Page 22 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 7, 2014 ‘The Other Woman’ is predictable, uninspired story Carly (Cameron Diaz) and Kate (Leslie Mann) form a bond when they discover the same man has deceived them in ‘The Other Woman.’ by Dennis Seuling “The Other Woman” borrows its theme from William Congreve: “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned/Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” The movie stars Cameron Diaz, looking breathtaking as usual, as Carly Whitten, a lawyer car- rying on a carefree relationship with hand- some Mark King (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Her life is happy until she makes the shock- ing discovery that Mark is married. Sus- pecting the affair, his wife, Kate (Leslie Mann), confronts Carly at her place of busi- ness, creating a scene. Rather than scratch each other’s eyes out, the two women begin to talk about the situation. After all, they both have been deceived by and share a tremendous amount of anger toward Mark. The women form an unlikely bond. Carly becomes a friend/therapist to Kate, dispensing advice as she sees in Kate elements that she has been repressing in herself. However, Kate keeps disrupting Carly’s life, once visiting Carly’s apartment uninvited with her pony- sized Great Dane in tow. This mildly amusing picture telegraphs its entire plot well before the scenes are played. There are some laughs, but not nearly enough to make for a successful comedy. Most of the credit for what humor there is goes to Mann, who has a flair for making Kate hilariously annoying. Think of Jim Carrey in “The Cable Guy.” Kate sticks to Carly like an unwanted piece of chewing gum on her shoe, whining, crying, getting plastered, creating scenes, and gen- erally making a spectacle of herself. She does all of this with the comic elegance of Charlie Chaplin. A scene in which Carly and a driver attempt to get a drunken Kate into a car pro- vides a welcome couple of minutes of pure slapstick, as Kate can’t seem to navigate the door and winds up practically on top of the car. Mann also manages to keep a proper balance so viewers do not completely lose empathy for Kate. Mann works very hard to be funny and is easily the best thing in the film. Diaz’s character is not especially funny. She is sharper and more devious than Kate, and ultimately plans vengeance on Mark, which involves yet another woman, the voluptuous Amber (Kate Upton). Once the three women join forces, it is hard not to think of the far better “First Wives Club,” a movie with a similar theme that was executed far more proficiently. “The Other Woman” is the bargain basement version. Coster-Waldau is more of a comic prop than a textured character. His Mark is a philandering, selfish rogue who wants what he wants on his terms and believes he can get away with anything, from infidelity to embezzlement. Naturally, the audience roots for the women. Since their vengeance takes the form of schoolgirl pranks, they never give viewers a chance to really cheer for them. Only one payback has a satisfying payoff. Director Nick Cassavetes (“The Note- book”) is burdened with a lackluster script by Melissa Stack, but he works hard, com- bining physical comedy and cinematic techniques to inject some comic pizzazz. He can’t work miracles, though, and there frequently seems to be an eternity between laughs. Cassavetes and the cast try, but succeed only in creating a mundane romp with a one-joke premise stretched like taffy to fill nearly two hours. “The Other Woman” is rated PG-13 for strong language and recre- ational drinking.