Shanté has everything going for her: she’s smart successful and sexy an advertising exec who is so well versed in the field of romance that her girlfriends rely on her to dispense relationship advice on a regular basis hanging on her every word. Shanté however is in for a big surprise when she finds out her equally successful lawyer boyfriend Keith (Morris Chestnut) is cheating on her with her archrival Conny (Gabrielle Union). Rather than confront him about his two-timing ways she decides to put into effect her “Ten Day Plan” (an even dumber variation of “The Rules”) intent on getting her man back at her side where she thinks he belongs. The plan involves childish games like not returning his phone calls and dating other men in plain view. She painfully explains these steps one by one looking directly into the camera. Keith on the other hand takes advice from his best friend Tony (Anthony Anderson) and plays the game right back. With scheming like this their relationship just has to work out.
The ensemble in this film is not a bad one; the members are simply victims of their own bad judgement for choosing to star in this stereotypical monstrosity. As Shanté Fox (Kingdom Come Set It Off) is reduced to playing a character who is supposed to be well educated but constantly spews out words like “ho'” and “hoochie.” Let’s hope there are better roles ahead for her–perhaps in her next project the basketball comedy Juwana Man? As sidekicks Anderson (Romeo Must Die) and Mo’nique (UPN’s The Parkers) actually provide a lot more laughs and entertainment than do Fox and Chestnut (The Brothers). As Keith Chestnut comes across as a superficial player devoid of any meaningful qualities. He’s too slick and sleazy. It’s sad to see Chestnut fall so far from his role as Ricky Baker in John Singleton‘s Boyz ‘N the Hood to this. Surprisingly Bobby Brown makes a funny cameo appearance as a buck-toothed makeover candidate.
Written and directed by Mark Brown (screenwriter How to be a Player HBO’s Quincy’s Jook Joint) Two Can Play That Game offers nothing fresh or new to the whiny relationship genre. In fact this film seems more like a lesser version of Waiting to Exhale or a really long episode of UPN’s Girlfriends. For someone who supposedly has it so together Shanté’s character comes across as dependent and desperate. Why doesn’t she just dump her suave dallying beau? While right-at-the-camera monologues may work for Frankie Muniz in Malcolm in the Middle they are just plain irritating here. Not helping is the entire unoriginal girls vs. boys bantering or battle-of-the-sexes theme. To make matters worse the film is also perversely riddled with product placements like Coca-Cola and Miller Genuine Draft. The moral of the film seems to be that getting an unfaithful man to the later is some sort of just reward.
