I went in to The Other Woman expecting next to nothing, but I came out with sore abs, cheekbones and wet cheeks. Simply put, this film was hilarious! I haven’t laughed this hard at a movie in a really long time. In my opinion, comedies are hard to review because whether or not it’s funny is all relative. I must’ve been in desperate need for a good laugh, because there were parts where I was crying from laughing so hard. If you see it, I think you’ll know exactly which scenes I’m referencing. Yes, it’s raunchy and has some slapstick humor, but it works. Its 40 Year Old Virgin meets Bridesmaids.
The film opens with what we’re lead to believe is the beginning of a normal RomCom. Carly (Cameron Diaz) and Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) have the typical meet cute and we see a montage of growing romance. Then the rug is pulled out from under our feet, as we learn Mark is actually married. However, Carly is unaware of his marital status and is just as upset over Mark’s betrayal as his wife, Kate (Leslie Mann). That’s not all! Just when we think we have Mark figured out, we learn he’s not only cheating on his wife but also his girlfriend. Duh, duh, duh.
Meet Amber (Kate Upton), a twenty-something with a gorgeous body with not so much as a light bulb glowing upstairs. Amber is setup to play the typical dumb blonde; however, the film acknowledges this cliché and pokes fun at it. With that said, Amber is significantly downplayed (as you might’ve guessed Upton doesn’t really contribute much to the film). In fact, Vulture created a post listing the entirety of Upton’s lines.
After Kate awkwardly yet hilariously confronts Carly about her husband, the two begin the weirdest friendship ever (the tagline says it all), but you’ll love every minute of it! What I truly appreciated was instead of the women being petty towards one another they banded together and decided to get payback. Diaz does exceptionally well with physical comedy and Mann isn’t afraid of making herself look ridiculous for the sake of comedy. There were several scenes where Mann delivered perfect verbal diarrhea, which must’ve been completely impromptu. Nevertheless, I dare you to keep a straight face! Also, keep an eye out for some of Mann’s more ridiculous outfits.
You know who did surprise me was Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Most notable for his portrayal of Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones, Nikolaj is not too shabby with comedy. His comedic timing was very natural and seemed unphased performing some self-deprecating scenes (comparable to the infamous Dumb & Dumber bathroom scene). Additionally, I was impressed by his American accent. Even though he slipped a few times, for a Danish actor it was pretty good!
There were very few things that bothered me, but Nikki Minaj was one of them. Personally, I found Minaj (Lydia) to be very distracting and, like Upton, didn’t add much to this film. Luckily, she only has a small role and is featured only a handful of times. Additionally, there were a few cheesy scenes that tried to bring a serious note to the film, which I thought were entirely unnecessary.
I purposely avoided watching the trailer and didn’t really know anything going into the film. However, I did watch it afterwards and was pleasantly surprised by how much they left out. So if you think you’ve seen all the comedic parts, there’s a lot more where that came from! Overall, I really enjoyed watching this film, and I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t laugh as much as I did. Enjoy!
Have you seen The Other Woman? What did you think of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau comedic debut?
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Great review Ashley although I just say I’m surprised! I was expecting this to get torn to shreds as I thought it looked awful! Bit glad to hear you liked it! I may have made a snap judgement.
Like I said, to each their own with comedy, but the entire theater was in stitches. Maybe this enhanced the film’s comedic impact, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. If you do see it, let me know what you think!
Wow. Surprised to read this. I think yours is the only favorable review I’ve read so far!
I honestly can’t believe it has received such harsh criticism. To me, it was on par for the level on raunchiness as Bridesmaids. I just loved the pairing between Leslie Mann and Cameron Diaz, because they are masters when it comes to comedy. If you do see it, let me know your reaction!
Will do!
Good review, you just made me want to see this flick. I think Upton and Minaj were probably just in to generate buzz and to allow the producers to name drop. Sounds like a cute movie though I like to see women team versus go against each other. Plus Nikolaj is looking hot!
Thanks! Yeah, let me know what you think if you see it. I didn’t even know Minaj was in the film, but I just couldn’t handle her. I love her music persona, but I think she should stick to that.
