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IMDbPro

Playback

  • 19961996
  • RR
  • 1h 32m
IMDb RATING
4.0/10
455
YOUR RATING
George Hamilton and Shannon Whirry in Playback (1996)
  • Drama
  • Thriller
The marriage of David, a senior executive, and his beautiful wife, Sara, an interior designer, is under great strain because he is in the process of putting together the biggest telecommunic... Read allThe marriage of David, a senior executive, and his beautiful wife, Sara, an interior designer, is under great strain because he is in the process of putting together the biggest telecommunications merger in the history of the business. She suggests that they attend a kinky sex cl... Read allThe marriage of David, a senior executive, and his beautiful wife, Sara, an interior designer, is under great strain because he is in the process of putting together the biggest telecommunications merger in the history of the business. She suggests that they attend a kinky sex club to revitalize their marriage and help him to relax. However, his problems are exacerbat... Read all
IMDb RATING
4.0/10
455
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Oley Sassone
  • Writers
    • David DuBos
    • Oley Sassone
  • Stars
    • Shannon Whirry
    • Tawny Kitaen
    • Charles Grant
Top credits
  • Director
    • Oley Sassone
  • Writers
    • David DuBos
    • Oley Sassone
  • Stars
    • Shannon Whirry
    • Tawny Kitaen
    • Charles Grant
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 6User reviews
    • 3Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos6

    Playback (1996)
    Shannon Whirry in Playback (1996)
    Tawny Kitaen and George Hamilton in Playback (1996)
    Tawny Kitaen in Playback (1996)
    Tawny Kitaen and George Hamilton in Playback (1996)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Shannon Whirry
    Shannon Whirry
    • Karenas Karen
    Tawny Kitaen
    Tawny Kitaen
    • Saraas Sara
    Charles Grant
    • Davidas David
    Harry Dean Stanton
    Harry Dean Stanton
    • Ernieas Ernie
    George Hamilton
    George Hamilton
    • Gil Bramanas Gil Braman
    Quinn Duffy
    Quinn Duffy
    • Robert Milleras Robert Miller
    Jodi Thelen
    Jodi Thelen
    • Maryas Mary
    Scott Williamson
    Scott Williamson
    • Watsonas Watson
    Daryl Keith Roach
    Daryl Keith Roach
    • Franklinas Franklin
    • (as Daryl Roach)
    J. Patrick McCormack
    • Jonesas Jones
    Charmagne Eckert
    • David's secretaryas David's secretary
    Lou Martini Jr.
    Lou Martini Jr.
    • Video store clerkas Video store clerk
    Hitoe Ohtake
    • Dominatrixas Dominatrix
    • (as Hitoe Otake)
    Candy Sherwin
    • Gil's secretaryas Gil's secretary
    Traci Adell
    • Galaxy Club hostas Galaxy Club host
    Gale Van Cott
    • Talk show hostas Talk show host
    Kareen Germain
    Kareen Germain
    • Cherrelleas Cherrelle
    Rick Hanson
    • Cowboy in baras Cowboy in bar
    • Director
      • Oley Sassone
    • Writers
      • David DuBos
      • Oley Sassone
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Playback
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    Storyline

    Edit

    User reviews6

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    Three or four silly thrillers for the price of none
    In erotic, straight-to-video b-movies, the protagonist is often a housewife, and they are always ignored by their business minded husbands.

    In "Playback" the neglected housewife is played by music video girl Tawny Kitaen, she of the heavy auburn hair. The plot is complicated, though, by the presence of softcore goddess Shannon Whirry, who is just as career oriented as the husband she works with, but of course, also manages to have time to seduce him.

    The movie also stars George Hamilton, aka "the tanned one", and Harry Dean Stanton. Before Whirry meets Stanton, she is approached by a young cowboy in a bar, and tells him to "suck my dick". You don't often hear women say that in movies.

    The neglectful husband goes to a strip club with his other empty suit buddies. Strip clubs in movies like this may as well be sideshows of plastic surgery gone awry. There's always at least one woman whose breasts look like they're made out of plaster. Surgeons should go to these places and take notes.

    I appreciate the fact that the neglectful husband in these movies is usually a good man, only neglectful because he is trying to improve his and his wife's lives. When he realises his wife is unsatisfied, he starts trying to change to please her. The wife will often also have a sex crazed best friend who will advise her, as she does here.

    In this one, Shannon Whirry is the bad girl trying to seduce Kitaen's husband and screw him over at work. Harry Dean Stanton is the sleazy private dick who investigates the husband, and discovers his efforts to spice up his marriage, ie. watching the kinds of movies he's currently appearing in.

    Watching Tawny and the husband have sex in a video that Stanton was somehow able to film, Whirry is presumably just trying to dig up dirt on the husband to bump him off the corporate ladder... but becomes turned on and sort of starts to masturbate (they don't go very far with this, for some reason). Whirry then not only wants to take the husband out of commission... she wants to seduce him! And when he demurs, can you guess what happens next?

    "Playback" then, is like three typical softcore/thriller plots in one movie. It's the neglected housewife trying to spice up her marriage. It's the tale of corporate espionage as sexual politics conflict with office politics in the gender integrated modern workplace. AND it's a thriller about a dangerous woman who tries to seduce a man, gets "Scorned" (heh heh), and plots her revenge.

    But the twists don't stop there. "Playback" is, like most straight-to-video softcore thriller b-movies from the '90s, just good, trashy fun. Characters don't behave or respond in any kind of believable way, but so what? That makes it more entertaining as you try to guess what ridiculous thing will happen next. It feels like there was a screenwriting conference where the producers used a pinwheel to dictate how their characters (particularly the husband) would react to his trials and tribulations, and just went from there.

    There's also not that much sex or nudity in it, probably because there's so much plot, and the world hadn't yet happened upon the "Game of Thrones" method of exposition dumps mid-coitus. I also would have swapped Tawny Kitaen and Shannon Whirry's roles. In one scene, Tawny is looking at a glamour mag saying "how am I supposed to compete with that?" Um, did you ever look in the mirror, love? No, not just to check out how good your surgeon is.

    I think Kitaen would have made a better femme fatale than Whirry, who would have made a better neglected, sexy young housewife-next-door.
    helpful•3
    1
    • jadavix
    • Jan 19, 2019

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 29, 1999 (Turkey)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Hindi
    • Also known as
      • Hırs Oyunu
    • Production companies
      • Playboy Entertainment Group
      • Precious Films Inc.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 32 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo

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