Kate Upton

  • The Three Stooges (2012)

    The Three Stooges (2012)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, January 2020) The problem with The Three Stooges isn’t the nature of its homage to the long-running comedy series—it’s about as faithful as it could be, and clearly shows the Farrelly Brothers’ reverence for the original material. No, the problem with it (dodgy plot aside) is that it faithfully updates and executes a kind of comedy that will leave many, many viewers unimpressed by its sheer nature. The Stooges originated or perfected a good chunk of the slapstick comedy standard, but slapstick is not a universal kind of humour, and many viewers will simply be exasperated by the sight of three grown men hitting each other. It doesn’t really help that the film overthinks its premise while betting much on the notion that three idiots can be heroes. The weird detour to Jersey Shore as a plot device does date the film quite a bit. (Speaking of which — if you’re watching the movie because you heard that Kate Upton shows up as a nun in a bikini, then either wait until the very end of the film, or save yourself some trouble by searching for “bikini nun” and gazing upon the top results – meanwhile, Jane Lynch and Jennifer Hudson play far better nuns.) Of the three stooges, Chris Diamantopoulos, Sean Hayes and Will Sasso do well—they’ve studied the mannerism and turn in decent takes on the classic characters. The problem, though, is whether audiences want to see this kind of comedy for more than a few minutes at a time.

  • The Other Woman (2014)

    The Other Woman (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, April 2015)  Revenge fantasies may not be good for the soul, but they can certainly drive a comic film.  Here, two (and then three) women are united when they discover that they’re being cheated upon by the same man, who also turns out to be a con artist in other ways.  Cameron Diaz is dependably amusing as the lead, whereas Leslie Mann becomes a delightful foil as the most mercurial of them—she has the shrieking madwoman thing down to a science.  Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, in another striking big-screen role, does have the requisite mixture of charm and sliminess as a philandering fraudster.  Other additions to the cast aren’t as memorable: Despite prominent billing, Kate Upton is a bit bland as the Third Woman, whereas I remain unimpressed by Nicki Minaj’s performance in her short scenes (and this despite unexplainably liking Minaj as a musical performer).  It’s a cheap and fast comedy without much sophistication, but it does get the chuckles it’s aiming for.  There are a few false notes along the way (the ending is a bit more bloodily cruel than I had expected) and the script doesn’t embarrass itself with unpredictable plotting, but The Other Woman pretty much hits its target and delivers unchallenging entertainment for a solid 90 minutes.