 Movie: Playing House Year: 2010 Studio: UV Pictures Director: Tom Vaughan Language: English Length: 84 Minutes Sub-Genre: Thriller |
Plot: In this taut thriller, newlyweds Jen and Mitch find that three’s company and four’s a crowd when they ask their friend Danny to move in with them to share expenses. But a sweet situation turns sour when Danny invites a new person into the mix.
Review: Playing House is in the vain of box office megahit “Fatal Attraction” and on the independent side “She’s Crushed” from 2009. It is not a movie that brings anything new to the table, but that doesn’t hurt it for me. It is very rare for a new movie to have a completely unique concept, and it pains me that a lot of reviewers hold that against films. Pretty much every film ever made nowadays has implemented something from the past.
So let’s jump to the story; a doctor (Craig Welzbacher) and his chef wife (Sarah Prikryl) buy their dream home, and to help pay the mortgage they invite there friend (Matt Lusk) to stay with them. He is the quintessential definition of a nerd; dorky and ugly with low self esteem. He commissions the Internet to setup a date for him and guess what; a hot Latina (Mayra Leal) shows up and takes a liking to him, or does she?
The story progresses into a sick obsession with the opposite male which leads to murder, lies and all sorts of thrilling engagements. You come to learn that a housemate has a troubling past as in all these style obsession films. What helps Playing House so much is that the two women in it are absolute knockouts. In addition, the acting was very credible and totally believable. There wasn’t that many instances in this movie I thought they were out of character.
For me, this was a gripping story that I was fully invested in. I “cared” about the characters and I wanted to see the loon get justice. The final 30 minutes of the film get tense, and even though most of these style films are predictable down to the T, I was fully absorbed in the characters. Playing House even had a riveting audio track in certain parts I liked. The downfall wasn’t much; a few poor fighting scenes, it drug in spots and they skimped on the gore. Overall it is well worth a watch. Would I watch it again you might ask; I don’t think so, once you know the outcome there is nothing left to revisit.
 Reviewer: BillChete Date: 10/26/2011 Rating: 5½/10 Recommendation: Rental |
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