Featured Blu-ray / DVD Review: The Other Woman

July 28, 2014

The Other Woman - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray

The Other Woman is the second film called The Other Woman that I've reviewed. That film was melodramatic and mediocre. I really doubt this film with be melodramatic, but will it be better than merely mediocre?

The Movie

We first meet Carly and her boyfriend, Mark, after a date. They are so passionate about each other that they don't even close the door after getting home. This has nothing to do with the plot, but I thought I would share a bit of my OCD with you. They haven't been dating for long, but a montage latter and they are clearly in love. He even meets her after work with flowers and wine. How romantic. Mark isn't nearly this romantic with his own wife, Kate.

Barely after the credits are over, we learn Mark is married. We learn this before Carly does, which I don't think was a wise move, storywise. Shortly afterward, Mark has to cancel a date with Carly, because he has to have dinner with Kate and Phil, Kate's brother. Mark gives Carly some excuse why he has to drive back to Connecticut and has to break his date with her and her father, Frank. After Carly talks to Frank, she decides to drive up to Connecticut to surprise Mark. That's when she meets Kate.

The following Monday, Kate travels to New York to confront Carly, at her work, hoping to learn she's was wrong about what just happened. She obviously wasn't. Carly takes Kate to a bar to talk... and to drink. Well... Kate drinks. A lot. Too much. Carly does give her one piece of advice. Either accept Mark is a cheater, because cheaters never change, or leave him. Either way, she doesn't care. She really doesn't care. When Kate returns to talk to her, she initially blows her off, but after Kate admits she has no friends she can talk to who won't talk to Mark, Carly becomes a little more friendly.

Carly and Kate remain friends, until Kate thinks Carly is sleeping with Mark again. That's when the two of them learn Mark has another mistress, Amber. That's when things get complicated. That's also when we run into spoilers.

The Other Woman is a very mediocre movie and it is not hard to point to the exact reason why that it. It is a comedy with a fun setup and some very funny people in the three main roles. Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann have plenty of comedies on their resumes, so no one will doubt they can carry a comedy. Even Kate Upton, who is less experienced as an actress, showed she could be funny in this movie. But, and this is a huge but, but the script itself didn't give anyone enough material to work with. This is a comedy with far, far too few jokes in it. Entire scenes can go by while the viewer waits for something to laugh at. Sometimes there are parts that you think you are supposed to laugh at, but most of the times the jokes just don't work. This is a real shame, because there is a fun setup and even with an average script, this cast would have been funny enough to carry the movie for its 109-minute long running time. But as it is, you will likely be checking your watch repeatedly.

The Extras

The extras include ten minutes of deleted scenes, three-and-a-half minutes of outtakes, five minutes of Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann giggling while shooting a scene, and really that's it. There's a gallery and the trailer, but that hardly counts. For a film that earned nearly $200 million worldwide on a $40 million budget, this is not enough extras.

The film's technical presentation is good, but this isn't a visually stunning movie, nor does it have an overly active audio track. The level of details is great, as are the colors. The dialog is always clear and there's good separation. There's nothing to complain about, but there's also nothing here that will wow you. You won't use this film to show off your home theater system.

The DVD costs $20, which is $5 or 33% more than the DVD. That's a fine price, but not a real bargain.

The Verdict

The Other Woman is a comedy with a lot going for it, except a great sense of humor. The filmmakers should have given the script to a script doctor to punch up the humor before they started filming. Additionally, the DVD and Blu-ray don't have a lot of extras, nor is one an obviously better choice over the other.


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Filed under: Video Review, The Other Woman, Cameron Diaz, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Don Johnson, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton, Taylor Kinney