THE OTHER MAN
A quiet, well-acted drama of betrayal and forgiveness — for adults only.
Should You Watch It?
Here's the decision. THE OTHER MAN gives you Liam Neeson and Laura Linney at their capable best, in a smaller, quieter drama about a husband who discovers his wife's past affair and sets out — half detective, half wounded man — to learn the truth. The story lands where it matters: Peter chooses, in the end, to forgive both his wife and the man she betrayed him with, and even mends a broken relationship with his daughter. That's a real and rare thing for a modern drama to earn.
But the film costs something to get there. There's nudity, implied adultery, implied married sex, and a live-in relationship treated as unremarkable — plus a wife whose regret is left frustratingly unclear. The writing is also a bit jumpy, and characters act without always explaining why.
If you're an adult who can watch a flawed but morally serious film without it costing your conscience, this one rewards patience. It was never made with children or teens in mind.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESPeter (Liam Neeson) seems to have a good marriage with his wife, Lisa (Laura Linney) — until he finds a message on her phone from a man wanting to revive a past affair. Shocked and vengeful, Peter digs into her laptop and phone, uncovering photos and old emails between Lisa and a man named Ralph (Antonio Banderas). Determined to learn the truth, Peter begins emailing Ralph while pretending to be his own wife, tracks down Ralph's address in Milan, and travels there to befriend him — without revealing who he really is.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means this: a small-budget drama that mostly delivers on the strength of its cast. The performances are commendable, and the production holds up well despite modest resources. Where it falters is in the writing — the plot moves in jumps, and character motivations aren't always spelled out clearly enough to feel earned. The script also leaves it genuinely ambiguous whether Lisa ever regretted her affair, which blunts some of the story's emotional resolution. It's a good film, well-acted, that stops short of being a great one.
The Worldview
At its core, this is a story about forgiveness, and the film treats that seriously. Peter has every reason to nurse his anger — he even considers revenge as a real option — but he ultimately lets it go, forgiving both his wife and the man who wronged him, and reaching toward reconciliation with his daughter too. That arc is genuinely redemptive, and it's the best thing the film has going for it.
But the film surrounds that arc with elements that keep it from being wholesome. A character lives with her boyfriend outside of marriage, treated as unremarkable. The wife's affair is real, and whether she regretted it is left deliberately unclear. At one point a character insists that love is simply a choice — true as far as it goes, but offered here without any anchor beyond personal will. These are the "light pagan overtones" that keep an otherwise moral story from being cleaner than it is.
Scripture doesn't treat forgiveness as optional or as something we work up on our own strength: "forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). Peter's costly choice to let go of his anger points, however imperfectly, toward that deeper command — even if the film never names the One who makes real forgiveness possible.
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Light moral, redemptive worldview where man ends up forgiving his wife and the man she had an affair with, but sprinkled with some pagan elements with one character and her boyfriend living together, woman has adulterous affair, man considers revenge as a viable option for getting back at the man who had an affair with his wife, woman insists that love is a choice and that if she didn’t love her husband she would leave him, and it is ambiguous as to whether wife regretted her immoral actions; nine obscenities and no profanities; no violence; implied married sex where couple is shown in bed together afterwards, implied adultery, some kissing, and man gropes wife’s chest; upper female nudity in photographs in a sexual context, two instances of rear female nudity, and frontal male nudity but with certain parts strategically covered by towel; alcohol use depicted as characters drink wine with dinner; one instance of smoking a cigarette depicted; and, girl lives with her boyfriend, character hunts down the man who had an affair with his wife in order to better understand her actions and to also seek revenge, but this is resolved when he decides to let go and forgive the man and his wife, and some lying and deceit that are eventually resolved.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Peter has every reason to want revenge, and he even pursues it for a while before choosing to forgive. What makes forgiveness so hard to choose in the moment?
Ephesians 4:32 · Matthew 18:21–22The film never resolves whether Lisa regretted her affair. Why does genuine regret matter for real reconciliation, and what's the difference between regret and repentance?
2 Corinthians 7:10 · Psalm 51:1–4One character claims that love is simply a choice you make. In what ways is that true, and in what ways does Scripture describe love as something more than a feeling or a decision?
1 Corinthians 13:4–7Peter's search for truth costs him his peace for a season, but leads him toward forgiveness and restored relationship with his daughter. What has pursuing the truth cost you, and what did it lead to?
Ephesians 4:15 · John 8:32The Final Word
THE OTHER MAN is a small, well-acted drama that earns its redemptive ending honestly, even as it wanders through sexual content and moral ambiguity to get there. Our answer is the same one we opened with: worth the trip — adults only. If you're planning family movie night, start with our latest family-friendly picks instead.
