situation. Coster-Waldau knows his place, and he sets himself up brilliantly for the many punchlines making use of him, and there are enjoyable little turns from Don Johnson and Nicki Minaj. Taylor Kinney may not be doing much, but he's there to catch the eye of Diaz, despite being the brother of Mann's character (which could make things even more complicated . . . or maybe not).
Writer Melissa K. Stack generally does better with the situations and set-pieces than with the dialogue, but the screenplay feels improved by director Nick Cassavetes having that game cast. Everyone knows what they're doing, both behind and in front of the camera, and it's the kind of entertainment that often seems bad to people who haven't truly seen how much worse things can get in various sub-genres.
The pacing is great, the tone stays light enough even as it dances around a subject that could have turned things much darker, there's a good dose of female empowerment, an enjoyable soundtrack, and a huge dog that is used just enough to create an extra couple of laughs before being placed in the background as the central plot strand develops and moves resolutely towards a VERY satisfying finale.
6/10
If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do
consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A
subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share
No comments:
Post a Comment