The Other Woman takes its time at the start but picks the pace up once Diaz and Mann join forces making for a fun movie with some funny scenes amidst a few heartfelt moments as well. The performances from Diaz and Mann are both fantastic and got to give kudos to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for having to play a thoroughly bad douche with no redeeming values whatsoever.
The Other Woman
(2014)
Genre(s): Comedy
Fox | PG13 – 109 min. – $39.99 | July 29, 2014
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MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Nick Cassavetes Writer(s): Melissa Stack (written by) Cast: Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Don JohnsonDISC INFO: Features: Deleted Scenes, Gag Reel, Digital Copy Number of Discs: 1Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1) Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.40 Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish Disc Size: 35.0 GB Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Region(s): A |
THE MOVIE – 3.5/5
Going in, I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy this movie, for one thing Cameron Diaz just doesn’t do it for me, though she can be funny with the right script but with Leslie Mann, who is underappreciated and often hilarious, I had some hope The Other Woman would at least be entertaining and, for the most part, it is.
The story centers on lawyer Carly Whitten (CAMERON DIAZ, please hold your snickers) who gets hot and heavy with new boyfriend, businessman Mark King (NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU). Unbeknownst to Carly, however, old Marky Mark is married to Kate (LESLIE MANN), a bit of a ditzy but well meaning woman who has given up much of her life for Mark including having kids and even a job. Things change when Carly, on a whim to surprise Mark, goes to his home in the hopes of some hot sex, instead finds Kate answering the door and discovers the truth.
The following day, Kate shows up at Carly’s office where, with much reluctance on Carly’s part, discuss what happened and soon enough, with more follow-up visits, and with Mark still in the dark that the two know one another, begin an odd friendship, almost like therapy sessions. Meanwhile, Carly begins to fall for Kate’s rugged brother, Phil (TAYLOR KINNEY), a contractor who helps Kate repair the aftermath of her wrath on her husband’s home office.
As the two’s friendship solidifies, they no longer want to take it sitting down and soon enough, Kate discovers that even though his relationship with Carly is over, Mark seems to have yet another affair going on, this one in the form of the beautiful Amber (KATE UPTON) who even in the movie (and advertising) as “The Boobs” and really, she doesn’t offer a whole heck of a lot to the story, has a few lines and is here only for eye candy.
So now the threesome band together, still unbeknownst to Mark, to take him down by placing a variety of, ahem, proteins in drinks to lower his libido, cause his hair to fall out, lose control of his bowels and other calamities. But even beyond the slapstick elements, there is heart to the story as Kate much come to terms that her marriage, which worked hard to build with Mark, is coming to an end.
I never found The Other Woman to be a side-splittingly, laugh-until-you-cry kind of comedy but there are more than a few amusing moments and what jokes are there do mostly land or at the very least, can’t help but make one smile. The big reason for the movie’s success, outside of some solid pacing with the help of the editors, but there’s also a nice heart at its core and that’s thanks to director Nick Cassavetes, master of schmaltz (i.e. The Notebook and My Sister’s Keeper), so this is a more mainstream, straight-forward outing for him.
Along with Cassavetes, the core for the film’s success is, obviously, the cast. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not the biggest fan of Cameron Diaz although she has had a couple decent movies, she’s had her share of stinkers that were downright unfunny (What Happens in Vegas and Bad Teacher come to mind) but paired opposite Leslie Mann, and the two have amazing comedic chemistry (going out on a limb, but almost the female versions of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon) to the point I hope the two find another project together. And then there is Kate Upton but she’s merely window dressing and gets us from the second to third acts. Oh, and the obligatory elder cameo this time goes to Don Johnson playing Diaz’s playboy father.
In the end, The Other Woman isn’t the perfect comedy but it is enjoyable enough and a breezy 100-minutes that both men and women will enjoy.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.5/5
This release comes with a slip cover; inside is a redemption code for the Digital Copy.
Unfortunately this is light on features with 8 Deleted/Alternate Scenes (9:48; HD), a Gag Reel (3:32; HD) and “Giggle Fit” (5:18; HD) which is basically more outtakes, just with Diaz and Mann getting the case of the giggles.
VIDEO – 4.5/5
The Other Woman, after setting his clothes on fire, arrives on Blu-ray presented in its original 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and given a nice looking 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture, unsurprisingly, looks sharp and has a nice balance in colors going from bright shots during the daylight to stark dark levels for interior or nighttime scenes. It’s yet another good transfer from Fox whose transfers tend to be on the warmer side.
AUDIO – 4.0/5
Disappointingly, Warner only included a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track instead of a 7.1 channel track but even so, the lossless audio still sounds incredible with excellent dialogue levels coming from the center speaker to the resounding score that fills any voids since there’s minimal sound effects. It’s a great aural experience all around and has a wide range from Price’s robust score to the utter quiet of outer-space.
OVERALL – 3.0/5
Overall, The Other Woman takes its time at the start but picks the pace up once Diaz and Mann join forces making for a fun movie with some funny scenes amidst a few heartfelt moments as well. The performances from Diaz and Mann are both fantastic and got to give kudos to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for having to play a thoroughly bad douche with no redeeming values whatsoever. The Blu-ray released by Fox is sadly limited with the bonus material but both the audio and video transfers are well done.
The Movieman
Published: 07/31/2014