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Two Can Play That Game
Columbia/Tri-Star // R // December 26, 2001
List Price: $27.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
"Two Can Play That Game" is an example of sitcom material taken slightly above that average level by actors who play the material with strong comedic timing. The film is lead by a terrific performance from Vivica A. Fox, who has shown herself to be a superb actress in the past, but really has great timing here. Fox plays Shante, a high-powered ad executive who talks to the camera throughout the movie, letting us in on her thoughts on the situation between not only her and her boyfriend (Morris Chestnut), but her and her friends.
The whole "talking to the camera" thing could have gone horribly, but it's the way that Fox hits the lines that really make these some of the film's best moments. She takes the dialogue and runs with it. When Shante catches Keith (Chestnut) dancing with another woman, she decides it's time to teach him a lesson. She starts up a 10-day program to make sure that he'll never do it again. Meanwhile, he finds himself getting not-so-great advice from a co-worker (Anthony Anderson of "Me, Myself and Irene").
While the film coasts along fairly well on the performances of its leads, one would've hoped for a bit more from the writing. There's not much depth to the characters and we really don't get to know them that well. The dialogue varies between somewhat insightful and intelligent to raunchy and back again. Some of the jokes work quite well, while others fall flat. The film isn't anything that hasn't been done before.
Complaints aside, there are some fun moments throughout and the performances are lively. It's not outstanding, but it's better than I'd expected.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Two Can Play That Game" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and pan & scan on this DVD edition from Columbia/Tristar. Both are located on the same side of a dual-layer disc and are accessable from the opening menu. The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen edition is generally pleasant, but some minor flaws didn't escape my notice. Cinematography by Alexander Gruszynski ("The Brothers", "54") captures the attractive Los Angeles locations nicely and the majority of the DVD's presentation represented this work quite well. Sharpness and detail are fine; the picture looked crisp and nicely well-defined.
Flaws were minor, but again, still were noticable. Light edge enhancement was visible on occasion during the film and became a bit distracting once or twice. A few slight traces of pixelation were also seen very briefly, but were not too irritating. Unfortunately, print flaws appeared, as well. Although not a terrible amount, specks and some minor marks appeared at a rate more frequent than I'd expected for a movie that came out a couple of months ago. Some minor grain and noise also showed up.
Colors throughout the movie looked warm, rich and well-saturated. Flesh tones also appeared natural and accurate, as well. Not flawless, but a nice transfer nonetheless. Subtitles in Chines, Korean, Thai, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese.
SOUND: "Two Can Play That Game" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. Given the fact that it's largely a dialogue-driven picture, the fact that the film's audio sticks rather firmly in the front speakers is to be expected. The rap/r&b music is the only element of the audio that opens things up a bit, filling the front speakers nicely and occasionally being reinforced by the rears. Audio quality was fine, as the music sounded rich and bassy, while dialogue came through clearly.
MENUS:: Animated main menu, nicely integrating music and images from the movie.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Mark Brown. The track is generally informative and low-key, as Brown discusses his nervousness while working on his first major feature, as well as what it was like to work with the cast. His other comments generally focus on other elements like locations, writing the comedy and stories about what happened on the track. It's a bit of a mixed bag at times, with some minor slow points and quiet spots, but those interested in the movie might want to check it out.
Two Can Play That Game: This is a seventeen minute and 42 second documentary that appears like it was taken from a low-budget video source. While some of the interviews are funny, there's a bit too much discussion of the story and a lot of clips from the film pad out the running time.
Also: Two additional featurettes, First Time At Bat and Vivica A. Fox Makes Her Move are also included. The first is fairly interesting, as although there's a lot of footage of the stars discussing how much they enjoyed working with the first time director, there's some interesting insights from the director himself, both about writing and directing. This featurette runs a little over 10 minutes. The second featurette revolving around Fox is a nearly eight minute featurette, offering interviews with Fox, who chats about her fifteen year career and what she feels about this film, her first starring role. Both featurettes are basically interesting - something fans of the film might want to watch once, but probably not more than that.
Music Video: "Nothing In This World", by Keke Wyatt, featuring Avant.
Also: Filmographies and trailers for "Baby Boy", "The Brothers" and "Two Can Play That Game".
Final Thoughts: "Two Can Play That Game" isn't great, but it's fun and better than I'd expected. Those interested might want to check it out as a rental. Columbia/Tristar's DVD offers slightly above average audio/video as well as a group of decent supplements.
