TUTTE CONTRO LUI - THE OTHER WOMAN: CAMERON DIAZ E' 'L'ALTRA DONNA' PER NICK CASSAVETES. MA SIAMO PROPRIO SICURI CHE LEI SIA LA SOLA 'ALTRA DONNA'?
Seconde visioni - Cinema sotto le stelle: 'Summer 2014' - RECENSIONE ITALIANA IN ANTEPRIMA e PREVIEW in ENGLISH by JUSTIN CHANG - (www.variety.com) - Dal Bif&St 2014 - Dal 19 GIUGNO
(The Other Woman; USA 2014; Commedia; 109'; Produz.: LBI Productions/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Distribuz.: 20th Century Fox)
Titolo in italiano: Tutte contro lui - The Other Woman
Titolo in lingua originale:
The Other Woman
Anno di produzione:
2014
Anno di uscita:
2014
Regia: Nick Cassavetes
Sceneggiatura:
Melissa Stack
Cast: Cameron Diaz (Carly Whitten) Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Mark King) Leslie Mann (Kate King) Kate Upton (Amber) Taylor Kinney (Phil) Don Johnson (Frank) Nicki Minaj (Lydia) Kenneth Maharaj (Busboy) Alyshia Ochse (Cece) Victor Cruz (Fernando) Madison McKinley (cameriera) David Thornton (Nick) Olivia Culpo (Raven-Haired Beauty) John 'B.J.' Bryant (Guardia di sicurezza) Chelsea Turnbo (Receptionist)
Musica: Aaron Zigman
Costumi: Paolo Nieddu
Scenografia: Dan Davis
Fotografia: Robert Fraisse
Montaggio: Jim Flynn e Alan Heim
Casting: Matthew Barry e Nancy Green-Keyes
Scheda film aggiornata al:
12 Agosto 2014
Sinossi:
IN BREVE:
Dopo aver intrapreso una relazione, una donna (Cameron Diaz), scopre che lei in realtà per lui è 'l'altra'. Allora decide di collaborare con la moglie (Leslie Mann) per vendicarsi del comportamento scorretto messo in atto dal marito (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).
SHORT SYNOPSIS:
After discovering her boyfriend is married, Carly soon meets the wife he's been cheating on. And when yet another affair is discovered, all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on the three-timing SOB.
Commento critico (a cura di ROSS DI GIOIA)
Kate King (Leslie Mann) è una classica casalinga disperata di stampo Wisteria Lane: perfetta per lo shopping nel deli dâalto bordo e sciatta quanto basta una volta rientrata a casa (ignara che sta cosĂŹ devastando la libido coniugale del consorte), sospetta tradimenti ma se la fa sotto a cercare le prove. Carly Whitten (Cameron Diaz) è invece un avvocato newyorkese meticolosa, potente e rigidamente fissata con determinate regole amorose (la principale: mai uomini sposati). Infine câè Amber (Kate Upton) prorompente biondona dal sorriso vacuo e lontana anni luce da cellulite e complicazioni (una vera manna per gli uomini, insomma). Cosa hanno in comune le tre? Un âluiâ, manco a dirlo: si tratta di Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), bel quarantenne dallo sguardo stendi-tacchi a spillo e dalla vita privata movimentata: Mark, infatti, non solo è il marito di Kate, ma diventa quindi lâamante di Carly (lei però non sa della fede al
dito) e infine trasmigra la propria libido verso Amber (che a sua volta non sa nulla di Kate e Carly). Quando Kate scopre gli altarini, mette in moto una macchina talmente infernale che non solo prende a bordo Carly, la quale si impegna a fondo per raddoppiarne la cilindrata, ma anche Amber, creando cosĂŹ una gang al femminile che farĂ di tutto per mettere sotto - e sulle strisce - il fedifrago in blazer Brioni.
