Playing It Cool

5/10 - a deeply average romance regardless of the occasional heartfelt moment

there are two movies that almost run parallel with each other with obvious identical similarity, this 'playing it cool' is almost like the other most pathetically boring 'lovesick'. i really don't know if these screenplay writers are just roommates renting the same apartment together, or they are just renters next to each other, or on the same floor. but these two screenplays are just as bored as each other, and the difference is so little, only the storyline shuffled a little bit. but obviously, the budget of 'playing it cool' is several times bigger than the 'lovesick', less roles, compensated by mucho kids players instead. but both so-called 'romantic comedy' turned out to be so boring, so exaggerated, so pretentious, and so contrite, and both should never be approved to be produced. the investors of these two movies should have give their money to the charities, at least the money won't be wasted like this.

There's lots to like here. The two leads are good enough, The gang of friends offer a little light relief and the script is quite funny in parts.

However, it lacks that 'spark' that should push it over the top and join the other storied examples of the genre like, 'When Harry Met Sally,' or 'Sleepless In Seattle'.

The problem is that it only tells the story from side of the relationship. It tells us nothing about the girl, and why, strangely, that she is in a relationship herself.

The audience as @ result feel no great empathy toward either of our lovers. One is a cheater and the other doesn't believe in love.

Watchable but nothing more.

A Hollywood screenwriter (Chris Evans) is assigned to write a rom-com. The problem is that he wants to write action and has never been in love. Being abandoned by his mother at an early age has left him commitment phobic. His group of writer friends include Mallory (Aubrey Plaza), Lyle (Martin Starr), Samson (Luke Wilson), and Scott (Topher Grace). It's love at first sight when he meets a woman (Michelle Monaghan) at a charity event except she already has a boyfriend.

Writers Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair also wrote Chris Evans' directorial debut. So it's not a shock to see Evans involved in this one and he probably brought along all these friends of his. The premise has limited bite and even less originality. There's nothing new here. Plaza does have great fun playing the wackiest of the group. The romantic couple is saved by Evans' inherit personal charms. I love Monaghan but she's not better than peak Meg Ryan. There's even a diner scene but this movie is nowhere near the icon. Other problems include the use of the lead characters in the imagined stories. They are obviously trying hard to be magically charming but all they do is to leave the movie in neutral. They lack anything interesting to justify taking a break from the plot such as there is one. Generally, this is a bland rom-com with one or two funny side characters.

We won't even know their names. "Me" (the Narrator) is a movie scriptwriter who gets assigned to write a script for a rom-com. He does not exactly have an easy time writing this since he has not really been in love. Then one day, our reluctant romantic meets "Her", the ideal girl of his dreams. However, she happened to be already engaged to a "Stuffy" guy. With his circle of friends around him giving him "sage" advice, will our Narrator get his script written. and win Her over in the end?

The script of "Playing It Cool" by Chris Schafer and Paul Vicknair is smart and witty as modern rom-coms go, chock-full of nuggets of armchair "wisdom" about the relationship between men and women. Under its original title of "A Many Splintered Thing," this script actually found itself into the Black List, a yearly survey of the "most liked" (though not necessarily "best") motion picture screenplays not yet produced. Other famous graduates of this Black List were "Slumdog Millionaire," "The King's Speech," "Argo," and "American Hustle." Admittedly, this one is not exactly at those levels though.

"Me" was played by Chris Evans, whom I have not seen as a regular guy on screen for a long time since he began donning superhero costumes. After seeing him in all these major action films, it took a while to get used to seeing him playing an ordinary lovestruck guy. He gets to wear various costumes as his imagination runs with various characters, including a female one. He was actually quite good as this charmingly unsure character, sweet-talking not only to his co-star, but also to his female fans in the audience.

"Her" was played by the very attractive Michelle Monaghan, whom I only remember as the female love interest in action films like "Mission: Impossible 3" and "Source Code". This girl really has an arresting presence, you would not wonder why Evan's character falls hard for her. The two of them look good together and have a smart chemistry between them that makes this screen romance work.

The supporting actors (Topher Grace, Aubrey Plaza, Luke Wilson) playing the Narrator's unconventional writer friends add a lot of color in the story as they discuss his love problem from different points of view. Evans was actually reunited with his a couple of his fellow Marvel superhero buddies here. "Mr. Fantastic" Ioan Gruffudd was funny as he plays Her's fiancée Stuffy. "Falcon" Anthony Mackie was sleazy as he plays Bryan, the Narrator's manager with a thing for Malaysian women. Matthew Morrison and Ashley Tisdale have cameos as the actors in the rom-com Evans was trying to finish.

In his full-length feature film debut as director, Justin Reardon was fortunate to have gathered an impressive cast of young actors to bring the crackling script to life. It is still a rom-com though, not exactly my thing, but this is not bad. It still follows the same basic formula though that we have seen time and again. However, there was interesting storytelling technique, crisp cinematography, snappy dialogue, and quirky visuals to keep audiences' attention up to that final romp across San Francisco at the end. 6/10.