The Other Wife

I gave this movie quite a high rating because I rather enjoyed it. It was very, very bad in the characters, the plot lines, the direction, in pretty much everything. But the movie was one you could watch with granny or teenage offspring without feeling embarrassed. How many movies can one say that about nowadays? Now, while the characters were nearly all wooden, almost catatonic, they looked pretty enough or sinister enough, almost like a parody of TV movie-making. There were great gaps in which nothing much happened, when the stars (I use the term advisedly) seemed to have forgotten their lines or the director had perhaps popped out for a coffee (or ring his agent). Nevertheless, it was the equivalent of the endless "Schlager" (German pop songs) I used to hear (but not listen to) when I was a guest worker in 1970s West Germany. And I think, if I recall rightly, it didn't rain once throughout the whole three hours of the movie! What's not to like about such a nice, fluffy puppy of a movie that just wants its tummy tickled?

Just turned the TV on, watched literally a few minutes of this and am absolutely stunned that Rupert Everett is in something so, so dreadful! The acting is absolutely appalling... I felt physically uncomfortable at the awkward physicality between the characters and their hammy yet wooden performances... I watched for another fifteen minutes in the hope I had caught it at a bad moment, but nope... What on earth happened?

I thoroughly enjoyed this soapy family drama. Nothing like Rosamunde would have written, but still it is domestic and romantic. Two wives of the same man, both nice women, betrayed by John Hanna, the conflicted bigamist. The collision course they are set on kept the tension dialed up to medium high and when the truth is finally revealed it was suitably dramatic. Throw in an estranged father, a plane crash, bankruptcy, a boyfriend stealing sister, a war-hero love interest lurking in the background, a cheating lying brother, financial shenanigans, a daughter jealous of her mother, a heart attack, and a gold mine and I'm all in. Also ballerinas! Seriously what more could you ask for?

Series should have been cut to one episode If the cliches and plot twists that weren't needed were cut it would be a cleaner plot with a tight 90 minutes of run time. Of course the overdone music is too much also. So much of the acting is either over the top or completely flat. Clean up all the plot/ script/setting goofs of which there are many would have helped also. Of course the question remains on how so many people are clueless over so many thing and make so many bad decisions.

It is kinda sad. The basic story had promise but was destroyed by a bad director and producers that tried to turn it into something it isn't.

With fast forward to turn it into one hour of total run time it was sort of fun.

While the storyline held promise, the director moved at such a slow pace that it was almost painful. The acting was beyond terrible...just godawful. It's obvious Rupert Everett phoned it in and John Hannah collected his paycheck for his few days & ran. I feel bad...but the poor child who played the son was cute but not enough to pull off having no tangible talent. The women...Wife #1 was so unemotional. Same reaction to finding out about a lying cheating husband to flirting with him before he left to painful convos with her daughters. Wife #2 must have taught the actor playing her son how to act. I'm sure she has many talents, but acting isn't one of them. As for the daughters, I can't really tell if they were trying too hard or are just that bad at acting.