No movie genre has lost its footing as much as the rom-com. Every so often there are hints that audiences are still interested, even if the film is middling. Exhibit A: “Anyone But You,” starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, is a hit, grossing $154 million at the box office since its release in late December.
“In theaters” still has some cache, it seems, catering to moviegoers looking for something that’s not too mentally taxing but not a bombastic blockbuster either. For whatever reason, Netflix remains stubbornly opposed to giving most of its films a theatrical run. But with the right kind of marketing push, “Players” probably could have drawn people out to the cineplex in sizable numbers.
Instead, it will be a streaming-only affair destined to be lost in the shuffle with so many of Netflix’s other original movies. That’s a shame, because “Players” is a perfectly fine — occasionally better-than-fine — romantic comedy starring well-known TV actors who know their way around this kind of material. It’s light and bouncy. There’s plenty to like here.
Gina Rodriguez plays a sports writer in New York named Mack (short for Mackenzie). Too often, women in rom-coms are plagued with self-doubt and worries that they haven’t achieved enough, personally or professionally. That’s not Mack. She’s confident in an appealing way and Rodriguez has a lot of fun playing that confidence. Mack’s friends are the guys from work, including Adam, played by Damon Wayans Jr.
Because they’re all single, when they go out at night, they help one another run “plays,” aka invented scenarios to make them seem more appealing to a potential hookup they’ve just met. But when Mack sets her sights on a fellow journalist — a dashing war correspondent with a British accent played with just the right amount of empty charm by Tom Ellis — she needs her friends to step up their game. She’s not looking for a one-nighter this time, she wants a drawer. A what, they ask? A drawer, you dummies: “I want him to empty out a drawer so I can put my stuff in it.”
They coordinate their strategy with charts and binders filled with dossiers: Mack will “randomly” run into the guy several times until eventually it dawns on him that they should go on a proper date. You have his jogging routes mapped and timed, she asks? “Page 14, Figures 2a and b,” comes the reply.
We see the plan unfold, step by step, like a heist movie. It’s a sharp, winking stylistic choice from screenwriter Whit Anderson (whose credits include “Ozark” and “Daredevil”) and director Trish Sie (“Pitch Perfect 3”) that keeps things intriguing as the story works its way through its reliable trope: The real Mr. Right was in front of her all along.
Rodrigues is playing a journalist yet again (she currently stars as an obit writer on the ABC comedy “Not Dead Yet”), but she’s doing something far more interesting here and that mainly comes down to delivery. A lot of the dialogue is flat, but Rodriguez gives it just enough zing to make the moment work as comedy. There’s real skill in that. I laughed despite myself! That’s also true of the ensemble — including Joel Courtney, Liza Koshy and Augustus Prew — who more or less operate at Mack’s pit crew. I wish Wayans was given a little more to do, but he’s a consistent presence that gives some ballast to the hijinks transpiring around him. And I appreciate that the script at least acknowledges layoffs are a regular part of the journalist’s profession these days.
There’s no reason why movies like “27 Dresses” or “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” should live on in our pop cultural memory, while a movie like “Players” surely will not — except for external factors. Namely, the kind of full-force marketing push that once boosted the former is noticeably absent for the latter.
For decades, movie theaters offered a variety of offerings because that’s what audiences wanted. Audiences still want that, I believe, but we aren’t getting it because streaming has radically shifted what was an already destabilized business model.
As a result, certain techniques have become a lost art. Done right, a movie’s final moments can unexpectedly manipulate audiences into feeling more emotion that the story actually warrants. That’s especially true for rom-coms. So what happened to endings with a crane shot of the leads heading off into the proverbial sunset while the credits roll over a song from Randy Newman or Chaka Khan? Lackluster endings have become the norm and “Players” doesn’t escape this fate.
But most of what comes before qualifies as a halfway decent night (at home) at the movies.
“Players” — 2.5 stars (out of 4)
Where to watch: Netflix
Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.
