Grab your girlfriends and learn a thing or two from The Other Woman

Women can be some of the most cunning, ruthless creatures in existence. I willingly admit that even though I am one. There are some who will lie, cheat, steal, belittle or sometimes commit even more unspeakable crimes to the sisterhood in order to land a man who is more often than not someone unworthy of such efforts. And that’s what they do to some of their best friends, let alone complete strangers! What I liked most about The Other Woman, the latest movie from Twentieth Century Fox, was the concept that three jilted women could put aside the awkwardness of their situation and their differences in order to teach the man who was cheating on all three of them a lesson or two.

Starring Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton as the three women, along with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as the cheater, and Nicki Minaj, Don Johnson and Taylor Kinney in fitting supporting roles, The Other Woman was an enjoyable romp along the same grain as The First Wives Club. While I find Cameron Diaz annoying in many of her roles, she was likeable in this one. I think that’s partially because you felt some sympathy for her when she found out the new man of her dreams that she thought things were getting serious with was already married. That and she actually seems pretty well-put-together in this movie as a lawyer with an impeccable wardrobe and swanky apartment that would make many women green with envy.

As the wife who finds out about her husband cheating on her with Cameron Diaz and then later on with the much younger, voluptuous Kate Upton, Leslie Mann provides the majority of the movie’s comedy relief. I can’t believe how eager she was to become friends with her husband’s mistresses. If I were in that situation, I don’t think I’d have it in me (and I’m one of the nicest people I know). However as strange as the concept sounded to me at first, it was actually fairly smart the more I thought about it afterwards. When are women going to learn to quit cutting each other down? When are we going to learn that not everything has to be about competing with one another for a man? Why can’t we work together and learn from each other more often?

We all make mistakes – that doesn’t necessarily make us bad people. It’s how you react to your mistakes that determines your character. In this case, I thought the characters portrayed by both Cameron and Kate took the classier route and realized they didn’t want to be “the other woman.” I’ve never understood why anyone would choose that life willingly. While there are many gold diggers out there who wouldn’t mind being a posh mistress, at least both of these women were duped by the man into thinking he was single, and once they found out he wasn’t, they commiserated together and decided to get even. While I’m not necessarily one to advocate revenge, it did provide several comical moments. The slipping of women’s hormones and laxatives into various things he was drinking or consuming was especially memorable. I won’t give too much away here, but let’s say karma definitely got even with him in the end.

Don Johnson is very much in the element with his role as Cameron Diaz’s womanizer father, while Taylor Kinney is adorable as Leslie Mann’s brother who ends up being a suitable love interest for Diaz. One other thing I feel compelled to say about the supporting cast: the sheer size of Nicki Minaj’s pencil skirt-covered ass is mind-boggling. It will haunt you in nearly every scene she appears as Diaz’s secretary — probably even more so than her excruciating voice.

Overall, I think The Other Woman makes a good movie choice for women to see with their best girlfriends. If you can find a movie theater that serves wine and food such as I did, it makes the experience all the more enjoyable. And if you learn a thing or two about how to treat each other and/or how to keep your self-respect and not let an unworthy man take that away from you, I advocate embracing that newly found empowerment and enlightenment. For as author/philosopher George Santayana once observed, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”