I’m a fan of GOT, so it was definitely a nice change to see Nikolaj in a comedic role. 😉
Yes me too! Love me some GOT and I was just mentioning to Ruth that it is interesting to see him in other films, but was hoping he didn’t start the track of making crappy Hollywood-ish movies. Glad to hear that he pulled this off and it’s nice to hear that Jamie Lannister can pull off a good joke. 🙂
You guys should see clips of him in Youtube from the now-defunct show New Amsterdam. I remember seeing him for the first time there and he’s sooo charming. I was like ‘WHO’s this guy?’ I knew he wasn’t American even tho he had an American accent. His character is very sweet there, not comedic but definitely has that charming nice guy vibe.
That show looks good! I just found a preview for it sounds interesting and yes his voice at the point needed a little work. Oh who cares though right.
Haha! I know, I hope he doesn’t stick to the rom com sphere, but I just think he was testing the waters on comedy. There was one part at the end where his inner Jamie Lannister came out and I was having character confusion, lol.
I know right I would love to see him in a serious drama or even as a villain. Ohhh so exciting I want to watch it just for that moment. Kingslayer in a rom com who would’ve thought!
That should’ve been their marketing spin!!
Good review Ashley. I usually love the hell out of everything Leslie Mann shows up in, but here, she was just annoying. I get that she was supposed to be, but it didn’t work for me. To make matters worse, Diaz is so stuck-up and snobby, that I didn’t really care for either. The only one I could sympathize with in the slightest bit would maybe be Kate Upton. And even then, she had barely anything to do at all.
Thanks for your thoughts! This is comical because I always thought she was overbearing in other films! I can see your point during some of her ad-lib scenes, but for me I really liked it. I didn’t take Diaz to be snobby, but I think in the situation she almost seemed more upset by the “betrayal” than Mann. Yeah, poor Kate, she was just something pretty to look at. But she did that very well!
Ashley, I’m glad you enjoyed it but it was not at all what I hoped it might be and it was everything I feared it would be. If poor Leslie Mann had to put on one more hat to make her look ridiculous, I might have screamed. Dumb and Dumber without the charm. I’ll need to look at some of the other positive reviews, maybe I’m just easily annoyed. Thanks for making a discussion over a movie fun, even if the movie was not.
To each their own, but I do agree with you on Leslie Mann’s wardrobe. I’m not sure what they were trying to do, but it was starting to get ridiculous (as shown in one of the pictures above).
Ok so I’m going to have to admit that I’m one of those people who didn’t really find this funny! I did laugh a few times – that girl fight between Diaz and Mann you’ve snapped up there was one of those moments – but I didn’t think there were enough gags overall. The ending shocked me too – I thought it was a bit too mean. I guess that’s the beauty of cinema though, it’s so subjective. Nice review Ashley 🙂
Thanks for sharing! The feedback I’ve been getting has been really interesting. Maybe my screening was some weird anomaly in the cinema world, but we all really enjoyed it. I’m curious to see if my opinion changes if/when I re-watch it. 🙂
Hi Ashley, Shades of Nine to Five! (1980, starring Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman). I would never have been interested in this movie, mostly because of Cameron Diaz, but it certainly sounds like a good rent, and I loved Bridesmaids. If you haven’t seen Nine to Five, add it to your list… it’s got plenty of sassiness and lots of LOL moments. It’s a comedy more than a rom-com, but seeing those three gals gang up on their chauvinistic boss is funny through and through.
I think I might just check this movie out only for Kate Upton, just like a lot of guys, I think she’s the hottest woman on earth! Ha ha. But if the movie is as funny as you say, then I’ll enjoy it even more.
I’m clearly not the target audience, but geez this movie looks terrible. That being said; nice read!
I wish I’d laughed as much during this film. Most of the gags fell flat for me, but it probably didn’t help that I’d seen the trailer many times beforehand.
Nice review! Not my kind of thing, but I’m a big fan of Diaz, so I’ll check it out when it comes out on dvd.
Who needs ‘lines’ when you have ‘curves’ like Kate Upton? …. okay, lame joke!
Haven’t seen this and will probably wait until it comes out on DVD.