Fair Play

This was so much better than I expected. It's the kind of movie that you watch and hope it's good then you can't stop as it gets more intense and more intense with each scene. Makes me feel relieved to be over 50 and passed the grinding stage of life.

You don't want to relate, but you somehow do. In particular, I like how it ended. To me, the ending is very important and never do I ever want to be left, hanging and with questions. Phoebe Dynevor carried the movie and although I've noticed her, now I will have to watch for her. Great actress. Alden Ehreneich, although I never warmed to him, has proven to be a good one. Guess it all depends on the roles you land. Watch it. You won't regret it.

I saw Fair Play at Sundance 2023 in a crowd of cinema enthusiasts, making the theater experience electric and engaging! While Fair Play isn't my typical movie taste, it was exceptionally well done, with tension and stress building consistently from start to finish and exploding into all-out insanity and paranoia in the film's final act. My heart was pounding as the selfishness and jealousy of these characters devolved into pure hatred and disdain. Once the credits rolled, I finally felt like I could breathe for the first time in an hour! Domont did so much with so little, mastering suspense and keeping the audience on edge. With such arrogant and self-centered characters, it is hard to "enjoy" the film and the sexual content was unnecessary, but the craft and skill are undeniable, and it's no surprise why it was so well received at Sundance and scooped up so quickly by Netflix.

7.9 stars.

Long time since I've seen a movie quite like this. There are a lot of psychological thrillers out there, but very few pull off this genre as effectively as 'Fair Play'.

These are some actors I'm not very familiar with, although his role as Han Solo was noteworthy, even though I didn't totally love that movie. I see she's in Bridgerton and I watched several episodes.

What totally caught me off guard was how methodically this film escalates to the inevitable destruction of two previously beautiful and intelligent lovers. No momentum is lost as it builds and builds at a steady and thrilling pace until they implode. What is truly chilling - this is a plausible outcome given the right circumstances. Take an underachiever coupled with someone out of their league, mix in a little crazy and you've stumbled on the narrative of 'Fair Play'. I've seen situations like this with my own relatives when they had a few too many (if you know what I mean) and this couple has a few too many throughout this story. I don't believe the director or writers even realize fully what they are presenting to us. Take the wealth, prestige, good looks, charm, and too much fire water, and you have the perfect set of circumstances, leading to the demise of two talented and lovely young adults.

This thriller is all about emasculation and lack of confidence in an otherwise normal and down-to-earth guy. In all respects, she is well adjusted, he is not, and this disconnect is the root of their dismantling. As the couple spirals even further into chaos, you might be surprised at how the story ends. The final scene is absolutely brilliant.

First of all, it's incredibly distracting that it's NOT actually filmed in NYC but in Serbia. I literally had to pause the movie and look up the filming location within the first 10 minutes or so, because the entire "feel" of the movie was NOT New York, and I wondered, "Are they supposed to be living somewhere overseas? But everyone has American accents..." It's amazing how unique NYC's entire energy is, that you can't really copy it by filming elsewhere. So, the whole film had an otherworldly feel to it, and that bugged me.

On to the plot: I was engaged for the most part, and wanted to see what was going to happen. The acting was good. By the time we got to the final scene, though, I was just underwhelmed. It needed a twist, or it needed to have gone much, much deeper into the characters' inner lives. It was kind of like a cross between a character-driven film and a plot-driven film, but neither of those was strong enough to give it the "oomph" it needed to make it a great film.

I read someone's review that they said the ending was what every power woman dreams of or something. What?? No. I'm a woman who is successful career-wise, and I don't relate to the female lead character at all (okay, maybe a little bit professionally, but not in her relationship with her fiancee). In fact, I would have just dumped the guy after he started pouting incessantly due to my promotion. I couldn't understand why the character wasted her time with him, and I found it tedious.

That character is also annoyingly terrible at communicating with her mother. The way she lets herself be led around by her is BEYOND annoying. I'm in my 50s and I wouldn't have ever let my mother do what her mother did... (hint: call off the unasked-for party like a grown-up!). How would a younger woman in today's world let that kind of 1950s behavior go on? It just doesn't make sense.

Overall, the movie was still entertaining. A decent effort and not a total waste of time. But it could have been SO much more, and left me kind of wondering, "What was the point of this movie?"

I based my rating primarily on the good acting. I felt the actors were quite convincing, and most of the supporting roles were also decent. No doubt this is higher than average quality in filmmaking. And as much as I wanted to become emotionally invested, I just couldn't. Some of the behavior with the two main characters was off putting. The back and forth which I thought might create a nice push and pull dynamic, became frustrating for the viewer. And unfortunately the ending seemed more rushed than well-planned. Would I recommend? Yeah, for a run of the mill movie, but will I watch it again? Sorry no.