Review: Fair Play

-


Emily (Pheobe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) are a secret couple that work in the same cut-throat hedge fund where dating colleagues is against the rules. But when one of them gets a promotion, it changes their dynamic forever.

The online chatter around this film has been something else. It's been getting great reviews, but some describe it as an erotic thriller, and others a romantic thriller, and to me it was neither. Sure, there's a lot of romance within the first 5 minutes, and a relationship is its central theme. But it's never something I would describe as "romantic" Emily and Luke seem happy enough at the beginning but we spend more time watching their partnership unravel than seeing them at their happiest. 

Director Chloe Doemont makes a strong first feature. I was engaged from start to finish with the story, it's just some of the details that bothered me. While I'd say the film is paced well overall, these two go off the rails so quickly. The entire third act is an absolute mess. Ehrenreich is not a strong enough actor to handle such a tonal shift. Dynevor fairs much better handling how drastic the changes in Emily are from start to finish.

I wish I could have another version of this movie because there was a lot of potential. I can see how this will work for many. It almost did for me. 

Grade: C+

Comments

  1. Candice FrederickOctober 16, 2023 at 10:33 AM

    yeah, i think folks are struggling to categorize the movie. while i do agree that is a bit of a throwback to erotic thrillers of the 90s, i don't think it's as sexy as that. a lot is being projected on to the film. i think the film is fine, but i'm puzzled by some of the conversation around it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 17, 2023 at 3:15 PM

      I agree that a lot is being projected onto it. I thought about that for myself. I wondered if I was frustrated because I saw some of myself in Emily and got annoyed when she flew off the handle. Was I more critical of her because I related, and less critical of Luke because I expected him to be weak? It's a lot to unpack.

      Delete
  2. thevoid99October 21, 2023 at 8:48 PM

    I still want to see this though my mother and I still can't watch Netflix on our TVs for some reason though I think it has to do with issues relating to my sister's own financial issues as I am aware that Netflix is going to raise their prices. Ugh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 23, 2023 at 7:56 AM

      If you have a Samsung TV - My Netflix has been wigging out on that thing for the past couple of months. It eventually lets us watch, but it takes a lot of closing and re-opening.

      Delete
    2. thevoid99October 23, 2023 at 6:56 PM

      I have 2 Fire Smart TVs and the newest one that my mom has is a Samsung. It has to do with certain things as I think it involves the password sharing shit.

      Delete
    3. Brittani BurnhamOctober 24, 2023 at 9:19 AM

      Ahh I see. I wish I knew what my TV's problem is because the app is updated and NO other device does it. I think it just doesn't like Netflix anymore lol

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing Bobby, and the
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen
Read more

Please join me in my Favorite Movie Titles Blogathon!

-
Image
Earlier this week I made a post where I ran through the letters of the alphabet with my favorite movie titles. There were a few people that suggested I turn it into a blogathon, and I've never done that before. So here goes nothing! Since this is my first attempt at a blogathon, it's all pretty simple, and it's hopefully a quick post that everyone can join in. Rules: 1) Going through the alphabet, list your favorite movie title beginning with each letter.  2) You don't have to necessarily  like the movie to use it's title.  3) Use the banner at the top of this post in yours. 4) Please have submissions in by Friday, May 30th*. (But I'll be honest, if you send them to me after that date, I'll still add them to my post.) You can either leave a link to your post in the comments here or tweet it to me, ( @ramblingfilm )  Thanks everyone! :)  *I had to move the date back a week due to Photobucket threatening me with bandwidth issues. But
Read more