"No Other Woman" has two clashing styles. Those styles are an allusion to the two female personas in the movie. One side is the perfect housewife. A person who is serious, settled and straightforward. The other character is carefree, happy-go-lucky and fun to be with. Surprisingly, these two styles, that at first may sound awkward being mixed together in an adult/drama/romance film, actually makes the film work. The film will play with all of your emotions - yes, it will even make you inadvertently laugh a lot of times and it is this effect that makes it a dramatic yet fun experience.
Ram (Derek Ramsay) seems to have the perfect life. His furniture business just received interest from a big client and he is very happy living the married life with his wife Sharmaine (Cristine Reyes). During one of his site visits on the client's resort, he meets Cara (Anne Curtis), a young woman who has shown extra interest on Ram. Ram bumps into Cara again at his client's office and finds out that Cara is actually the daughter of his client. Cara tempts Ram into having an affair without feelings and Ram eventually gives in. The affair is soon discovered by Sharmaine and she decides that she needs to fight for her husband's love.
"No Other Woman" is almost a perfect movie. It's a movie that at times you will take seriously and at times you won't. It's this interplay between dramatic scenes and scenes that feel like they came from the 90's drama films of yore (non-stop one-liners and retorts) that make the movie really fun and interesting. The acting as expected was average. Derek Ramsay was just monotonous and one-sided and really struggled in his drama scenes. Cristine Reyes on the other hand was weak as the timid wife. Things became a lot better for her when she decides to "fight" for her husband. As you can deduce, Anne Curtis was the best of the bunch. She was perfect as Cara, the classy young heiress and even better as the mistress. The story is typical and predictable and it forgets to close all conflicts (Ram's issues with his playboy father). The movie also fails to make an impact with its clichéd and botched ending (Ram should have fixed his relationship with his father and get advice rather than get into an automobile accident to settle his issues with Sharmaine and Cara). "No Other Woman" should have been better if it decided to be more daring with its plot. It's another film that decides to take the weary road of a mainstream drama film with theme songs blaring and scenes that feel like they were ripped out of a telenovela show and yet it's a film that has its own character and that alone makes it a worthy watch.
Rating: 4 and a half reels
Why you should watch it:
- the movie has its own character with classic one-liners reminiscent of 90's drama films
- the cinematography was top notch and one of the best we have seen all year
Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the story fails to develop some conflicts presented during the movie
- the ending was botched and should have been completely re-written
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Comments
nice review!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with everything that this review said. Watching it a while ago, I really felt Anne's acting more than everyone else's. She played her role very effectively.
ReplyDeleteGood review.
ReplyDeleteI only get to watch Star Cinema movies on Cinema One. Based on the Star Cinema movies I've seen, they have a penchant for using vehicular accidents as a means to end their movies. Either the male lead is driving a vehicle and gets into an accident or he is struck by an oncoming vehicle while crossing the road. I watched one of their movies with Derek Ramsey as the male lead and he was hit by a bus while crossing the street and died. Their script writers must have an axe to grind with him because they love injuring or killing him in their movies! LOL :)
I'll go and watch No Other Woman in the moviehouse. It seems like a fun movie not to be taken seriously with cheesy one liners.
one comment.. why should deal with conflicts in a 2 hour movie.. in reality, conflicts cannot be resolved in a short period of time. the timeline presented just gives justice to the film.. it's a great movie technically and story-wise for me.. thumbs up :)
ReplyDeletei don't like much this review honestly but a good read. thanks
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ReplyDelete"Based on the Star Cinema movies I've seen, they have a penchant for using vehicular accidents as a means to end their movies."
ReplyDeleteHahaha, that cracked me up. Hahaha. :)
Here's my own review of NO OTHER WOMAN:
http://filmcheckbytepmayo.blogspot.com/2011/10/movie-review-no-other-woman-2011.html
Totally agree with Jane Doe.. Star Cinema movies always has problem ending their film and so they either kill the third party or who ever is part of the conflict... and they do come up with a lot of characters which some of them are just there to either tease or cheer for the mai character and they eventually fade out in the movie and maybe perhaps a another few airtime at the end maybe for a funeral, wedding or a party.
ReplyDeleteBFF (with Ms. Sharon Cuneta andMs. AiAi), the movie which starred Angelica, Gabby Concepcion and Derek Ramsay and This movie: Aside from being produced by Star Cinema, what else do they have in common? Death of one of the 3 involved in the love triangle, which all happened to be through road/ vehicular accidents... Let's add one more movie to the list.. I forgot the title, it's the one which starred Ms. Vilma Santos, Luis Manzano and John Lloyd..(it's a love triangle but not the romantic type, of course). I hope SC can give us movies, with a whole new and better ending that DEATH. Tragic endings do not appeal to many of the people I know. Thanks.
