CAMERON DIAZ & LESLIE MANN IN THE OTHER WOMAN

year: 2014 rating: ***

At one point in THE OTHER WOMAN, Cindi Lauper's anthem “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” plays while the three main characters, an eclectic trio of victimized women, seek revenge on a cheating jerk... But by this time the real fun is over…

In fact it only lasts about twenty minutes, and most of the credit should be given to intentional scene-stealer Leslie Mann as Kate King, the wife of a rich, handsome guy named Mark, juggling an affair with a smitten and oblivious lawyer, Carly, played by Cameron Diaz, who steps to the side as Mann takes over, frantically coming unglued while assorting to every physical comedy gag in the book... but she pulls it all off like she wrote it! Soon enough the two begin to click; a friendship built on being screwed-over simultaneously. And when they discover another conquest in Mark's life, giving the title a double (and eventually, triple) meaning, the film goes slowly downhill...

Although it's still an entertaining ride, basking in pure escapism for the target female audience, but once the uncreative and childish revenge tactics occur –  from spiking booze with laxative to putting hair remover in shampoo – the camaraderie between Diaz and Mann is almost forgotten… Meanwhile, third banana Kate Upton as cliché dream girl, Amber, is just that: although sweet and likable, her character never amounts to much more than a "Barbie Doll" punchline, adding little to the mix. Yet by the end, when Mark gets his ultimate barrage of comeuppance, you’ll wonder if he deserved that much for simply being a multitasking cheat… But if you mess with three chicks in a chick flick, hell’s fury hath no limits.