Players, directed by Trish Sie, is the kind of romantic comedy that wears the conventions of its genre proudly. It’s not reaching for unique twists or spectacular splashes. It’s not trying to reinvent, reimagine or re-do anything about the pursuit of love. No, it’s trying to win you over with the basics: attractive leads with chemistry, a bit of triangular tension, a gallery of witty friends and a lesson tucked into a heartwarming story.
The film begins with Mack and her friends negotiating their next play. Brannagan wants to get a svelte blonde nursing a drink at the bar. She seems out of his league, which means the play must have exaggerations rooted in honesty. Tell too tall a tale and the jig is up. The secret to the plays is the process of seduction, of charming the target with your efforts. As the captain of the team, Mack takes the lead, establishing her role as a classic rom-com heroine: a bold, hyper-independent journalist who can diagnose everyone’s problems but her own.
Her friends, most of whom work at the local newspaper with her, have their own archetypes. Adam is Mack’s pal from college, the kind of person with whom intimacy is second nature. Brannagan, an obits reporter, enjoys the thrill of the chase so much his friends implore him to go to therapy. Little is Brannagan’s younger brother, the consummate sidekick and also seemingly unemployed. The crew have a candid and unforced rapport that brings to mind the dynamic between the roommates of New Girl (which Wayans also starred in). Whit Anderson’s screenplay isn’t heavy-handed, preferring to gesture at the depth of each relationship through inside jokes and sometimes cutting asides.
The power of the plays comes under threat when Mack meets Nick (Tom Ellis), an award-winning war correspondent with Egyptian cotton and matching cutlery. The pair sleep together after a work happy hour. When Nick takes Mack to her apartment, she falls in love with the sophistication of it all. A relationship with him would offer a sure pathway to adulthood, making her feel secure in a time of instability (looming layoffs at the newspaper where she’s employed).
The transition from playboy to girlfriend aspirations comes off abruptly, but the film smooths out once Mack enlists her friends to help. The process of researching Nick requires all hands on deck plus the addition of office manager Ashley (a scene-stealing Liza Koshy). They stage run-ins and encounters that nudge Nick into taking Mack on a real date.
Their plans work, but once Mack gets the guy, she realizes the relationship isn’t what she expected. Tucked into the gags and comedic drama of Players is a familiar lesson about reconciling the person you are with the person you think you should be. Mack’s character development is believable because of Rodriguez’s committed performance, which moves with ease between tears and laughter.
Players finds its heart, and its narrative anchor, in Mack’s connection to her friends and to her craft. Although the film, like most rom-coms, take liberties in portraying the mechanics of journalism, it leans into Mack’s writing to help us understand that Nick might not be Mr. Right. She courts the celebrated scribe while chipping away at her small but meaningful story about baseball fans and her parents. It’s through work on the latter that we not only come to understand Mack, but feel compelled to keep rooting for her.
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