A femcom that aims to shout about infidelities, and also the power of friendship through adversity, The Other Woman was sourced from a Black List screenplay and directed by Nick Cassavetes of The Notebook, Alpha Dog and My Sister’s Keeper fame – becoming his first real foray into comedy, with mixed to positive results.

 

As with any movie, I always judge initially on its genre merits. This is a comedy, therefore did it make me laugh throughout? For the most part it did. The initial scenes of Leslie Mann chewing the scenery and providing more ham than a delicatessen were almost uncomfortable to watch, however she settled in quickly thankfully. Scenes of revenge and retribution are fun to watch, and though not necessarily original, they still have the punch to grab a laugh.

Diaz and Mann are solid in their roles, which mainly involved being hysterical or drunk, and as mentioned once Mann got through the movie, her performance mellowed and became more focused. Coster-Waldau is good as the philandering sex machine, slightly phoning in his performance but is believable as the creep (first his sister on Game of Thrones, now three different women, and more!? Animal) Kate Upton is mainly reduced to being the eye candy, with most of her dialogue being ditzy responses to her two female colleagues (as the character profile required) but her acting isn’t up to the levels of her co-stars. Gotta start somewhere though. Annoyingly, Nicki Minaj provides a nice performance as the feisty voice of reason.

 

The story follows a similar route to those of similar story – the three acts are clearly defined throughout and the story is predictable as hell, so the ending will come as no surprise to anyone who watches the movie. The movie does try to fit in more messages than similar movies, in its defence, and tries to give a heart to the story, allowing for slightly more than just the standard romp. Just don’t expect any surprises.

 

The Other Woman was an entertaining movie, with enough laughs throughout and good performances from the majority of the cast. There are no surprises to be found in Cassavetes comedy debut, but it’s a feel good movie that stands above bro-coms such as The Hangover 2 and Due Date.

 

Hell hath no fury like a women scorned…God help you if it’s three….