The Other Man

Liam Neeson plays Peter, the husband of a famous shoe designer named Lisa(Laura Linney). After some suspicions Peter realizes that his wife hasn't been faithful and when he finds the address of Ralf(Antonio Banderas), the man his wife cheated on him with, he travels to Italy to confront him. When I saw the trailer for The Other Man, I immediately thought the film had a great premise; a man finds out that his wife has been cheating on him and then he tries to track down this man and execute some kind of revenge. That is what you get from the trailer, however, the trailer is incredibly misleading, the story doesn't pan out like that. Not even close. But what really ruined this movie for me, was the direction. Most of the scenes seemed glued together. You're watching a scene and all of a sudden you're watching something completely different and you're left wondering if you missed the last 10 minutes of the film. The reason why the film is like that, is because the director introduced a twist near the end but, until that moment, nothing makes sense, and when the reveal finally comes, it's a terrible letdown. This premise and cast on someone's else hands could have been something great. Unfortunately, all Richard Eyre's was able to do, was a boring and poorly executed movie.

5/10

Skipping through reviews before watching this film, I nearly decided to give it a miss. But I found out it was a miss for those negative reviewers who didn't get it. It's a hit, for me anyway.

It's gutsy, deals with real emotions colouring them in hither and thither as the scenes flick by in a non linear time line. That may sound like it's complex - it isn't. You are taken on a journey focusing on Peter, his wife being the essential background to the story, with his wife's lover the foil on which they both tread.

If you're looking for a stereotypical Hollywood scorned husband movie, move along, you'll find no joy here. This is real life in content, pace and dialogue. It's not boring, its not slow and it is captivating. I dare any man who has been cheated on by the love of their life not to be deeply moved by this film. The same probably goes for women. As the story unfolds, there's another group of people that will be moved, and that's for you to discover.

The ending is how it should be given the subject matter - some level of completion. And there's plenty to talk about afterwards. I'd love to say more but that would be giving away too much.

Great acting by all, though Liam Neeson has, and holds firmly, the centre stage.

I give this a low end of 9/10 if that's possible. Enjoy!

A bit of an unwieldy film. This one came out around the same time as TAKEN, and like that film it sees Liam Neeson traipsing around Europe in a bit to reunite his family. However, this isn't an action film at all, but rather an exploration of adultery and the effect it can have on people's lives.

It's hard to work out the target audience. The threat of impending violence keeps things moving along at one stage, as does the mystery surrounding Neeson's wife's secrecy. But it's not a thriller at all, and in fact it's difficult to pigeonhole. Really it's more of an excuse to ruminate on love, jealousy, rivalry and more.

It's also one of those twist films, in which plotting plays a major part. I was torn between being slightly bored and fairly intrigued. Neeson is good, if not great, but Antonio Banderas bags the best role and is a delight. Laura Linney and Romola Garai provide strong support.

I'm shocked at the high ratings on this film. As much as I love Liam Neeson, this movie sucked. It was good for about a half hour and then it just dragged and I was ready for it to be over. Boring overall!

This film is about a man who discovers his wife having an affair with someone in Italy. He is enraged and is determined to find and kill the adulterer.

"The Other Man" is an engaging drama about the enmeshed relationship of three people. The composition of scenes and the use of appropriate music enhances the atmosphere of the film. Acting is uniformly good by all three leads. Laura Linney appears appropriately frail at the end, Antonio Banderas is the macho ladies man, while Liam Neeson suffers in anger and grief. Despite the limited amount material, "The Other Man" manages to be captivating and engaging. If the story of "The Other Man" could be expanded, it would have been even better.