Sharpness Wears Down to Dull in ‘The Other Woman’

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Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Cameron Diaz has a firm grasp on her … image. She has carefully transitioned throughout her career from ingenue to comedienne to voiceover to the new film “The Other Woman.” But what begins as a sharp revenge comedy collapses into a bonding-sticky-sweet dullness.

Diaz rules and controls the machinations of the movie, allowing the hilarious Leslie Mann to do most of the comedy gymnastics, and the results at first are bizarre and very funny. In a cheating husband storyline, in which the wife and mistress become friends, it may be best not to complicate the matter with yet another mistress (the model Kate Upton). Once Melissa K. Stack’s screenplay started adding on characters and complications, the purpose of the story was de-fanged, which was the eventual revenge on hubby. The film performs a classic jump-the-shark about half way through the 109 minute film.

Diaz is Carly, a successful late-thirtysomething lawyer in New York City who has it all, except for ‘the guy.” This changes rather rapidly when she meets Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a handsome romantic who sweeps her off her feet. After dating two months, she wants him to meet her father (Don Johnson), but a last minute cancellation arouses suspicion. She travels to Mark’s Connecticut home, and encounters his wife Kate (Mann). Carly is now the “other woman.”

Carly (Cameron Diaz) Hearts Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in ‘The Other Woman’’
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox

She dumps the cheating rogue, but doesn’t figure on wife Kate seeking counsel from her, as they bond over Mark’s infidelity. A revenge factor becomes their motive, and it is at this point they discover yet another “other woman,” a younger model-type named Amber (Upton). Suddenly the two become three, and Kate’s hunky brother Phil (Taylor Kinney) is thrown in for good measure. Mark is going down, and he doesn’t even know the army that surrounds his border.

The films starts out strong at the top end. Diaz’s lawyer character is cool, and becomes totally vulnerable when she lets her guard down for Mark. Her cynicism after the break up blends regally with Leslie Mann’s loose limbed tragi-comedy act. And as Ms. Diaz has proved before, she doesn’t mind decent physical comedy, and the farcical nature of the wife/mistress pairing lends itself well to pratfalls. There are several laugh-out-loud moments, and director Nick Cassavetes kept it moving.

Interestingly enough, most of the weakness of the effort lies in the cast beyond the two principals. Johnson has morphed into sleaze mode, and in what could have been a teachable Freudian moment between father and daughter, became making a hero out of a guy married five times, who still hits on girls in their twenties. Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”) has the unenviable task of portraying the cheating husband, and sweats a performance that gives a new meaning to breakthrough, and not in a good way.

There is window-dressing in the film that also kills the spirit. Everyone is effortlessly wealthy, even Diaz’s insufferable assistant Lydia (Nicki Minaj), who tells her boss she only does the job as a hobby, and wears clothing that is NEVER seen in a lawyer’s office. Her acting needs work, and it is suspected that her and Kate Upton – as the lovely third mistress and prime window dressing – got the same bad acting coach. Both of these supporting “actresses” lend nothing to the story.

Amber (Kate Upton), Carly and Kate (Leslie Mann) in ‘The Other Woman’’
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox

By the end, the question becomes “is half an entertaining film still worth seeing?” As a woman’s-night-out film, most likely yes. There is enough men-as-dogs and fluffy hunky romance – Kinney as Phil – to put the cool in the cucumber martinis that will inevitably be sipped in bonding afterward (in actualizing a good stereotype), and what’s wrong with a bit of escapism? But after a couple drinks, I think even the ladies will admit that as a whole it falls off in the second half.

Yet again, admiration goes to Diaz, for a willingness to play more of a character role in this one, rather than the main comic force. Another transition, another show from a savvy performer who knows how to stay alive in a cruel business, even in portraying the other.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com