by Alyssa Gilman
From one watch of new film The Other Woman’s trailer, any John Tucker Must Die fan could detect the stolen plot idea. Although the full movie reveals obvious differences, The Other Woman follows a storyline strikingly similar to that of John Tucker Must Die, making it seem very unoriginal.
The Other Woman stars Cameron Diaz as Carly, who finds out that her boyfriend is actually married to Kate (Leslie Mann). The two women soon meet Amber (Kate Upton), another one of Mark’s mistresses. They all become friends in mutual contempt for Mark. Already, this closely resembles John Tucker Must Die, in which four girls befriend each other after discovering that they all share the same boyfriend, John Tucker. In both movies, the sets of girls unite and plan to get revenge on their cheating men.
One of John Tucker Must Die’s most memorable scenes is when John’s girlfriends secretly load him up with estrogen pills. The writer of The Other Woman’s love for this scene, or maybe just lack of creativity, becomes evident when Carly, Kate, and Amber do the same exact thing to Mark.
Despite this obvious similarity, The Other Woman does display clear differences. Instead of teenaged girls in highschool, this film is about adults, allowing for raunchier jokes. It also features many different roles, such as Carly’s secretary (Nicki Minaj). This part does not exist in John Tucker Must Die, but it’s unclear why it did in The Other Woman. Minaj’s role was unnecessary to the story, and her bad acting revealed that she should stick to her musical career, if even that.
Both movies have over-acted scenes and try too hard at humor, as most romantic comedies do. Still, something about John Tucker Must Die is lovable and worth a watch. The Other Woman simply failed as its poorly recycled version.