Players Review: When Friends With Benefits Isn’t Enough

Players delivers a classic romantic comedy premise with a modern twist. We follow Mack, a bold and vivacious sports writer, and her three best guy friends as they cruise New York City bars running elaborate “plays” to hook up with unsuspecting targets. Essentially, they scam people into one-night stands. While their elaborate ruses elicit laughs at first, we soon see the emptiness of their casual hookup culture and root for them to transition to real relationships.

When a dashing war journalist named Nick joins their office, serial dater Mack decides she’s finally ready to get serious and sets her sights on him. Enlisting her childhood buddies to help orchestrate “meet cutes,” Mack embarks on a messy journey from manipulating Nick into her bed to genuinely winning his heart. Along the way, she neglects her loyal, soft-spoken best friend Adam, who clearly cares for her as more than a friend.

As Mack stretches herself thin trying to balance work, friends, her past baggage, and securing Nick’s affection, she just might discover what she truly needs has been right in front of her all along. Anchored by Gina Rodriguez’s infectious charm and palpable chemistry with co-stars Damon Wayans Jr. and Augustus Prew, Players blends raunchy humor with thoughtful commentary on just how hard it is to transition from hookups to commitment.

Cast Chemistry Carries the Hijinks

While the plot may follow a pretty predictable rom-com formula, the stellar cast and their infectious rapport elevate the material. Leading the squad is Gina Rodriguez, who leverages her signature pluck and magnetism to make serial schemer Mack both hilarious and sympathetic. Even as Mack treats men like sports plays to strategize and score, we root for Rodriguez’s dimensional portrayal of a woman terrified of real emotional intimacy.

Matched in charisma by Damon Wayans Jr., whose hangdog looks and deadpan quips perfectly counterbalance Rodriguez’s manic energy, the duo share a lived-in buddy chemistry. Their scenes crackle with hilarious back-and-forth ribbing, betraying just a hint of mutual pining that keeps us invested. Relative newcomer Augustus Prew nearly steals the show as lothario Brannagan, nailing boneheaded bravado and dumb luck in seducing women despite minimal charm. Rounding out the friend group, Joel Courtney’s shy and sarcastic Little provides well-timed levity, especially when sparring with his cocky brother.

Beyond the leading quartet, supporting players like Liza Koshy as the newspaper crew’s bubbly Girl Friday give amusing performances greater than their limited screen time. While Scottish heartthrob Tom Ellis is intentionally underwritten as a dubious romantic prize for Mack, he exudes enough casual arrogance to make her misguided infatuation convincing.

Of course, no buddy comedy clicks without tight editing to nail the joke timing. Luckily, Players moves along at a brisk clip thanks to sharp direction from Trish Sie and snappy interplay edited by Kathryn Himoff. The running gags involving the gang’s inane hockey-inspired hookup play names and their behind-the-scenes stalking antics to orchestrate “chance” run-ins with Nick keep the film’s situational humor fresh. We come for Gina Rodriguez’s star power but stay for the affable ensemble keeping the questionable hijinks likable through sheer talent alone.

Formulaic Storytelling and Unlikable Leads

While the effervescent cast adds fizz, they can’t fully mask some fundamental flaws in Players’ formulaic story and questionable characters. Fans of classic rom-coms like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Hitch may experience déjà vu watching yet another tale of a brash, serial-dating female protagonist finding a clue and getting her comeuppance. Players doesn’t bring much novelty to the “players get played” concept. From Mack’s meet-cute with Nick to her final emotional epiphany about what love means, experienced genre viewers will spot the beats a mile away.

What feels less familiar and frankly uncomfortable is being asked to root for not just one, but four unrepentant manipulators using outright lies to trick strangers into sex. The film tries waving away the ethical ramifications of the lead quartet’s elaborate hookup schemes, but their willful duplicity is tough to embrace. Especially when the plot minimizes holding them accountable. Only Adam somewhat questions the damage they may cause.

While backstories hint at emotional wounds driving the leads’ exploitative behavior, the film doesn’t dig deeper into unpacking their sympathetic motivations. Brannagan and Little remain comic relief sidekicks without inner lives. So when abrupt third act pivots force Adam and Brannagan into their own fledgling relationships, it rings hollow because we know so little about them beyond their player personas.

