Two Can Play That Game

She's got the looks, the top job, the fabulous pad, and the trophy lawyer boyfriend. No wonder the girls look on Shanté (Fox) as the font of all knowledge. She has to call on the full extent of her womanly wiles, however, when partner Keith (Chestnut) is spotted with another woman. Into action swings Shanté's patented Ten-Day Plan, which involves not returning his calls, being seen on the arm of someone else, and even turning up at his place with seduction in mind before leaving him on the brink of satisfaction. His response is to fight fire with fire, taking on the advice of 'player' Tony (Anderson). Let the games begin. Romance may not be totally dead in writer/director Mark Brown's upscale African-American rom com, but it's certainly in danger of being manoeuvred out of existence. If the movie is prepared to sacrifice emotional involvement, at least it has yards of robustly rude dialogue, and a central performance from Fox approaching the Pam Grier class of self-possessed no-bullshit cool. It's all a bit more sexually upfront than its 'mainstream' (i.e. 'white') Hollywood equivalent, even if the plan is so needlessly over-elaborate it renders the film instantly forgettable.