The Other Woman

MPAA/Content  PG-13 (AC, AL, MV)

Distributor  20th Century Fox [2014]

Technical  2.35:1 35mm

Genres  COM ROM

Runtime  109 mins.

Cntry./Lang.   USA [English]

Budget  $40M

 

 

CAST

Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Nicky Minaj, Taylor Kinney & Don Johnson

 

CREDITS

Director: Nick Cassavetes; Screenwriters: Melissa Stack; Producer: Julie Yorn; Director Of Photography: Robert Fraisse; Production Designer: Dan Davis; Editors: Jim Flynn & Alan Heim; Costume Designers:  Patricia Field & Paolo Nieddu; Music Composer: Aaron Zigman

 

THE SYNOPSIS

New York City. Beautiful and successful lawyer Carly Whitten (Diaz) starts dating dreamy entrepreneur Mark (Coster-Waldau). Months later, Mark cancels a date with Carly to attend to a plumbing problem in his Connecticut home. Taking the advice of her “Man About Town” father Frank (Johnson), Carly sneaks up to Connecticut to surprise Mark. Opening the door is an older woman named Kate (Mann)—who is Mark’s wife! Oops.

Horrified, Carly breaks up with Mark, as she does not like to date married men. A few days later, a depressed Kate appears at Carly’s job and her apartment—seeking the younger woman’s guidance. The two bicker, but eventually bond. Especially when they both discover that Mark is dating a third girl: pretty blonde Amber (Upton). The ladies follow her to the beach, where Amber is staying with Frank. Kate and Carly shack up with Kate’s hunky brother Phil (Kinney)—who happens to own a home on the same beach. Carly is smitten with him, by the way.

After Carly and Kate explain the scenario to a crestfallen Amber, the three ladies decide to get even with Mark—first by pulling pranks on him—and then delving deeper into his business dealings that reveal a shady character at work. Mark heads to the Bahamas, where he has yet another woman on tap and does some money laundering also—all in Kate’s name, as she signed papers unknowingly giving him power-of-attorney on their business dealings. To stop him, the three ladies go to the Bahamas and concoct a plan to put Mark out of business for good.

 

THE CRITIQUE

There’s an old English expression that states “Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned”. Having learned this first-hand on several occasions throughout the many eons I have lived, I can assure you, dear reader, that the quote is very (very) accurate. I’ve also learned that scorned women can be placated by various means of bribery: flowers; cocktails; fine dining (i.e. no drive-thru); shopping—on your dime, that is; good makeup sex; vacations—again, on your dime; etc. And I say placated because, let’s face it: one stupid mistake and you’ll never live it down. Ever.

Which brings me to the cute but forced scorned women comedy THE OTHER WOMAN, where having testicles may be a liability (see previous paragraph). This one is a total chick flick from beginning to end—of which I have no problem with—if it were really as raunchy as it wants to be. Written by newcomer Melissa Stack, the movie features relatable characters in its three XX chromosome leads with clearly delineated personalities.

Per the production notes, the screenwriter claims she was inspired by French sex comedies. Magnifique! But many of those movies were quite ribald/randy in their execution, as the French—and Europeans in general—lack our puritanical DNA in their storytelling tropes. Stack’s screenplay simply lacks the (excuse the expression, ladies) cojones to be ribald, randy or raunchy. By the way, she never did name any of those movies, though I’ll simply assume that one of them was probably Francois Truffaut’s charming The Man Who Loved Women (1977). Yes, yes: not only is Youssef tres handsome and tres charming, but worldly as well…

Part of the blame lies in the safe, mainstream approach handled by director Nick Cassavetes (She’s So Lovely, John Q, Alpha Dog, The Notebook)—yes, the son of famed actor-director John Cassavetes & actress Gena Rowlands. To be fair, the XY chromosome helmer was surrounded by female key personnel while making this movie—so, his softer side probably manifested/embedded itself into the movie’s organic fabric. But why oh why? Lest we forget, Cassavetes was the same dude who played the evil Packard Walsh in the cult movie The Wraith (1985)— a cruel bastard at best!!

But I digress…

What I want to get across is that THE OTHER WOMAN lacks the anarchic nature of those terrific Blake Edwards movies of yore: 10 (1979), S.O.B. (1981), his ill-received remake of The Man Who Loved Women (1983) & Skin Deep (1989). One thing about Edwards (a filmmaking hero of mine): he understood Cinema and he embraced the need & value of raunchy taboos in the sex comedy sub-genre. I wish that Cassavetes & Stack embraced this notion and given us a ribald, R-rated sex comedy that would have stood out from the safe and mainstream (and corporate) comedic movies that are churned out today. God, I miss the ‘70s & ‘80s!!

