The Other Woman

Comments (0) By Melissa Anderson Thursday, Feb 3 2011

Location Info

Map

Laemmle's Music Hall 3

9036 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

0 user reviews	Write A Review
Save to foursquare

More About

THE OTHER WOMAN An adaptation of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Ayelet Waldman's novel of Upper Manhattan entitlement and sanctimony, this minor 2009 Toronto Film Festival entry has been dusted off to capitalize on insatiable, inexplicable Natalie Portmania. Portman, who also executive-produced, stars as Emilia Greenleaf, the home wrecker of the title who becomes the second wife of Jack (Scott Cohen), a senior partner at the law firm where she works as an associate. Soon after they wed, their newborn dies, leaving Emilia, who's apparently given up her career entirely, to misdirect her grief while enduring both the neuroses of Jack's highly strung 8-year-old son, William (Charlie Tahan), and the fury of his ex-spouse, Carolyn (Lisa Kudrow, pleasingly aggro). Director Don Roos (The Opposite of Sex, Happy Endings), who also scripted, wobbles tonally, sometimes disastrously: A memorial walk in Central Park for those who've lost infants at first cruelly invites derision before being validated as healing, only to then spiral into petulant tears and recriminations. Though lazily mocking hypervigilant parenting, the film treats the moldiest clichés — "We all end up marrying our fathers anyway"; "It's the people who love you you're the hardest on" — as gospel. Portman, neither courageous nor complex enough to fully embody an often unlikable character, succeeds merely in enervating us. (Melissa Anderson) (Music Hall)