The Other Woman (DVD)

Another day, another Natalie Portman movie. Here she is in her 52nd role of 2011, starring in the straight to DVD drama The Other Woman, which isn't necessarily a bad movie. The main problem with this movie (and, man, I know I've been focusing on the problems lately, but there are just so many mediocre movies out there) is that none of the main characters are the least bit likable. The most likable of the main cast is Jack (Scott Cohen), and he's a lawyer who impregnates another woman while still married to his wife. Then there's his wife Carolyne (Lisa Kudrow), who pretty much is just a bitter, awful woman. The two of them have a son named William (Charlie Tahan) who is every bit the brat you imagined he might be. Then there's Portman, starring as Emilia (yes with an E). Emilia is pretty much the worst. She actively pursues a married man. She lies, she cheats, she treats her step son like crap and she never takes responsibility for any of it. Oh, I guess the moral of the story is that we are all unlikeable at some point in our lives and we all make mistakes and blah, blah, blah. And all of these characters find a way to redeem themselves in the end, but by then it's too late. An hour and forty minutes has gone by and the viewer doesn't give a crap about any of these people.

The Other Woman is based on a novel called Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. It follows Portman's Emilia, an associate at a law firm. She quickly falls for one of the partner's at the firm, despite the fact that he is married and has a son. The two begin an affair, Emilia insisting that she doesn't want to get married or any of it. Soon, she is accidentally pregnant and getting married to the recently divorced Jack. It seems these two love birds, who have made a very mature, well thought out decision to get married, are headed toward a blissful life together, right? Well, not so much. Their newborn baby dies after just three days and Emilia is swallowed by her grief, so much so that she becomes careless with other people's feelings and safety. The movie is basically about her complicated and tumultuous relationship with her step son, with the sort of secondary relationship being that of her marriage, that is slowly and surely falling apart. Also, I guess it's a sort of meditation on the definition of family, or whatever.

Directed by Don Roos, who also directed the brilliant 90s dark comedy The Opposite of Sex, The Other Woman is mostly a disappointment. There are a lot of weighty issues that are presented in the movie, and yet, the script seems to only skim the surface. For a movie that deals with guilt, loss, sorrow, and a whole crapload of other heavy emotions, the movie is not nearly as deep as it needs to be. The movie is basically a superficial soap opera with a good cast. And I can't really complain about the cast all that much. Kudrow, who has carved out a nice niche for herself post-Friends as a super bitch, is always enjoyable, though her character here is too one-dimensional. Cohen, best known for his work on Gilmore Girls, is fine but unspectacular. Tahan is quite the little revelation and probably gives the best performance. Portman is great, as always. I always expect great performances from her and she usually delivers. It's a shame she had to spend so much of her screen time either whining or crying, but she works well with what she's got. It was also quite nice to see Rent's Anthony Rapp and Six Feet Under's Lauren Ambrose in small roles, even if they were both quite unsubstantial.

All in all, I feel like this movie had so much potential - a great cast, a fantastic director, based on a respected book - but, ultimately, failed to deliver. This could have been a wonderfully deep and dark look at the way a woman overcame her sorrow and grief and learned to turn her life around. Unfortunately, too much time was spent on our characters while they were doing terrible things, and, in the end, we just don't care about them at all. Still, if you can manage to sit through a soapy drama, then the performances are more than worth it.

Grade: C-