Two Can Play That Game (2001)

To me, this movie is perfection.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Come On People, This movie was fun for me. I'm not for girlie movies but Vivica Fox happens to be one of my favourite Black Actresses and she "SHONE" in this simple but classy role!For the brothers out there dissing her, don't you wish you were the one slamming your girlfriend on your desk during lunch. She did what some smart women don't do, she planned and we(hate)her for being that smart.Hey the babe didn't want to lose and her boyfriend was beginning to cheat on her, when you've got it all like THAT!! what more do you need? like Shante says men are like dogs, "you need to leash them" and her boyfriend proves her right.Remember nice girls & boyz finish last.Shante went overboard in her planning but in real life, her boyfriend when they get back together would respect her for it!! All of us guys like a woman who knows what she is doing and who can work around us so all we really have to is bring home the bacon.Well! Wake Up Y'all!!!This movies sizzles with excellent chemistry, laidback humor and on the spot comic delivery.Fox, Chestnut and Anthony Anderson deliver standout performances !!! Not Oscar worthy but classic and enduring.I'll be watching this movie 10 years from now and still having a swell time. 7/10...

Just wanted to say that I think that a lot of viewers are really hard on this fun romp between African-American Professionals. You see, if you don't like it, you probably can't relate to relationships, or African-Americans. If you are African-American and you don't like it, well, all I can say is that you must be young. Anyone over the age of 35, would probably enjoy this light-hearted matching of wits between Shante'(Vivica Fox) and Keith (Morris Chestnut). The reason that age comes into view, is because growing up in the 60's, there were plenty of light-hearted romance comedies to enjoy. With one exception. You didn't see African-Americans in those movies. In the 70's, people like Richard Pryor provided us with plenty of funny movies, along with Veteran's such as Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. Romance comedies never quite made an impact within our community. And the love stories that did make it, such as "Melinda" starring Richard Roundtree and Vonette McGee, were dubbed blaxploitation movies and not given the exposure that movies garner today. I enjoy African-American films that are light-hearted, because the urban experience is often depicted as violent, drug-related, and unintelligent. We have plenty of movies for our children to see that offer no intelligent plot, and continue to perpuate stereotypes that we have been trying to tear down forever. Seeing African-American professionals deal with some of the challenges of nurturing a relationship in the 2000's was a lot of fun. That is, if you are looking for a little break from the shoot 'em up, drug-smoking, genre's. Women do have a tendency to expect certain things from men, and vice versa. Any game can be taken too far, which is what the movie depicts. No, it couldn't and should not have been an "Academy Award Nominee" by no stretch of the imagination, but it is highly entertaining and does have it's comedic moments. When movies are being made with names like Dumb and Dumber, and How High? I think I'll keep my viewing priorities straight and preference a movie like this over them.

Here's a romantic comedy that doesn't devolve into utter stupidity or becomed mired in inanity. It moves along at a nice pace, and though it's basically a silly movie, that's entirely forgivable since it never takes itself seriously. The plot line is wafer thin in that it tracks the breakup of two affluent African Americans, but what is very funny is the strategizing back and forth; Vivica Fox of course has, or thinks she has, all the right steps in playing this game, but Anthony Anderson as the adviser to Fox's boyfriend, helps him counter a number of her moves. The fact that Fox's character speaks directly to the character works as a plot device, it moves things along and really gives insights into the character that, inasmuch as she is always scheming whether with her boyfriends or girlfriends, is the only way we'd get that info. The fact that this is a "black" movie is almost entirely irrelevant--there are a couple of scenes where Anderson and Chestnut are going back and forth with terms like "preach it" from what sounds like a black church meeting, but that just adds to the charm, it avoids all those awful ghetto cliches that seem to infuse Martin Lawrence style movies. The movie is kind of a female version of a terrible Eddie Murphy vehicle from a decade ago called "Boomerang" about a womanizing ad executive, who has certain tactics when dealing with women. But it avoids the nasty aspects and plain stupidity of that movie. This one isn't going to win any awards, but its a pleasant time, and everyone knows how what's going to happen in the end, the fun is watching the two go back and forth with their silly tactics--one of the funnier scenes involves some half baked philosophizing about "transferrence of energy." This one is worth the time.

Two Can Play That Game Morris Chestnut/Vivica A. Fox/Anthony AndersonI recently rented this disappointing movie from first time writer/director Mark Brown. I make it a general practice to rent on DVD. Once watching the movie, I then review the Director's commentary. I couldn't get through the second scene of the commentary. Mr. Brown is definitely new to the game of film making.While the movie was well casted, Morris Chestnut, Anthony Anderson, Monique, Bobby Brown, Gabriella Union (who was miss-casted) and others, Anthony Anderson saved the movie. Keith (Morris Chestnut) is a successful Attorney and Anthony Anderson is his colleague and friend. Anthony's character coaches Keith in dealing with a `smarter than the average woman'.The idea of a trimmed down and toned Vivica A. Fox speaking directly into the camera throughout the entire movie, turned me off. While the idea of this successful Black woman, living large and in charge, the epitome of respect from her girlfriends is appealing – the character falls real short. She spends the entire movie giving advice as if it came from that stupid book, `The Rules' yet at the end (when she realizes the big plan may have backfired - she flips the script and punks out) To be honest I was very disappointed with the ending.Mr. Brown's vision was to show the games we play in love. The games played in this movie are some of the oldest tricks in the book and ones I would think a professional woman wouldn't need to play. A disappointing first effort by Mr. Brown. I can say this much, it was much better than `How To Be a Player'.