ReplyDeletebeing a fashion enthusiast, i cant help but notice how the movie presented fashion statement. Anne is always at her best whatever clothes she's wearing, even with the simple bikini. As for Christine, she wore her clothes nicely but something is still missing, something that i can't determine what. Watching her wore the dresses, it seems "bitin."
ReplyDeleteI can say that watching the movie is like watching a fashion run-way...
Anne Curtis has more class and way more beautiful compared to Christine Reyes, on and off cam.
ReplyDeleteThere are angles of Christine in the movie where she's so ugly, plus the scene where her zit was so obvious. She's suppose to hide that with a concealer, right?
Anne, on the other hand, always had the perfect shots whatever is the angle. Even during the fight scene with Christine.
The movie though is a 2- thumps up. Kudos to all its casts and production staffs.
The movie was alright, it wasnt more than what i saw on the preview except the love scenes and fighting. The whole story was was too cliche or predictable, like the car accident and especially the ending. Everyone expected ram to pick cha over kara. It would have been better if he were to pick kara instead, or him passing away after the car accident. There were minor problems in the movie that they didnt bother to fix such as ram with his dad and cha's dad, also kara with her dad. I really like Anne Curtis' acting in this movie, i felt her pain of being left. Christine not so much,im just not a fan of her, they could have picked a better wife.
ReplyDeleteOverall movie was ok, ive seen it before. Id give it 3/5
Anne beats everyone in the cast with her effortless & natural characterization of Kara as the mistress - one who initially gets the ire of every wife, good-meaning persons & audience alike, but eventually gets the nod & sympathy of all after viewing No Other Woman. Anne Curtis is truly Anne-Beatable & Anne-Bisyosa as she is in this movie, she took us all by storm with her very commendable & engaging performance. It's very rarely that one gets to sympathize with a mistress's character in any film whatsoever, but Anne changed that perception with her superb performance as Kara in this blockbuster of a movie in, No Other Woman - congrats Star Cinema, direk Ruel Bayani, Derek, Christine & especially to Ms.Anne Curtis
ReplyDeleteGood review, guys, totally agree with all your comments about the film.
ReplyDeleteProduction values were quite good and the screenplay, with just enough camp and melodrama to please audiences, was one of the movie's strongest points, especially until about halfway through the film. You know you have a hit that is destined to be a classic when people can recite lines from the movie afterwards. A shame that the writers got lazy towards the end and resorted to the usual "cry, cry, die, die" telenovela ending (well, he didn't die in this one, but you all know what I mean).
Apart from the ending, one of the ways the movie could have been better was in casting. There were some stellar supporting performances; the actress, for instance, who played the wife's mother (Carmi Martin) is a stand-out.
The leads in the love triangle though could have posed more of a dramatic and emotional conflict for the audience, if they had cast a different young actress to play the wife, one who carried as much screen presence, physical appeal, class and charisma as the actress who played the mistress (Anne Curtis). A great rivalry really works if the two sides were more or less evenly matched. In this case, they weren't...not really.
I think Christine Reyes is a fine dramatic actress but film is primarily a visual medium and visually in this case, on screen, Ms. Curtis' beauty and charm just popped.
For a young actress with a "pretty girl next door" beauty, charisma and pedigree, who could have carried equal weight as Ms. Curtis, someone like KC Concepcion comes to mind. However, I've never seen Ms. Concepcion's movies so I can't judge if she can act as adequately as Ms. Curtis.
Consider the possibilities though...if they had cast an actress of equal beauty and stature to play the wife and then, imagine the confrontations between the two women again...wouldn't that have elevated the film to another level? We as the audience would have been so conflicted (and loving it).
This is why the whole Brad Pitt-Angeline Jolie-Jennifer Aniston story is still so compelling and still drives so many tabloid sales...
I just finished watching the movie and frankly, I'm not that all impressed. First of all the movie has a simple plot and the scenes are so predictable. Secondly, the story has been used many times in pinoy movies, in other words "gas-gas na". There is nothing original that the movie offers; it's just another generic, cut and paste love triangle movie. Lastly, I didn't feel connection to any characters which means there isn't enough in the story to make you love or hate, or identify with anyone. I don't know what the hype is all about, but it's two hour of my life wasted.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It could have been better if Angelica Panganiban played the role as Charmaine, the wife.
ReplyDeleteMediocre movie and acting, even Anne's, overrated as she is. Angelica and Bea could have saved the movie.
ReplyDelete