‘Players’ Movie Review: Appealing Cast Makes Hook-Up Comedy Hard To Hate
Photo from Netflix
From Jeremy Kibler
When you get right down to it, Players is a romantic comedy about scheming liars — not unlike How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days or Failure to Launch. When taken as a lightly entertaining heist movie, it actually gets away with us not hating these players, even if their games are borderline-sociopathic. Making a difference is that first-time writer Whit Andersen and director Trish Sie (Sitting in Bars with Cake) are blessed with the appealing likes of Gina Rodriguez, Damon Wayans Jr., Augustus Prew, Joel Courtney, and Liza Koshy.
Rodriguez is so magnetic and charismatic as ever in playing Mack, a thirtysomething New York sports writer at a dying newspaper, The Brooklyn Ace. When she isn’t covering pingpong and turtle racing, she masterminds “plays” to scheme her way into bed with people she meets in bars. Mack doesn’t do this alone but with longtime colleague/friend Adam (Wayans Jr.), the paper’s visuals editor, as well as bisexual obituarist Brannagan (Prew) and his unemployed little brother Ryan (Courtney), whom they do all call “Little.”
Mack is the first to realize that she’s tired of all of the one-night stands and may actually want a mature relationship with another adult. Enter hot eligible bachelor Nick Russel (Tom Ellis), a reputable reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist who’s working on his new book and happens to know Mack, Adam, and Brannagan’s boss. Can Mack parlay a hookup with Nick into something more?
On the page, no one would seem like a catch. It’s even surprising that these guys do find time to sometimes talk about more than just the mechanics of dating. For characters who spend their free time devising games to sleep with other people, it helps that these players are played by innately likable actors who make good company. Besides Gina Rodriguez being the definition of effervescence, Damon Wayans Jr. is a charmer, and Augustus Prew and Joel Courtney are amusing in rounding out the gregarious friend group. Social-media personality turned actress Liza Koshy is also a ball of energy as Ashley, a secretary at the paper who becomes a cog in Mack’s plays. Even though her live-wire character only really serves Mack and company, Koshy commits to every bit, showcasing her facially expressive shtick and knack for physical comedy.
Players doesn’t really pretend that it’s trying to rewrite the romantic-comedy game with an unpredictable outcome. At the same time, there’s never really any tension (except at a philanthropic gala where Nick Russel is being recognized) in how all of this will go. One would have to be as blind as Mack and Adam to not see that they love each other. We won’t hold it against them, though, because when a programmed formula works—and the chemistry is there—it’s hard to mind too much. Rodriguez, in particular, sells a lovely declaration of love in the field of the old Yankee Stadium (a setting that actually means something to her).
Despite everything shaking out pretty traditionally, this is an agreeably snappy, easy-going diversion where you can forgive the game because you like the players.
Rating: 3/5
Players hits Netflix on February 14, 2024.
