The One Movie You Should See This Week

Minka Kelly gets a bad roommate, Natalie Portman sleeps around, and James Cameron returns to the briny deep. Who gets your ticket money?

By Scott Von Doviak

The good news is that the worst movie month in recorded history is finally over. The bad news is that February traditionally isn't much better than January at the multiplex. Maybe this year will be different, however. For instance, who would have expected a shiny new James Cameron movie so soon after Avatar? Granted, Sanctum is only executive-produced by the King of the World, while the directing duties are handled by little-known Australian filmmaker Alister Grierson, but the trailer does its best to convince you this is the next leap forward for Cameron's untamable imagination. But while this flooded-cave adventure looks to be visually impressive, I'm not sure I've ever heard so much clichéd dialogue crammed into a two-minute preview. That probably doesn't bode well for the full-length version, and the heaping helping of daddy issues ladled on top doesn't much spark my interest either.

If Black Swan was a little too artsy for your taste, perhaps you'd prefer this cheesy Single White Female knockoff starring the virtually interchangeable Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) and Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl). Kelly plays the young innocent who goes off to college in the big city and finds herself rooming with Meester, who seems nice enough until Kelly realizes she's her only friend on the ever-popular social-networking site Frienderz. (Seriously.) Of course, it all goes to hell from there, as Meester goes off her meds and starts attacking Kelly's loved ones. Even if you somehow never saw Single White Female, the trailer for The Roommate spells out pretty much every single plot point, making it the perfect movie for someone who hates surprises of any kind.

Natalie Portman must be grateful for any movie that gets Academy voters' minds off No Strings Attached, so the limited release of this indie drama from Don Roos (The Opposite of Sex) is right on time. Portman plays the titular other woman, who falls for her married boss (Scott Cohen), who in turn leaves his wife (Lisa Kudrow) for her. Portman's attempts at bonding with her new stepson are complicated when her newborn baby dies. The Other Woman got decent notices when it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival under the title Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, so although it's been a while since Roos did anything of interest to me, this is probably the best bet from this week's crop.

The One Movie You Should See This Week: The Other Woman