“The Other Woman” is phenomenally different from most movies that feature a cheating husband; instead of a competing wife and mistress, the two band together with his second mistress and resolve to take the husband down. In a refreshing and hilarious take on modern day friendships in the face of revenge, the three scorned lovers discover that the cheater, Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, “Game of Thrones”), is stealing money from his business as well as leading on the women, so they decide to get even.
The three scorned ladies-turned-friends are Carly Whitten (Cameron Diaz, “There’s Something About Mary”), Kate King (Leslie Mann, “Knocked Up”) and Amber (film newcomer and well-known model Kate Upton). Whitten is a high-powered lawyer who thinks shes finally found a man that can keep up with her work-heavy lifestyle; yet when she goes to make a call at her lover’s house, his wife answers. Eventually the two form an interesting bond of friendship, as Whitten continually provides King with the advice she needs to get out of her marriage intact. They both then stumble upon the other mistress, Amber, and even later, a third. Instead of each ending their relationship with him, they agree to keep up the façade as they slowly build a case against Mark for his corrupt money laundering.
Simply put, “The Other Woman” is empowering. Typically, most films spend the majority of their time pitting the women against each other in a fight for the man, but in this one, the women bond together against their true enemy. There are several fabulous montages of the three unlikely friends getting to know each other over drinks or making a to-do list for Mark’s destruction. At only one point do the women fight, and it is resolved in under five minutes.
The three women present vastly different characters brought together under some harsh circumstances. Whitten is the lawyer, King is the housewife whose innovative ideas have been spurring her husband’s business and Amber is the least intelligent of the three with a heart of gold. As Whitten says at one point in the film, “The lawyer, the wife and the boobs—together you have a perfect killing machine.” Portraying all of them as deep characters who refuse to be taken advantage of is a shock to the entertainment industry, spurring several news outlets to proclaim this as a bad film. But is there something wrong with a film that does exactly what it sets out to do in a completely unpretentious fashion?
For all the good aspects of “The Other Woman,” there were still some not-so-great parts. Several times in the film were completely unnecessary gross-out events: for example, the scene in which Mark has some explosive technical difficulties after Whitten slips him some laxatives. Watching someone groan while sitting on a toilet amidst the truly graphic bathroom sounds is not enjoyable for anyone. Had the scene ended with him rushing off to the bathroom holding the seat of his pants, everyone could have imagined what happened next, instead of having to witness it.
All in all, “The Other Woman” was a hilariously innovative movie that speaks on a variety of different levels about gender equality and equal representation. Ignore the reviews looking down on this film, because the critics clearly missed the fun and inspirational message “The Other Woman” brought to life. Make your own decisions after seeing the film yourself.
