Natalie Portman walks a fine line between being a good person and a truly awful human being in Don Roos's no-nonsense adaptation of Ayelet Waldman's novel "Love and Other Impossible Pursuits."
Considering the flawed source material, Roos does a good job of endearing the audience to Portman's character of walking contradictions. Emilia (Portman) is an associate at a Manhattan law firm where she charms top lawyer Jack (Scott Cohen) away from his taciturn wife (Lisa Kudrow).
Home-wrecker is a label Emilia wears like a scarlet letter in the Upper East Side/West Side corridor she traverses to escort her new stepson William back and forth to school. William hates Emilia. He baits her with the idea of selling off the bassinet of her recently deceased infant on eBay.
The baby girl died of SIDS when she was four-days-old. Emilia's emotional baggage is compounded by her own parents' divorce due to her father's cheating.
"The Other Woman" is Natalie Portman's movie. Yes, it's a bitter pill of dramatic woe. But there's no actress better at letting you see the motivation behind her tears.
Rated R. 119 mins.
