The Other Woman (2014)
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Critics Consensus: The Other Woman definitely boasts a talented pedigree, but all that skill is never fully brought to bear on a story that settles for cheap laughs instead of reaching its empowering potential.
Critics Consensus: The Other Woman definitely boasts a talented pedigree, but all that skill is never fully brought to bear on a story that settles for cheap laughs instead of reaching its empowering potential.
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Movie Info
After discovering her boyfriend is married, a woman (Cameron Diaz) tries to get her ruined life back on track. But when she accidentally meets the wife he's been cheating on (Leslie Mann), she realizes they have much in common, and her sworn enemy becomes her greatest friend. When yet another affair is discovered (Kate Upton), all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on their cheating, lying, three-timing SOB. (c) Sony- Rating:
- PG-13 (for some sexual references)
- Genre:
- Comedy
- Directed By:
- Nick Cassavetes
- Written By:
- Melissa Stack
- In Theaters:
- Apr 25, 2014 Wide
- On DVD:
- Jul 29, 2014
- US Box Office:
- $83.9M
Cast
-
Cameron Diaz
as Carly -
Leslie Mann
as Kate -
Kate Upton
as Amber -
Nikolaj Coster-Walda...
as Mark -
Nicki Minaj
as Lydia -
Taylor Kinney
as Phil
Related News & Features
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Cameron Diaz's 10 Best Movies
– Rotten Tomatoes
The Other Woman Videos
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Critic Reviews for The Other Woman
All Critics (145) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (34) | Rotten (110) | DVD (1)
What begins as a smoothly oiled romantic comedy quickly morphs into a clattery, grinding screwball contrivance.
The vapid story -- and its intended humor -- meanders and loses its way in predictable sit-com style.
For all its faults, there is a kind of genius in the way that it takes the rom-com raison d'etre - the desire to see two lovable people fall in love with each other - and diverts it for its own purposes.
You can't shake the feeling that in a just world, all these women - even Kate Upton - would have better material than this.
Brutal.
No one knows which takes are funny and which aren't. More than once, all three women, especially poor Upton, are caught looking like they don't know what they're doing.
This could have been a crowd-pleasing tale of female solidarity and revenge along the lines of Nine to Five. Instead, thanks to tissue-thin characters, lame slapstick and excrementally bad gross-out comedy, it proves to be a glossy mess.
It is a grotesque, shrill, never-ending effort that always finds a way to sink a little lower just when you're positive there's no way it can.
It's lightweight, formulaic fun that would normally hover in the 6 out of 10 range, but Mann's antics push it into 7 territory.
Much of the comedy seems forced or improvised on the spot, and it doesn't really kick into gear until Diaz and Mann start working together.
... resorts to some labored plot twists to generate a forced comeuppance, forgetting that the audience already knew how it was going to end up anyway.
Mann is the one who practically makes the picture, winning most of the laughs with her expert timing, quirky delivery, and general go-for-broke abandon.
It grates more than it amuses
I don't demand a great deal from a glossy Hollywood comedy, but it would be nice to find a smarter, more original piece of work than this in the year 2014.
"This film, on the other hand, seems so desperate for laughs that you can practically see the flop sweat appear on its performers as they flail from one obnoxiously, uncomfortable scene to the next."
Director Nick Cassavettes lacks the deft touch to bring off the right blend of humor and humanity needed for a "revenge comedy" that ventures into the tricky trifecta of love, marriage and serial adultery.
... a strange misfire that is only saved from being a complete disaster by the efforts of the film's two leads.
An exceptionally, incredibly lazy piece of work...
Here is the optimistic wish that we have bottomed out for the year and the films to come will have to be better than this. It would take a special effort to be worse.
A cash-in comedy that has feeble jokes and unhealthy attitudes about humanity.
An embarrassing, lame-brained mess, full of obvious story holes and incoherent scene progression that appear to rely on audiences suddenly forgetting what they've just seen. It's quite extraordinary.
You might start to get the feeling that this whole thing wasn't so much scripted as fished out of the lint filter of a busted washing machine.
Even with three women atop the credits, The Other Woman still wouldn't pass the Bechdel test.
What begins as quite a sophisticated outing -- some interesting relationship politics and decent physical comedy turns by Mann -- goes downhill after an hour.
Everything in this movie is overcooked and pushed far beyond its power to amuse. In the end, it becomes a screeching bore.
Audience Reviews for The Other Woman
Do you want to see a cheating, lying, smug s.o.b. get his just desserts? Get what's coming to him? Want him to hurt bad enough to taste it?
Well apparently there's a market out there for those with lingering vitrol issues: let's pay money to see a swaggering nincompoop get what's coming to him, and this film is here to cater to that market (although I can't determine which is worst, that there is such a market or that someone caters it, like a hot dog vendor at the guillotine of French Revolution fame: "Get yer hot dogs! C'mon, you know yer hungry! Enjoy life a little! Get yer hot dogs!")
Leslie Mann plays the primary wronged party with ditzy glee, the light of the piece. Cameron Diaz plays the brains of the operation with steady cool (a signpost in her career: she's graduated to brains. She used to be either the ditz or the cheese). And a popular model Kate Upton plays the cheese appropriately.
Super Reviewer
Definitely weaker than I expected, but worth at least one watch. Was it just me, or should whoever did the wardrobe have been sacked? Cameron Diaz in particular looked awful in most of the outfits. It was like they were going for wealthy, middle aged frump, when she was meant to be a successful and attractive career woman. The young mistress also liked pretty dowdy and even dumpy in most of her outfits.
Well, probably says a lot about the story if I noticed the clothes so much.
The story is pretty basic - the wife and two mistresses (one of whom didn't realise the guy was married) find out about each other, and rather than get in a cat fight, they become friends and set out to punish the womaniser.
It should have been funnier than it was, though it had a few moments. The scene in the office with the blood and the smashed window felt like too much and not believable.
Glad I finally saw it, but was expecting it to be better.
Super Reviewer
It delivers what you would expect, an amusing Rom-com that delivers a few laughs.
Enjoy it for what it is, nothing more!
Super Reviewer
The oddest friends are about to get even.
Good popcorn movie! I just recently saw "The Other Woman" and I found that the film was funny and comedic at the same time. Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, and Kate Upton have the perfect chemistry as a trio of women who all find that they have been played by the same man with Mann's character Kate as his wife and Diaz and Upton's characters as his mistresses. "The Other Woman" is cleverly written, has a lot of relatable humor and shows that out of the heartbreak that comes from cheating, not only can their be vindication, but a friendship can develop between women due to that unfortunate, yet common bond. This is the best 'wife revenge' movie since the "First Wives Club". So if you liked "The First Wives Club", you will love "The Other Woman"!
After discovering her boyfriend is married, Carly Whitten tries to get her ruined life back on track. But when she accidentally meets the wife he's been cheating on, she realizes they have much in common, and her sworn enemy becomes her greatest friend. When yet another affair is discovered, all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on their cheating, lying, three-timing SOB.
Super Reviewer
The Other Woman Quotes
- Carly:
- Cheaters don't change!
- Kate:
- I think I need to go to brain camp
- Amber:
- We should kick him in the balls!
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