Why I Liked... The Other Woman/Love and Other Impossible Pursuits (2009)

(Dir. Don Roos Starring: Natalie Portman, Scott Cohen, Lisa Kudrow, Charlie Tahan)

I actually really liked this. And I’m like, totally anti-other woman/man.

Which I suppose is good for my opinion of Natalie Portman in light of not-so-recent Black Swan-related events.

But not really. Anyway, so Emilia Greenleaf (Portman) is a moving-up-the-ladder lawyer who has the hots for her married boss, Jack (Cohen-who wouldn’t though, I mean right?). Turns out he’s not exactly immune to her charms either. So even after getting advice from her sassy New York friends to leave it alone, and to yes, go to the Christmas party to meet Jack’s family so she can get it out of her system, Emilia and Jack still go for it in a dirty ass Holiday Inn out of town.

Sassy Friends get no respect.

 

So romantic.

Long story short, Emilia gets knocked up, Jack leaves his controlling bitch of a wife Carolyne (Kudrow), and the two of them move in together with Jack’s son William (Tahan). Who, let’s face it, is a bit...of a handful. Although, who wouldn’t be, considering he’s being made to adjust to a new mother figure in his life? It’s got to be a bit weird and difficult and all those feelings that come attached.

And it’s got to be even more difficult when said mother figure’s newborn baby dies of SIDs. I know, it’s really sad. I kinda cried at that bit. The death of a child does that to a girl (me)...

So we’ve got a story about home-wrecker who lost her baby, and then we’ve got the story of her own father who cheated on her mother, and then we’ve got the story of Emilia and Jack, and then, finally, the story of Emilia and William. It seems like it should be a bit of a sham of a film, shouldn’t it? So many stories! Too much for an audience to handle!


Wrong.

...much like Natalie's hair.

Somehow these all tie really nicely in with each other, and create a cohesive, touching tale of family and what it really means.

So even though I went into watching this film with a bit of a bias and thinking I’d never, ever be able to side with a woman who broke up a marriage, I came out of it...not being on Emilia’s side, but I certainly didn’t hate her for no reason. And ok, they did kind of make Carolyne borderline psychotic to draw sympathy for Emilia, which seems a tad unfair to all those nice, good wives and husbands who are abandoned for younger models, but frankly, Lisa Kudrow ended up being the most awesome part of this film, so I’m kind of glad she got to play crazy.

The relationship between Emilia and her step-son William, however, seemed the most real to me. William is...precocious. And too smart for his own good. And has been brought up to believe in his own hype. Which is a nice way of saying he’s a bit of a brat. But who can blame him being that way towards Emilia? Even without his mother badmouthing her and influencing his decisions, Emilia is still the woman who, in his eyes, tore his parents apart. But Emilia soldiers on, determined not to let William’s words and actions get to her, responding in sarcastic, soft-cutting words, and a few not so well-placed bribes of ice cream treats.

 Emilia and Jack’s relationship is the one that seems to have received the least amount of attention in the film. Which should be sad because their relationship is what makes this story possible, but the chemistry between Portman and Cohen just didn’t...well, it just didn’t exist. Other than her looking awesome in her wardrobe, and him being super good-looking, it didn’t click. That’s not to say their story wasn’t good, because it was, but the story of William and Emilia was just that much more tremendous.

Um, so yeah.

There were problems with the film, but at the same time, it worked. For me, at least. I’m still not a great advocate for mistresses and all that jazz (it makes me uncomfortable), but...yeah. It was really good.