The Other Woman and her Neighbours

Although we are now a full five months into the new year, there have been very few highly anticipated comedy films of 2014. That was until the promo trailers for The Other Woman and Bad Neighbours started. Suddenly film critics and film lovers were a buzz about both films, saying that they were to be among two of the most hilarious films of the year. Despite my hatred of the typical Hollywood rom-com's (and most comedy films in general), I decided to see both The Other Woman and Bad Neighbours in an attempt to understand the hype.

First was The Other Woman. I was particularly impressed by the trailer, the first comedy trailer in a while that has grabbed my attention and made me laugh. Thankfully, unlike most films these days, the jokes were not limited to the promos. The entire film was littered with clever jokes and even the occasional slap stick scene. Cameron Diaz was able to prove why she was considered to be the Queen of Comedy for so long. She definitely has a strength in playing the strong and occasionally abrasive woman. Still sexy at 41, she makes women of all ages laugh and envy her at the same time. Leslie Mann annoys me and has annoyed me for most of my life. I've never known why, I just cannot seem to separate the actress from the character - and all of her characters have been painfully annoying in one way or another. Nevertheless, she was incredibly funny as the neurotic wife of scumbag Mark King a.k.a Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
Finally Kate Upton/the boobs. I am a fan of Kate, I think she's made a name for herself in the model world in a completely new way. She's the social media model and that's pretty cool but she's not an actress. It's obvious that the producers were aware of this as she had very few lines considering she played a pretty important part. The relationship between the three women is central to the story, yet it felt like the focus was on Cameron and Leslie and Kate was the awkward third wheel. Scenes involving Upton seemed forced and often had to be rescued by Mann and her moments of neurotic craziness. However, the biggest thing I noticed about Upton's involvement was that she was hired to be 'the body' of the film. But personally, the body most worthy of a trophy in the film belonged to Nicki Minaj. Although I've never been a die hard fan of the rapper turned actress, there is no denying that her body is fantastic. I felt very guilty eating an entire bag of chocolate buttons whilst watching her tiny waist on screen!

As I mentioned at the beginning, the film was hilarious and mixed several traditional forms of comedy. In particular, the concluding scene involving glass panes and buckets of blood had me in stitches. My stomach hurt from laughing and my cheeks were red from smiling. I loved the film in its entirety even with my opinions on the lead actresses.

Secondly, loaded with pizza and wine, I went to see Bad Neighbours! And I'm sorry to say that if I hadn't had wine, the film would have been far less interesting. Following the typical blockbuster comedy formula, it was loaded with weed jokes, sex jokes and unnecessary cameos from comedians like Blake Anderson and Hannibal Buress and actors like Jake Johnson and Lisa Kudrow - who are all frankly too good for a film like this! These films, generated to bring in big numbers at the box office, end up disappointing me the most because they care less about the jokes or a plausible story and care more about bringing in as many demographics as possible. Like seriously, as if Rogen and Byrne were the only family on the street who had had enough - even with the frat boys 'helping out' around the neighbourhood, those parties just got louder and louder! Having said that, thanks largely to the wine, I chuckled a couple of times. There were some moments that were heavily fuelled by references that could potentially be overlooked by some younger audiences, but everyone 18 and up at my cinema seemed to understand most of the film references made.

I'm well aware that most young women were flocking to this particular film to see one thing - Zac Efron's body. I've never really fully understood the hype surrounding Efron and always thought of him as just another good looking actor. His body is spectacular but throughout the entire film his veins are protruding and his face seems strained. It honestly looks like he'd been using steroids to build himself up! But still, there is no denying he's incredibly attractive and will continue to do well in the industry because of it.

The film was fine. I won't see it again but if someone asks about it I'd probably say something like 'meh, might as well go see it'. There were some cool party scenes and some interestingly shot moments. The soundtrack was awesome and featured some classic, cool hits from Missy Elliot and Fergie remixed for a new generation. Rogen and Byrne had fantastic chemistry with the young twins playing little Stella and made a surprisingly cute family. But at the end of the day, films like Bad Neighbours and even The Other Woman, are ultimately forgettable. They haven't broke boundaries or left us with iconic sayings or scenes. They were just films that in a few years time will be playing at 5 o'clock on Sunday on a mediocre TV channel.


I've never really like comedy films... sorry.