On the plus side, however, we are presented with three beautiful actresses who also prove that they have the comedic chops to sail this safe, mainstream & corporate comedy regardless through shark-less waters. Cameron Diaz (a.k.a. my ‘90s crush), Lesie Mann (a.k.a. Mrs. Judd Apatow) & Kate Upton (a.k.a. one of my future wives) also have the chemistry to pull it off—especially that Kate Upton (…grrrrrrrr), so lovely to look at on the big screen!

To boot, screenwriter Melissa Stack and director Cassavetes do the smart thing and bestow each woman with individual virtues: Diaz’s Carly is smart, tough—but not a total bitch lacking a moral compass; Mann’s Kate is the cuckqueaned housewife who possesses a loyal streak to match her heretofore surreptitious business cunning; and Upton’s Amber turns out to be not a raging, mean-spirited harpy, but a sweet, sensitive young woman whose loyalty and devotion act as the glue that keeps the trifecta together. And she’s freakin hot!! (…Grrrrrrrr) Oh—and rapper/singer/songwriter Nicky Minaj pops up as the soothsayer in lovely wigs and pumps.

The male actors in THE OTHER WOMAN—personified by handsome Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (HBO’s Game Of Thrones), handsome All-American Taylor Kinney (TV’s Chicago Fire) and still-handsome Don “Miami Vice” Johnson—act as, respectively: shady plot catalyst with great fashion sense and $300,000 cars; amiable love interest for Diaz’s character—the kind of guy that cooks a gourmet dinner for his gal and buys her “that thing” she covets…you know the type (ME!); and the worldly father who dates hot young chicks and slugs ex-boyfriends…well, just because!

Production values on this $40 million (boxofficemojo.com) endeavor are top-notch, though the non-VFX/non-tent pole movie begs the question: where the hell did all that money go to (besides salaries)? Hair spray and wardrobe? Read on…*

The production takes advantage of generous tax breaks by filming 90% of the movie in New York City, Long Island’s The Hamptons & Westchester County (subbing for Connecticut). While the remaining 10% was filmed on location in Nassau, The Bahamas. I swear, Manhattan hasn’t looked this glossy and sexy since one of those Sex In The City flicks—ya know…where everyone’s beautiful and wealthy and employed and happy! Movie bullshit magic indeed.

THE OTHER WOMAN’s glossy and sexy look is courtesy of veteran French cinematographer Robert Fraisse (Seven Years In Tibet, Ronin, Alpha Dog, The Notebook)—who shot the movie on 35mm film (!) using the ARRICAM LT camera package combined with Hawk Anamorphic Lenses. What it means in layman’s terms is that we are presented with handsome photography and high-quality optics so as to really appreciate the magic of NYC, the tropical aqua-paradise of The Bahamas and the wonder that is Kate Upton (…grrrrrrrr). Man, I’m perspiring as I write this.

Abetting Fraisse is handsome production design by Canadian Dan Davis (The Ref, Michael, You’ve Got Mail, TV’s 666 Park Avenue)—creating the types of modern apartments and office spaces that most of us would kill to have. The smooth editing schema is courtesy of veteran Bronx-bred cutter Alan Heim (Oscar^®-winner for 1979’s All That Jazz; also cut Cassavetes’ Alpha Dog, The Notebook & My Sister’s Keeper) and recent Cassavetes cutter Jim Flynn (My Sister’s Keeper, Yellow). Professional all the way.

* I’m going to assume that much of that aforementioned $40 million budget also went to the high-end name wardrobe put together by costume designers Patricia Field (the legendary fashionista who designed costumes for HBO’s Sex & The City and movies such as The Devil Wears Prada and Sex In The City 1 & 2) and Paolo Nieddu—earning his first CD credit after working under Field in the fashion world and some of her aforementioned movie ventures.

Encapsulating the cool, chic, downtown Manhattan couture, the costume designers created or combined designers and labels specifically for each woman: Carly/Cameron Diaz (Antonio Berardi, Martin Grant, Tom Ford, Rick Owens); Kate/Leslie Mann (Kate Spade, Ralph Lauren, Lily Pulitzer, J. Crew, Red Valentino, Pucci); and Amber/Kate Upton (…grrrrrrrr—I mean: a Maila Mills bikini… Grrrrrrrr). Even Nicky Minaj’s Lydia gets to wear Gucci, Roland Mouret, Versace, Herve Leger, Proenza Schoeler, McQueen. Just don’t ask me what the guys wore—as I could care less!

 

THE BOTTOM LINE 

THE OTHER WOMAN is a glossy, girlie revenge movie that capitalizes on the photogenics and chemistry of its lovely female leads (especially you, Kate Upton…grrrrrrrr). A mediocre screenplay is at least bolstered by strong production values and beautiful NYC/Bahamas locations—but falls a tad short of its ribald potential, thanks to a tame PG-13 mentality. Still, I’d see it all over again if Kate were cuddled up next to me. That means something…right? …Grrrrrrrr.

 

 

 

IMDB:                   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2203939/

Wikipedia:             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Woman_(2014_film)

Official Site:          http://theotherwomanmovie.com