The Other Woman (2014, Dir. Nick Cassavettes, USA) (Cert: 12a/PG-13) **

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton

Promiscuous lawyer Carly (Diaz) has had a string of short flings with men, but thinks she's found a man to have a steady relationship with in Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Handsome and charming, Mark is also married, which Carly only discovers after bumping into Mark's wife, Kate (Mann). Hurt by Mark's serial infidelity, Carly and Kate team up with Amber (Upton), another of Mark's mistresses, to make him pay.

There's a time and a place for The Other Woman. It's the kind of movie you reserve for a quiet night in with girlfriends (of the platonic variety, of course). It's safe and by-the-numbers and whilst the plot is fairly interesting, the sister solidarity element is touched upon a little too lightly It's certainly not a strong player for the emotions of other female empowerment movies like Thelma And Louise (1991) either but bubbles along in its own light and comedic way.

That is save for the fact that the film simply isn't very funny. Some of the reasons are just specifically not great places to go for intelligent humour (Ahh, toilet humour, my old nemesis. We meet again.) but a lot of it is also because the characters aren't that engaging. Cameron Diaz can be a fine actress and certainly can be a charismatic and lively presence on screen. Here, she's just a generic independent career woman who shows little original character even if she's given a whole supporting character (her sassy PA played by Nicki Minaj) dedicated almost entirely to interacting with her. Kate Upton is similarly a little lost, initially introduced as a sweet but slightly dim bimbo, even this is lost whilst her role simply devolves into posing (what are we to make of a character whose main asset is literally referred to as "the boobs"?). Leslie Mann gives the most energetic and strongest performance of the main trio, but it's old hat for her and it's not exactly a great turn.

The editing is pretty messy. I get the feeling that at one point there was a much bigger and more detailed movie that got clipped a lot in post-production. Plot lines and jokes seem to lose track but there are some shots and cutaways that seem almost unnecessary, oddly one of the last things you'd expect from such a seemingly heavily-edited product. I understand I (as a man) am probably not the film's target demographic and whilst I may be harsh towards the film, it does have an interesting idea and raises at least the occasional smile, even if it doesn't illicit much laughter. There is probably an audience that would lap this film up, and that is fine. But there's probably just as big an audience that would find this film intolerable.