Three To Tango
(1999)
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Oscar Novak (Perry), an architect who is desperate to receive a ninety million dollar commission from a wealthy Chicago businessman, Charles Newman (McDermott), agrees to help him out with a personal problem. Newman, mistakenly convinced that Oscar is gay, asks him to spy on his mistress, Amy (Campbell), to make sure that she doesn't fool around with her ex-boyfriend Kevin (Cozart), a confirmed stud. When Oscar meets Amy, the two unintentionally embark on a night of one bumbling misadventure after the other. Not surprisingly, he falls for her, but hides the truth for fear of being exposed. When he's selected as man of the year by a gay organization, the situation reaches its boiling point. |
This sweet, if somewhat politically incorrect, romantic comedy barely made a dent at the US box office, possibly because audiences could catch all the stars (Friends's Matthew Perry, The Practice's Dylan McDermott and Party of Five's Neve Campbell) on their TVs for free. It's worth seeking out, however, for a nice performance from Perry and a hilarious one from Oliver Platt, who seems to be making a career of being the best and funniest thing in average movies. The plot is simple. Big businessman McDermott thinks Perry is gay, so he asks him to watch over his mistress (Campbell), little realising that Perry is falling for her. Perry has to keep on pretending to both McDermott and Campbell, because he and business partner Platt (who really is gay) stand to lose an important business deal if he doesn't. Cute rather than uproariously funny, this is still proof that Perry could make it on the big screen — if only he had sharper material.