Fair Play, the first feature from Chloe Domont after more than half a decade directing television, is about people who aren’t like anyone I know personally. Oh, I’m aware of the type of people they are–those who are drawn to high stress lives in cutthroat jobs and who measure their success by their position in the hierarchy–but, despite the fact that there are probably a lot of folks like that in the world, I have intentionally built a life for myself that allows me to avoid them. Now, not being able to see yourself in any of the characters is a supremely facile and childish reason to dislike a movie. But don’t worry. Fair Play provides other reasons, too.
To a point, actually, Domont is counting on you finding the characters’ milieu a little abrasive and off-putting. It’s a part of the discomfort you’re meant to feel from the animosity that arises between Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich), two secretly engaged coworkers (company policy prohibits dating among the staff) at some sort of investment firm, when Emily gets the promotion Luke was expecting for himself.
Look, my calling it an “investment firm” is, at best, a wild guess. It has something to do with high finance and stock prices. Is it a hedge fund? Is hedge fund a job you can have? The details of Emily and Luke’s day-to-day work life are torturous to parse for someone who doesn’t know a thing about this world. But, once again, that would be a pretty solipsistic reason to dislike a movie. In any case, you don’t need to know what’s going on. If the actors are doing their jobs, as they are here, you can learn all you need to know from their reactions.
Okay, so let’s get to an actual reason to dislike the movie. Almost immediately after Emily gets promoted, Luke stops being a character in a story and simply becomes a vessel for the temper tantrums entitled men can throw when they don’t get what they think they deserve but have never earned. Luke is overwhelmed with a feeling of impotence in his relationship and his career but it’s the movie that loses all its power. Luke becomes such a flat character that his unhinged behavior turns into white noise.
That means, obviously, that we are to side with Emily. But Domont’s screenplay doesn’t give us many more sides to her than it does to Luke. We know that she wants to continue to win at her dumb job and that she’s willing to choose it over her fiancé. But with him being such an annoying weasel, how difficult a choice is that? As I said, it would be stupid to shun a movie because its characters are unlikable. But Emily and Luke are simple uninteresting.
Couldn’t agree more. And then, as if it isn’t obvious enough whose side we’re supposed to be on, he literally turns into a psychotic rapist.