Most disappointingly, Tom Ellis feels stranded in an underwritten role as Mack’s arbitrary Mr. Right Now. We spend more time watching her friends Pull the Strings to manipulate Nick than seeing Mack sincerely connect with him. It’s tough to invest in their future when Nick serves more as a human MacGuffin keeping the real couple apart than a grounded love interest. For all its modern sheen, Players rarely manages to subvert or reinvigorate the well-worn tropes of the genre.

Examining the High Cost of Swiping Right

Beyond eliciting laughs at the leads’ outlandish scheming, Players also offers thoughtful commentary on modern dating culture. It explores the empty hooks-ups of apps like Tinder through analog “plays” weaponizing dishonesty to use people and discard them. Initially played for humor, we come to see the collateral damage of these careless games as the leads struggle to be vulnerable outside the roles of “player” or “target”.

Mack pursues Nick as her ticket to a glossy, Instagram-worthy relationship. But we see her try so hard to be what she thinks Nick wants, that she loses her vibrant, honest self in the process. She takes her friends for granted and questions her own worth when Nick doesn’t commit quickly enough for her scripted romance timeline.

In the end, Mack must learn that real relationships take patience, compassion, and viewing your partner as a complete human rather than a trophy. She chooses to focus less on “winning the game” and more on nurturing an intimate bond where she can be fully herself.

Similarly, serial bachelor Adam discovers that his own fear of getting hurt caused him to adopt a player persona as armor against real connection. By dropping their respective acts and guises, both friends become open to a deeper relationship built on genuine care rather than games.

While often played in a flip, blithe tone, these resonant themes about valuing self-knowledge, honesty and emotional courage in navigating modern courtship add heft to the film’s frothy fun. Players suggests that in romance, as in sports, the strongest victories come when we stop playing around.

Middling Direction and Editing

While a talented cast punches up thin material through sheer magnetism, Players is ultimately hobbled by workmanlike direction and editing that fail to maximize the situational comedy. Director Trish Sie struggles to calibrate the right tempo, letting some scenes drag while abruptly clipping others. The pacing feels herky-jerky as a result.

We’re treated to one too many indistinguishable montages of the squad gearing up for missions set to bland Top 40 hits rather than skillfully crafted set pieces. The flat, sitcom-esque cinematography does the vibrant NYC settings and attractive leads no favors. And for all the choreographer-turned-director’s pedigree, the physical comedy also falls curiously flat in both staging and editing.

One expects a film centered around elaborate hookup hijinks to deliver some raunchy laughs. But the direction plays scenes oddly safe, missing opportunities to punch up the outlandish premise through well-timed reaction shots or tight edits heightening cringe humor.

While leads Gina Rodriguez and Damon Wayans Jr. valiantly labor to sell the workplace banter and friends-to-lovers tension, the surface-level filmmaking fails to provide enough zip to boost their combined star wattage. Giving into rom-com cliches without the directorial flair to freshen them up, Players’ execution can’t match its promising cast. The technical play calling could stand to raise its game.

Charming Stars Sell a Formulaic Rom-Dram

Players may work from well-worn rom-com blueprints in crafting the story of a brash, scheming flirt reformed by love. But what elevates this formulaic film into a reasonably charming Valentine’s romp rests solely on the magnetism of lead Gina Rodriguez and her devoted co-stars. Through sheer force of will, they make us care about an unrepentant man-eater and her band of himbo friends despite eye-rolling antics.

Bolstered by the cast’s camaraderie, snappy banter, and some laugh-out-loud hookup schemes, Players entertains as a lightweight examination of just how hard it is to transition from swiping to serious commitment. If you can move past problematic pop feminism messaging that strong women manipulate men (when ethical seductions like 10 Things I Hate About You handled similar themes with more nuance), there are still insightful relationship themes to unpack. It may not break new ground, but fans of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days will likely enjoy this gender-flipped spiritual successor.

I can’t fully endorse caring about characters this callous. Yet fueled by Rodriguez and Wayans Jr.’s soulful turns as stranded singles terrified of genuine intimacy, I still hoped for the leads to stop playing games, get out of their own way and find fulfilling relationships. Genre devotees seeking pure Valentine’s Day escapism could do a lot worse than taking a chance on these supposed Players.

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