The Other Woman

Sometimes being excited for a low expectations movie can be rejuvenating. After what felt like a slump in watching movies, I was anxiously awaiting for this one, thinking that maybe I just needed a breather. Similar to food, a no-brainer flick could be considered as a palette cleanser (though that's just a bad analogy). Despite how cliche it can be, The Other Woman delivered a pack of laughs without trying to be anything.

The movie ran on a simple premise. Three women find out that they were sleeping with the same man, and decided to get revenge. The women are easily classified in categories, as aptly pointed out by the movie - the wife, the lawyer, and the boobs - with these three women playing their strengths at exactly that. The movie doesn't offer much from its story, but I like how it doesn't try and pretend to be anything - despite some scenes that don't really alter much of the general atmosphere. It was just plain fun. It didn't have much dull moments, though it really did cash in on physical comedy, so script-wise, there's nothing of substance there.

Leslie Mann is the movie's team player. I love how she's finally getting some lead work outside Apatow's sphere. Comedy for women is clearly evolving in terms of roles and material out there, not to mention its mass appeal. The movie was fun, but in terms of evolution, this is a regression to that achievement. However, while she seems to be the best one there, she still doesn't fail to live up to her stereotypical archetype, because we eventually find out that she is more capable that what she presents herself to be. 

I don't think I've ever seen Cameron Diaz play a different role, as she's always relegated to that strong, confident, career-type woman that she's always playing the same role over and over again. The only difference is that sometimes her roles are charming or fitting, others seems just played out - she's never getting much variety. This is no exception, so I felt like I was just watching her in every other role. She had some good comedy roles under her belt; maybe it's time for her to branch out to a different kind of character.

There were two characters whose existence could have been written out, or have a passing mention: Amber and Lydia, played by Kate Upton and Nicki Minaj, respectively. Upton was clearly eye candy, with her character not offering anything new or something relatively close to a game changer (and the reason why she should have been included in the group). Her character's contribution was "bringing up the group average". Also, who walks that slow in the beach? Do people really walk that slow? Does she have to walk slowly all the time? I don't know why Nicki Minaj was there.

Then, there's Nicolaj Coster-Waldau. He was partly the reason why I saw the movie. He definitely has the face for a romantic comedy lead actor, and if his character wasn't relegated to mostly eye candy, he could have cashed in for some laughs. His comedy chops here however, were misplaced. The scene with the glass windows. That's just impossible.

Just a cinema observation. I usually go in early in the theater because of trailers, so I see people passing by on their way to their seats. Most of the people there were couples (must be date night) and since the room wasn't crowded, everyone was basically within earshot of one another. What surprised me was that the men were reacting first. Did the women not find this funny? Are men reacting supposed to say something?

I didn't have much expectations for this, I just wanted it to be fun and not completely horrible - and it was fun. I enjoyed it; it was entertaining, and it didn't try to be anything that it wasn't. 

Final Word: It was actually pretty funny.

Cast: Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Year: 2014