The Other Wife

This is an excruciatingly boring 2 episode movie with very pretty scenery and locales and bad acting. Perhaps I should cut them some slack - maybe the screenplay/dialogue was a collaboration written by the 9th grade creative writing class of 2010. Rupert Everett, however, presumably could have risen above his portrayal of a cartoonish stoop shouldered Snidely Whiplash. Horrendous performance. He has forever tainted himself.

Rosamund Pilcher is an entertaining author and I hope she did not live to see this rendition of her book. I struggled through it on 4 separate occasions, just to get through it for Rosamund. In the first episode, I longed for the plane crash. Just SOMETHING interesting. And it wasn't. Going forward, I longed for the stiff and awkward ballet scenes to end quickly. They didn't. Terrible, very predictable movie.

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?

Really liked this! It was easy to watch & definitely held my attention all the way through. There were twists I didn't see coming and that keep you guessing plus the characters were well-drawn and believable. At the end of part one I was really keen to see part two! Always a good sign.

John Hannah should be on TV more often! He's great in it. The other performances were very strong too but it made me realise I hadn't seen him in anything for a while. I didn't recognise the lead actress but thought she was very good & had a lot to do & she did it well. Thought the story was great with a lot of tension - kept me guessing! Funny, sad, people's lives are complicated etc. As good as a night in with a good book. Watch it!

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.

Didn't realize this was a mini series because I watched it on Tubi but oh my word this goes SO slow with a lot of extra fluff added in that is not necessary for the plot. I can't see how anyone will care about the daughter's ballet career or half the other stuff written into this plot to make it longer. I forwarded through a lot of it to get to the meat. Not sure how to wrap this up except to say I'd pass if I were you.