"Two Can Play That Game" is an example of sitcom material taken slightly above that average level by actors who play the material with strong comedic timing. The film is lead by a terrific performance from Vivica A. Fox, who has shown herself to be a superb actress in the past, but really has great timing here. Fox plays Shante, a high-powered ad executive who talks to the camera throughout the movie, letting us in on her thoughts on the situation between not only her and her boyfriend (Morris Chestnut), but her and her friends.
The whole "talking to the camera" thing could have gone horribly, but it's the way that Fox hits the lines that really make these some of the film's best moments. She takes the dialogue and runs with it. When Shante catches Keith (Chestnut) dancing with another woman, she decides it's time to teach him a lesson. She starts up a 10-day program to make sure that he'll never do it again. Meanwhile, he finds himself getting not-so-great advice from a co-worker (Anthony Anderson of "Me, Myself and Irene").
While the film coasts along fairly well on the performances of its leads, one would've hoped for a bit more from the writing. There's not much depth to the characters and we really don't get to know them that well. The dialogue varies between somewhat insightful and intelligent to raunchy and back again. Some of the jokes work quite well, while others fall flat. The film isn't anything that hasn't been done before.
Complaints aside, there are some fun moments throughout and the performances are lively. It's not outstanding, but it's better than I'd expected.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Two Can Play That Game" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and pan & scan on this DVD edition from Columbia/Tristar. Both are located on the same side of a dual-layer disc and are accessable from the opening menu. The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen edition is generally pleasant, but some minor flaws didn't escape my notice. Cinematography by Alexander Gruszynski ("The Brothers", "54") captures the attractive Los Angeles locations nicely and the majority of the DVD's presentation represented this work quite well. Sharpness and detail are fine; the picture looked crisp and nicely well-defined.
Flaws were minor, but again, still were noticable. Light edge enhancement was visible on occasion during the film and became a bit distracting once or twice. A few slight traces of pixelation were also seen very briefly, but were not too irritating. Unfortunately, print flaws appeared, as well. Although not a terrible amount, specks and some minor marks appeared at a rate more frequent than I'd expected for a movie that came out a couple of months ago. Some minor grain and noise also showed up.
Colors throughout the movie looked warm, rich and well-saturated. Flesh tones also appeared natural and accurate, as well. Not flawless, but a nice transfer nonetheless. Subtitles in Chines, Korean, Thai, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese.
SOUND: "Two Can Play That Game" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. Given the fact that it's largely a dialogue-driven picture, the fact that the film's audio sticks rather firmly in the front speakers is to be expected. The rap/r&b music is the only element of the audio that opens things up a bit, filling the front speakers nicely and occasionally being reinforced by the rears. Audio quality was fine, as the music sounded rich and bassy, while dialogue came through clearly.
MENUS:: Animated main menu, nicely integrating music and images from the movie.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Mark Brown. The track is generally informative and low-key, as Brown discusses his nervousness while working on his first major feature, as well as what it was like to work with the cast. His other comments generally focus on other elements like locations, writing the comedy and stories about what happened on the track. It's a bit of a mixed bag at times, with some minor slow points and quiet spots, but those interested in the movie might want to check it out.
Two Can Play That Game: This is a seventeen minute and 42 second documentary that appears like it was taken from a low-budget video source. While some of the interviews are funny, there's a bit too much discussion of the story and a lot of clips from the film pad out the running time.
Also: Two additional featurettes, First Time At Bat and Vivica A. Fox Makes Her Move are also included. The first is fairly interesting, as although there's a lot of footage of the stars discussing how much they enjoyed working with the first time director, there's some interesting insights from the director himself, both about writing and directing. This featurette runs a little over 10 minutes. The second featurette revolving around Fox is a nearly eight minute featurette, offering interviews with Fox, who chats about her fifteen year career and what she feels about this film, her first starring role. Both featurettes are basically interesting - something fans of the film might want to watch once, but probably not more than that.
Music Video: "Nothing In This World", by Keke Wyatt, featuring Avant.
Also: Filmographies and trailers for "Baby Boy", "The Brothers" and "Two Can Play That Game".
Final Thoughts: "Two Can Play That Game" isn't great, but it's fun and better than I'd expected. Those interested might want to check it out as a rental. Columbia/Tristar's DVD offers slightly above average audio/video as well as a group of decent supplements.
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