I’ve always been a firm believer that women are equally as funny as men. The comedy scene, especially in film, has always been a boys club of sorts. There are dozens of female trailblazers in comedy that I could name off the top of my head, but even after seeing The Other Woman, you’ll know why Cameron Diaz didn’t make the list.
Carly (Cameron Diaz) is a successful attorney in New York City who is also a serial dater known for dating multiple men at once. Her plucky assistant Lydia (Nicki Minaj) is surprised to hear that Carly thinks she may have found The One, abandoning dating all others and only focusing on him. Too bad Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), her “boyfriend” doesn’t return the favor. Carly goes to Mark’s house to surprise him dressed as a sexy plumber (sets the mood for all the upcoming toilet humor) only to be surprised by Mark’s wife, Kate (Leslie Mann).
After some bonding over hatred, Carly and Kate plot on how to take down and get even with Mark when they find out he has yet another woman, Amber (Kate Upton). Together they forge a bond of friendship as they each attempt to get even with this compulsively cheating husband, but they find out just how deep his deception to his wife is when they uncover that Mark is stealing money from investors and putting them into off shore accounts in Kate’s name. They must now help Kate clear her name before she gets arrested for fraud and Mark walks away blameless.
The Other Woman fails on almost every front. The story is so transparent and predictable that it may as well be made of glass. Shattering glass, only being kept together by comedienne Leslie Mann. Oh, and a lot of tasteless toilet-humor. When you have to set aside money in your budget just so you can CGI a dog pooping on the floor, you know something is being done very wrong. This so-called comedy is so tragic in its attempt at comedy, and has so many butchered, unfunny jokes that it’s a few deaths shy of a Korean revenge film.
The story’s intention is clear, but there is a great difference between intention and execution. It wants to be a female empowering film where the womanizing guy is served his just deserts. Unfortunately, it comes off as almost offensive in its attempt at feminism, and only ends up making itself look worse when instead of taking the high road, it takes the lowest road available, which ends up putting it in the sewers. Even Nicki Minaj was (probably unintentionally) amusing with her hair color changing every scene like bipolar person’s mood ring.
Leslie Mann’s natural comedic talent is unable to carry this female-centered “comedy”, making The Other Woman really only relying on one woman. That leaves Diaz, Upton, and Nicki Minaj’s hair to be nothing but unfunny eye candy in an even less funny tale about revenge. Remember what your mother said about having too much candy? It’ll just make you sick to your stomach. She was right.
RATING: ★★(2/10 stars)
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