There was a time, briefly, that I imagined it would be absolutely great to have a career as a movie critic.  I absolutely loved going to the movies back then and had plenty of free time to do so.  In those pre-internet days I devoured reviews in various newspapers and books and would regularly watch Siskel and Ebert on TV.

As I grew older, I realized I’d make a terrible movie critic.  The fact is that I like certain types of films and, conversely, don’t like others.  While I’m sure every critic out there has their personal likes and dislikes, the best movie critics -one hopes!- should enter a film with as neutral a stance toward the material they’re about to see as possible.  Their review, therefore, should be about what they saw and how they felt about it and remove any potential prejudices.

I couldn’t do that.

Yesterday evening, my wife and I were sitting in the living room considering what to watch.  Though I had several shows waiting to be seen on the DVR, I wasn’t in the mood to watch them, even though we needed to free up some memory in the DVR (is it me or does there never seem to be enough space?!).  I pointed out to her we had the 2014 Cameron Diaz/Leslie Mann/Kate Upton movie The Other Woman and asked her if she wanted to see it.  Unlike me, she doesn’t mind watching romantic comedies and so we started the sucker up, even though I had a pretty good feeling what my opinion of the movie would be.

I wasn’t wrong.

The first forty or so minutes of this film were…how to put it kindly?…not very good.  One could see where the movie was going but it felt like you were watching a early screenplay draft pushed into film.  Plain and simply, this section of the film could have used some judicious trimming to get to the point faster.  I also realized that the movie’s storyline was somewhat given away by the commercials and movie posters which were eager to point out Kate Upton’s role (and, more importantly, the fact that she’s in a bikini!) in the film, as you can see here:

Watching that commercial, you have the first forty minutes of the movie condensed into the first fifty seconds and it works much better!

Despite a sluggish start, things got cooking when the movie’s three stars were (finally) brought together and the central point of the plot, that of taking revenge on the husband/cheater, was initiated.  Much of it was juvenile stuff but it wasn’t the worst I’ve seen and at least things were moving.

I missed some ten or so minutes toward the movie’s later half (which is why this is a sorta/kinda review) just before coming back to see the movie’s rather violent and bloody (!!!) end (I half expected the women pull out a gun and shoot the bastard!).  I don’t think I missed all that much.  By the time I briefly left the film, it was obvious where things were headed and they pretty much got there as I expected.

As I said before, I have my prejudices regarding feature films and going into The Other Woman I knew this wasn’t a film made for someone like me.  And that’s ok.  I wouldn’t want all movies to fit my definition of “good”.  My wife liked it fine, though she thought the opening act was as tedious as I did, so at least we were in agreement there.

In conclusion, if you’re into romantic comedies and are willing to sit through a dull and too prolonged opening act, you may find some fun in The Other Woman.  If, like me, you’re not really into these modern romantic comedies, steer clear.