Fourplay (2001) from Tuna

Fourplay is a comedy set in London and starring Mariel Hemingway, Irene Jacob, Mike Binder and Colin Firth.  Binder also wrote and directed the film. The original release was called Londinium, and it has been variously known as Fourplay, Four Play, Love Affairs and Love After Sex. Seems like about one title for each viewer who has seen it.

Binder plays a TV scriptwriter who is brought to London to work on a sitcom starring Hemingway's character. He is introduced to Jacob, who's playing a make-up girl, but is also working on a book about London ("Londinium"). They become a couple. Hemingway is married to her producer, played by Firth, but the relationship is going stale. Eventually, the couples end up switching partners. That is pretty much it, except for Colin Firth's method of letting off steam. He gets pissed in a pub with his mates, then takes them outside and kicks the crap out of them.

The message seems to be that marriage will always go stale. If you find that a humorless theme for a comedy, I agree with you.  Fourplay is competently filmed with good production value, and does make London look very inviting, but has no other merit. It is a complete failure even at simple storytelling, much less being amusing. Don't look to the sexy premise and stars for some guilty pleasures, either. For a film that is entirely about sex, marriage and infidelity, than is not much in the way of sex or nudity.

 

Scoop's note:

Mike Binder has at least managed to learn from his failures. He later wrote, directed and starred in The Upside of Anger, which turned out to be a pretty damned good film with a solid story and some surprising depth to it.
 

DVD INFO

 

NUDITY REPORT

Irene Jacob - one breast in a sex scenes

Mariel Hemingway - one breast from the side-rear.

The Critics Vote ...

  • No major reviews online

 

The People Vote ...

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

Our own guideline:

  • A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre.
  • B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. In order to rate at least a B-, a film should be both a critical and commercial success. Exceptions: (1) We will occasionally rate a film B- with good popular acceptance and bad reviews, if we believe the critics have severely underrated a film. (2) We may also assign a B- or better to a well-reviewed film which did not do well at the box office if we feel that the fault lay in the marketing of the film, and that the film might have been a hit if people had known about it. (Like, for example, The Waterdance.)
  • C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by people who enjoy this kind of movie. If this is your kind of movie, a C+ and an A are indistinguishable to you.
  • C means it is competent, but uninspired genre fare. People who like this kind of movie will think it satisfactory. Others probably will not.
  • C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie, but genre addicts find it watchable. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film, but films with this rating should be approached with caution by mainstream audiences, who may find them incompetent or repulsive or both. If this is NOT your kind of movie, a C- and an E are indistinguishable to you.
  • D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-. Films rated below C- generally have both bad reviews and poor popular acceptance.
  • E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre.
  • F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

 

Based on this description, this film is a D.

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