Players Movie Review – Familiar Game Plays
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Mack and her group of friends have different “plays” to score a date at pubs, bars, or wherever it is they are hanging out. They are serial daters who rarely get serious with anybody, but when Mack decides she wants to stop with the flings and woo a successful journalist called Nick, her friends go to hilarious lengths to “trap” nick.
Directed by Trish Sie and written by Whit Anderson, “Players” is a typical romantic comedy, with some fun and raunchy moments, with a very predictable plot, but some of the cast make it entertaining. It’s the kind of flick you can watch with friends, when you don’t want all your attention on the screen, and have the space to speak, laugh and maybe even pause or switch it off entirely.
Gina Rodriguez plays protagonist Mack, a sports reporter, who pursues the elusive, suave, Nick , portrayed by Tom Ellis. So it could be a double treat for those who are fans of both “Jane the Virgin” and “Lucifer”. Damon Wayans Jr., Augustus Prew, and Joel Courtney play Mack’s close friends Adam, Brannagan, and Little, respectively—all of whom are players, going from one fling to another. Augustus Prew and Joel Courtney are convincingly comedic as brothers who hang out together and play each other’s wing-men.
Tom Ellis is an awkward combination of charming and forgettable as war correspondent Nick, an eligible bachelor who doesn’t seem to be very interested in Mack until her friends start helping her with funny little tactics to make him interested. Gina Rodriguez pulls off Mack’s “player” persona with charm; she is clever, confident, and always spouting sporting references when talking with her friends. However, she switches personalities to reel in Nick. It’s funny how all the characters have full-time jobs but seem to have enough time on their hands to make elaborate presentations on Nick’s likes and dislikes to help Mack plan her “play” to win him over. The writers also pack in too many pop culture references that go beyond the point of being relatable or amusing and become boring.
At 1 hour 45 minutes, “Players” is at least fifteen minutes too long, with the kind of climax most viewers can see within the first half hour of the film.
You can stream the film on Netflix.
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