Fair Play is a new film by Chloe Domont starring Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich. Fair Play is a throwback, a return to the erotic thriller genre, something that used to have films out all the time in the 90s and slowly went out of favor; budgets increased, and theater-going changed. In Fair Play, we meet Emily (Dynevor) and Luke (Ehrenreich) at a friend’s wedding, and they can’t keep their hands off each other. During this, Luke proposes to Emily in the bathroom. We see they both work at the same Investment firm and after the firing of one of the PMs, Emily overhears a rumor that Luke might be next up for promotion. Their world is turned upside down when the head of the firm, Campbell (played by Eddie Marsan), chooses Emily instead. Now Emily has to navigate this completely misogynistic world of her office and finance along with the growing insecurities of her Fiancé Luke.
This couple’s relationship holds together this whole film, and both actors do a great job, but Phoebe Dynevor is the star and the main draw here. Her Emily feels like a rat in a cage at times. She’s able to show her ambitions, her desire to help and not hurt Luke’s ego, and the stress of navigating the men she has to work with and impress, never making a mistake. Her stress is palpable through the screen. I liked watching Emily, at times, catch the vapors of her new lifestyle. There’s a point in the film where Emily basically becomes and is living like what you’d expect from a young, smart, and successful white male in finance, and Luke is very much what you’d expect from a girlfriend of one of those men who works in the same place. See also; their relationship is secret because there are rules against it, yet he constantly wants her to endanger her job for his benefit. Ehrenreich is good here as a male you think might be turning the corner and fails every time as the pride and ego just get at him.
Domont does some interesting things with angles and close-ups. They really add tension and, in doing so, build this anxiety, feeling encroaching on Emily. The film is pretty bright and clear, and the color of the film has this warm green hue to me when watching it. It adds almost a horror feel to things even as it stays completely in the thriller/drama tone. I have to say that for the last twenty minutes or so, I didn’t really connect to it. There are events and choices characters make that felt weird or didn’t connect with me compared to what was happening before. Now, it does have a well-done piece of storytelling symmetry, but while I know it’s supposed to be discomforting, and it might work for most, it took me out of the story and distracted me. While it didn’t work for me, ultimately, I do hope it does well so that people might be allowed to make good thrillers again.
Score: C+
RIOTUS 