The Other Woman

There are moments when this long-delayed melodrama from writer-director Don Roos really works—but there are too many other passages in which it just falls apart. Natalie Portman plays Emilia, a woman who gets involved with a married man, Jack (Scott Cohen). Jack eventually leaves his wife, Carolyne (Lisa Kudrow); they have a baby, who subsequently dies. The movie picks up shortly after the baby’s death, with Emilia trying to be strong and conduct a relationship with her new stepson, William (Charlie Tahan). While the movie is dealing with Emilia and William, it is quite good and offbeat. When it focuses on other characters—mainly Jack and Carolyne—it’s often quite bad. Kudrow comes off as someone who read the script 10 minutes before the cameras started rolling; she seems confused. Cohen simply can’t match Portman’s emotional fireworks.