Fair Play

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?"

Whether male or female, who wants a spouse that is going to be your boss at work? The promotion was never the issue. To work in the same department and sharing the same work space and environment was always going to become an issue in their personal lives. To make things worse it was against company policy as well. It will always be difficult for anyone to see your partner having to go to strip clubs as was the case in the movie. The male character could have handled the situation much differently if it was a more realistic real life situation. He should have tried to either get an internal transfer or apply at a different company which would be much better for their future marriage. Otherwise it was always doomed to fail in the long term. I'm sure many couples working together especially where the one is in a superior position to the other find it difficult to separate work from personal lives. It will most likely end in continuous conflict or divorce.

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.

I don't watch many movies nowadays because most of them are simply very bad, I rather stick with the series but this one here did not dissappoint. I wanted to see something longer, without shooting, killing, with some dialogues and I found it. It has good plot, good acting. There are no forced sex scenes, almost no sex at all but there is a good tension between the main characters. Their interaction is very realistic. It is good fun that keeps you watching until the end. Of course it is not a masterpiece but if you want to spend enjoyable evening, maybe with your spouse, I can recommend it to you.