âLâunione fa la forzaâ a volte non basta. Lâunione fa la forza, per davvero infatti, quando il bersaglio da colpire è realmente comune. La lezione di Tutte contro lui potrebbe essere sintetizzata in questo assioma. Ma attenzione: nel prendere facilmente le parti delle signore in questione, in questo caso, non va sottovalutato il fatto che il placet che concediamo al legame che unisce le tre donne è sĂŹ frutto di un vero e proprio ricatto morale
(diciamocelo pure senza paura di essere presi per maschilisti dellâultima ora: chi potrebbe stare dalla parte di chi molla la moglie per lâavvocato e poi molla lâavvocato per la tettona?), ma tutto sommato ha la sua ragion dâessere. La relazione che si instaura tra Kate e Carly, e poi tra Kate Carly e Amber, è infatti la vera storia dâamore del film. Un affetto vero e confuso (a suo modo) che trascende il cesto di corna che ognuna scopre di portare sulla testa. Un âclub (non) delle prime mogliâ, ma un âclub di una prima moglie e di due che se la sono scampata bellaâ allegro e vendicativo che, nonostante la rabbia le accechi per aver subito per lâennesima volta, non dimentica quellâistinto di solidarietĂ tutta al femminile che gli uomini difficilmente fanno proprio. (Tranne quando devono proteggere lâamico che doveva essere al calcetto quella tal sera, o almeno cosĂŹ
aveva detto alla moglie, e chissĂ invece dovâè finitoâŚ). Sceneggiato da Mellissa K. Stack e diretto da Nick Cassavetes, a Tutte contro lui perdoniamo cosĂŹ qualche faciloneria di troppo e anche qualche sbandamento in curva in vista del traguardo finale, merito di un ritmo sostenuto e costante che trae la sua forza da un cast indovinato. In particolare grazie a Mann, una nevrotica perfetta in polo Ralph Lauren, e naturalmente a Diaz, la quale riesce a mettere quel tocco di pepe ironico che piace forse molto alle donne - competizione zero - ma anche agli uomini - pensano che tutte siano alla loro portata.
Secondo commento critico (a cura di JUSTIN CHANG, www.variety.com)
CAMERON DIAZ AND LESLIE MANN MAKE AN EFFECTIVE TEAM IN THIS UNGAINLY YET WEIRDLY COMPELLING REVENGE COMEDY.
Cameron Diaz plays the cool, brittle yin to Leslie Mannâs weepy, whiny yang in âThe Other Woman,â an ungainly, often flat-footed yet weirdly compelling romantic dramedy about two gals who become unlikely best friends when they realize theyâre being screwed (literally) by the same man. Like a watered-down âDiaboliqueâ or a younger-skewing âFirst Wives Club,â this latest mainstream rebound from director Nick Cassavetes (after his dead-on-arrival 2012 indie âYellowâ) taps into the pleasures of sisterly solidarity and righteous revenge: Beneath the wobbly pratfalls and the scatological setpieces, thereâs no denying the filmâs mean-spirited kick, or its more-than-passing interest in what makes its women tick. These qualities should stand the slickly packaged Fox release in good stead with always-underserved female viewers as another superhero-filled summer gets under way.
High-powered New York attorney Carly
Whitten (Diaz) doesnât suffer fools gladly or take dating too seriously, so itâs clearly a big deal when she makes it to eight weeks with a handsome businessman who goes by the none-too-subtle name of Mark King (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). But Carlyâs suspicion that the relationship might be too good to be true turns out to be well founded: Dropping by to surprise him one night at his home in Connecticut, she instead has an awkward first encounter with Kate (Mann), who sheâs shocked to learn is Markâs wife.
Furious and disgusted, but also calm and practical, Carly immediately resolves to dump Mark and move on. But Kate isnât quite so ready to sever ties with her husbandâs unwitting mistress: Over the next few days, she turns up at Carlyâs law firm â and later, her apartment â in various states of inebriated distress, longing for details about Mark and Carlyâs sexual
habits, as well as advice on how to proceed. While Carly initially recoils from Kateâs extreme neediness and insecurity, itâs not long before the desperate housewife and the put-together career woman realize they have more in common than they thought, bonding over their loneliness, their mutual loathing for the man who brought them together and, inevitably, their desire for payback.
