With his adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel The Notebook, director Nick Cassavetes created the sappy romance drama to end all sappy romance dramas, so there’s really no reason for him to ever go down that road again. With his next film The Other Woman, he had the talent and the star power necessary to create the quintessential infidelity comedy, but instead we get what looks like a PG-13 version of an unfinished Judd Apatow script. (And I’m not just saying that because he’s married to actress Leslie Mann.)
The plot takes the kitchen sink approach, throwing all the problems that stick at its main characters. Cameron Diaz stars as a woman who is perfectly happy with the love life she and her boyfriend share... at least until she pays him a surprise visit and meets his unassuming wife, played by Mann. Rather than get into a Dynasty-like cat fight, the women put their heads together for some alcohol-fueled revenge planning. But then they find out that he actually has another mistress, this one played with single digit brain cells by Kate Upton. I’m pretty sure they then find out he’s cheating with other women, but this was after Mann used the word "man-opause" in conjunction with a gesture signifying penis limpness, and I’m pretty sure I stopped paying attention.
There was no real reason to think The Other Woman would be overflowing with wit and clever dialogue, as it’s from first time screenwriter Melissa Stack and features hip hop artist Nicki Minaj in a co-starring capacity. But man-opause? Really? I know it’s only a trailer, but I wish we’d gotten more of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as the sex-obsessed lothario to get a feel for how he ‘s able to swing so many unassuming women. Also, I’d like to have seen this guy’s entire schedule to figure out he’s able to date all these people without being either a clone or a twin... Oh man, I hope there’s a twin!
It seems like there was one point in the filmmaking process when this movie might have been empowering to women, but instead it’s just looks like a lot of screeching and ignorance with only a minimal amount of actual revenge. Of course the husband seems to be an all-around bastard, as he is also screwing over his business partners, so they have all the ammunition in the world to bring this guy to his bruised and bloody knees. Yet they choose to give him hormones to make him feel more like a woman, because that’s just hilarious! Wait, no it isn’t.
The Other Woman, which also stars Taylor Kinney and Don Johnson, will hit theaters on April 25, 2014. Make sure you keep an eye on it, as it might try and sneak out to play in another theater while you’re watching it. Let us know in the comments if you guys were impressed by this trailer or not.
