Some Other Woman

Some Other Woman
Starring Amanda Crew, Tom Felton, Ashley Greene, Rick Fox
Directed by Joel David Moore

It's rare I go into a movie totally blind as to what it is. At the very least I would know the basic synopsis of it, or since I go to the movies often I would have the trailer memorized. Yet when I saw "Some Other Woman" playing at my local Regal, I had no idea what it was. All I had going into it was a thumbnail picture that made it look like a romantic comedy, so that was what I was gearing for. Right away I knew that I was wrong about the genre, and instead of a romcom it was a psychological thriller, and I was hopeful it'd be something interesting. Halfway through the film I found myself yelling (I was the only one in the theater) "I'm so bored!" While director Joel David Moore tried to craft a story akin to David Lynch, it goes to show that sometimes imitation isn't the most sincere form of flattery.

Eve Carter (Amanda Crew) and her husband Peter (Tom Felton) are living in paradise on a small island where Peter works at a successful firm, and the two are trying to have a baby. While she gave up her dream of being a singer, Eve seems content with being Peter's wife and working as a secretary, and she has high hopes that she's pregnant - until she seemingly suffers a miscarriage and all of a sudden her life turns upside down. She starts seeing a mysterious woman named Renata (Ashley Greene) who seemingly begins taking over her life, and she begins losing her grip on reality - or is reality itself changing around her?


The Good:
The first half of the film really sets up the story and the tension from the start, leaving you excited for what's to come. It's a mind-bending mystery that, in better hands, could've worked out extremely well.

The three actors all perform admirably with the unique roles they're given. Amanda Crew takes center stage as Eve, and also has the hardest job performing. She feels like she's going insane, and that another woman is slowly taking over her life, but she goes about it in ways that makes her appear crazy to her friends and even her husband, where she even questions her own sanity. Tom Felton sheds his "Harry Potter" character and plays a much more adult role as Peter, who is more a mystery than anything but I think that's how the story is supposed to go. Ashley Greene plays Renata with a mix of mystery and allure that makes her a captivating character who may or may not be trying to take over Eve's life - and who may or may not even exist in the first place.


The Bad:
The second half of the film spirals out of control, where it seems that the writers realized they wrote themselves into a corner and tried to find a way to stick the landing but left it very convoluted, confused, and ultimately unsatisfying. You want the ending to be as good as the beginning, to make you feel like you didn't waste your time, but unfortunately that doesn't happen here.

While I'm a fan of movies that don't spoon-feed you information, I would've liked more information given to me to understand the twists and turns that come out of nowhere later on. This is a movie that tries to make you want to watch it again to catch things you missed, but I honestly don't want to waste any more time thinking about it - just push it to the back of my mind and re-visit it when I do my year-end list and have to go back and remember what this movie was all about.


The Summary:
Despite decent performances and a compelling first half, "Some Other Woman" fails to stick the landing which results in a frustrating watch in which you won't want to go back to re-watch it to find what you missed, but rather do anything else with your valuable time.


The Score: D