Things get kicked up a notch when Kate and Carly, tailing Mark on one of his many weekend âbusiness tripsâ (to the tune of Lalo Schifrinâs âMission: Impossibleâ theme), find out that the cad has yet another mistress on layaway: Amber (Kate Upton), a young blonde bombshell whoâs introduced running on the beach in slo-mo oglevision. In a development that works better onscreen than it sounds on paper, Amber turns out to be sweet and wholly sympathetic, if mildly ditzy, and she happily joins Kate and Carlyâs vengeful sisterhood. Observing all
this from the sidelines, meanwhile, is Kateâs sensitive, good-looking brother Phil (Taylor Kinney), who serves as not only a convenient new love interest for Carly, but also the movieâs token acknowledgment that not all men are lying, cheating scumbuckets.
For that matter, thereâs room to argue over whether âThe Other Womanâ (the first-produced screenplay by Melissa K. Stack, whose âI Want to Fâ Your Sisterâ landed on the 2007 Black List) is ultimately a femme-empowering celebration of decency and monogamy, or a hopelessly retrograde portrait of scheming, backbiting women incapable of defining themselves apart from a man, even if itâs a man they happen to despise. Certainly thereâs something queasy-making, even sadistic, about the increasingly juvenile shenanigans that take over the movieâs second half as Carly, Kate and Amber effectively drop a series of anvils on Markâs head â whether theyâre slipping him laxatives and estrogen tablets, or investigating the offshore
bank accounts where heâs stashed away an ill-gotten fortune.
As it winds its way toward an unexpectedly grisly final showdown, âThe Other Womanâ often feels stranded between gross-out comedy, romantic fantasy and distaff psychodrama in a way that compels fascination and impatience alike. The filmâs structure and pacing feel haphazard at best, the musical choices clumsily tacked on, the raunchy elements weak and unnecessary (and likely compromised by the filmâs downgrading from an R rating to a PG-13). One moment weâre in the Bahamas, admiring the beachfront scenery as lensed by d.p. Robert Fraisse; the next weâre in a toilet stall, watching (and worse, listening) as a character noisily evacuates his bowels. Similarly, there are moments when Cassavetes seems to be operating on Hollywood-hack autopilot, and others when you can almost feel him nudging the production in the sort of rougher, more offbeat character-driven direction that his famous father, John, might
well have encouraged.
This unevenness has become perhaps Cassavetesâ defining aspect as a filmmaker, evident in his unpredictable choice of material (âThe Notebook,â âAlpha Dog,â âMy Sisterâs Keeperâ) and in the curious jumble of moods and styles he achieves with almost every picture. Indeed, itâs this sense of tonal clash that largely distinguishes âThe Other Woman,â which feels like a movie productively at war with itself, taking its cues from the temperaments of its two central characters: Itâs lurching and volatile one minute, judgmental and calculating the next. And itâs a testament to the actresses involved that we emerge with an appreciably strong sense of who their characters are.
Her nerve endings almost continually exposed, her mouth running like crazy, Mann at first seems to be channeling the ball-busting housewife she played in âKnocked Upâ and âThis Is 40,â but she swiftly establishes Kate as a very different creature â warm and
compassionate, and genuinely torn over whether to salvage or further sabotage her marriage. As ever, Mannâs ability to seem perpetually on the verge of a nervous breakdown can be maddening, even mannered, and âThe Other Womanâ needs every drop of cool, cynical detachment it can wring from Diazâs performance. Having memorably embraced her inner rebel in recent projects like âBad Teacherâ and âThe Counselor,â Diaz (who starred in Cassavetesâ âMy Sisterâs Keeperâ)is in fine, nuanced form here, stepping into the heels of a strong-willed, successful working woman without reducing her to a one-note shrew.
Model-turned-actress Upton (âThe Three Stooges,â âTower Heistâ) holds her own in a likable if limited role, and Coster-Waldau is game enough as the most (only) hated figure onscreen. Rapper-songstress Nicki Minaj makes her live-action thesping debut as Carlyâs saucy assistant, while Don Johnson has a few choice scenes as Carlyâs father. Several stray references to Chinese culture,
including a particularly random, teary-eyed defense of feng shui from Kate, feel sufficiently jarring as to suggest a half-hearted attempt to woo the all-important Asian market.