Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. It's an old saying, and one that has formed the basis of many a Hollywood revenge comedy. Now it's time for The Other Woman to use that quote for inspiration, with Cameron Diaz playing Carlie, who after finding out her new boyfriend Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is married, inadvertently becomes friends with his wife Kate (Leslie Mann). When the pair discover he has yet another mistress (Kate Upton), the three team up to get revenge.
Coming from director Nick Cassavetes (The Note Book, Alpha Dog, My Sister's Keeper), The Other Woman wastes no time getting into the meat of the story, but drags its heels once Carlie and Kate discover each other's existence. These scenes of Carlie and Kate forming a friendship are fun, mainly down to Leslie Mann (more on that later), but soon outstay their welcome, and only succeed in dragging out an already wafer plot. In fact, there is not much for the movie to do once the three women get together. The usual revenge tactics, like spiking Mark's daily breakfast smoothie with estrogen or dosing him with laxative (bringing to mind that far superior scene from Dumb and Dumber), seem tacked on, and are put to the side almost as soon as they introduced, and some ill judged gross out gags don't sit well with the rest of the movie. The story just seems to float from scene to scene, and everything is so heavily signposted that it is impossible not to guess correctly how it all ends almost half an hour in. Admittedly, everything comes together nicely for a funny finale, where Coster-Waldau decides to completely lose it, making up for his dull performance throughout the movie.
The Other Woman could have easily been an unforgivable mess if not for Leslie Mann. She singlehandedly saves this picture with her usual endearing performance, all high pitched squeaking and ditziness. She seems to be having the most fun here, always seeming on the verge of a panic attack, and doesn't fail to raise a smile whenever she's on screen. Even though Cameron Diaz gets top billing, this is really Mann's film, with Kate's story being the most interesting and developed. Diaz puts in a good performance, not breaking much of a sweat, basically being a straight woman to Mann's ball of crazy. Upton's role in all this is negligible, her character could have been dropped completely and nothing would have changed.
It does have it's problems, but The Other Woman's secret weapon, Leslie Mann, outshines them all. As a date night movie, you could do a lot worse.
