A Don Juan named “Mark King, “ huh? I like that. In a year already replete with bad character names – “Josh Wheaton” (God’s Not Dead) “Jan Malkovitch” (The Single Moms Club), “Ham” (Noah ;) ), here’s one that works: for a predatory philanderer collecting conquests like he’s “marking” territory. Yes, Mark King (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) works very well, indeed.
We saw The Other Woman years ago when it was called The First Wives Club. It’s not a bad idea to update these films as our attitudes towards traditional gender roles change. That said, is it time for a film called “The Other Man?” Are we secure enough as a society with showing a married woman who plays the field get her comeuppance? I’m guessing not quite yet.
The Other Woman is the gorgeous, man-trap Carly Whitten (Cameron Diaz); a corner-office attorney, you’d think she’d be able to spot a cheater a little more easily, but she proves sucker when she plays dress-up (oh yeah, sexy … plumber?!) and visits the Kingdom only to find a real-life Queen in the castle (Leslie Mann). Kate King is floored to discover her hubby has expanded the realm, so to speak. I suppose the wife only doesn’t know in the movies. Finding herself suddenly anchorless, Kate eschews the 
predictable and gloms onto Carly, who wants no part of the scene. That’s weird, right? The wife growing attached to the mistress? Is this a bizarre offshoot of Stockholm Syndrome?
Ah, but these two are not the only women on King’s scorecard. What kind of idiot tries to keep three women? There’s a level of stupidity here that delves straight into the, “you want to get caught, don’t you?” zone. This would be a much different tale, btw, if Kate and Mark had managed to reproduce. It’s no longer a comedy for one thing.
This movie could have been a disaster; you know that, right? It would have been all too easy to flay the cheater alive and celebrate like cackling witches. I think the key here is the scorned wife position; Leslie Mann continues to impress me. This isn’t even her film and she wins the day. She has a surprisingly difficult role – she has to play it with just the right amount of scorn (trashing hubby’s man cave once, just once, works), hurt (one night in the wedding dress only) and aloof (only so many “headaches” can happen before somebody knows what’s up). See, the faithful wife has every right to be livid about her unfaithful husband, and real life tells us she would be. But this is a film and as such our opinion changes with every scene. If the burned wife proves unable to find a center, we start sympathizing with the cheater (“she drove him to it”). If she falls apart, we feel sorry for him. Neither of those end results will carry the audience.
The Other Woman has a fair amount of silly with unnecessary grappling and flatulence jokes. The best part here is the camaraderie among the trio of would-be dupes. They lost a man, yes, but they gained something much more valuable. And, let’s face it, any one of these three can pick and choose among many men. Here’s the thing I don’t like about 
The Other Woman: you’ve set up a situation by which three separate women, including one very powerful attorney, put their entire lives on hold just for the sake of revenge. Now, I like the vengeance idea; this guy deserves what he gets, but hasn’t the method of attack elevated Mark to exactly the unearned position he’s given himself? I’m not sure how you write that screenplay, but the best solution is for all three women to ignore him completely. He doesn’t deserve the attention.
You are the only woman in the world for me
Well, you and Cam and Kate makes three
I promise to treat you like a queen
If I have some time in-between
You are so special, I thank my God
Hey, what’s up with the cattle-prod?
Rated PG-13, 109 Minutes
D: Nick Cassavetes
W: Melissa Stack
Genre: The Other Woman
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: The Other Woman
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Roués
