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Playing It Cool
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Wikipedia article
'Playing It Cool' is a 2014 American romantic comedy film directed by Justin Reardon and written by Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair. The film stars Chris Evans, Michelle Monaghan, Anthony Mackie, Aubrey Plaza, Patrick Warburton, Ioan Gruffudd, and Topher Grace. The film was released on video on demand on March 31, 2015 before a limited release on May 8, 2015 by Vertical Entertainment.https://www.facebook.com/PlayingItCoolTheMovie It received generally negative reviews from critics.
Plot
Me (Chris Evans) is a screenwriter in LA who wants to write action flicks, but his agent, Bryan (Anthony Mackie), needs him to write a romcom first. Due to mother abandonment issues from his childhood, he doesn't let love in or believe in it, so finds writing about romance difficult. Having writers block, he talks to people, hearing their anectdotes. Then he places himself in those stories in his mind.
His buddy Scott (Topher Grace) is obsessed with romantic books and movies. Hes had a crush for ages on a regular client at the bookshop. He is tortured, hoping the feelings could be reciprocated.
He wants to show love as it is in his perspective, not funny nor romantic. Every time anyone has told him they love him, he says he doesnt think hed be able to reciprocate. So, he constantly hooks up and then says he doesnt see a future with them
Then he meets Her (Michelle Monaghan) at a charity event with Scott, bantering together with ease. Doing a social experiment at the event (her idea), they each use clich bad lines of the opposite sex, flirting badly with the other attendees to put them off. He finds himself really drawn to her, but suddenly they meet her boyfriend Stuffy (Ione Gruffudd), and she gets whisked away. When he tries to get her out of his head by hooking up quickly with anyone else, for the first time it doesnt work. He goes back to the venue to see if he can get her name, but there is no one left to ask. Desperate, he grabs the guest book to try and find her name.
His misfit group of friends are all writers: Lyle (Martin Starr) prolific yet still unpublished, Samson (Luke Wilson) a married graphic novelist, Mallory (Aubrey Plaza) writes and performs one woman shows she makes them attend and of course Scott. Meeting up at the shooting range, he tells them he is trying to find Her. Most are cynical about marriage and love, so Scott is the supportive one.
Everywhere he goes now he sees other seemingly misfits, paired off. When he goes to see his granddad (Philip Baker Hall), he tells him he must Columbo it (research Her like a p.i.) The plan becomes, going the rounds of charity events, hopefully to run into her. He coincides with Dick (Patrick Warburton) at a Save the Oceans benefit, who then forces him to get up and speak (as on a former occasion, he made up several charities he was involved in). She actually is there, so they reconnect, and he gets her to agree to a friend date. Afterwards, when he gives her a lift home, she mentions a charity event on Thursday.
At bowling the next day, his friends are unsupportive. Mallory is hostile, only Scott is rooting for love. When he shows up, she instead invited him to her yoga class. Afterwards, they are chatting in a caf, and he asks her about Stuffy. She describes him as stable, safe and liked by her family and friends. Her dream wedding is at one of the heart sculptures in San Francisco. And he finally confesses that he likes her, which she says wont change her plan.
At home, he takes out his shoebox, looking at the goodbye postit note his mother had left him. At handball the next day his granddad and Scott convince him not to give up on Her. That evening, he convinces her to go out, she talks about her dads suicide when she was young, and they kiss.
She calls him up because she cant get him out of her head, and before long, they end up in bed together. For the first time, he doesnt feel guilty, and he can eat the cereal he couldnt for years. She, on the other hand, leaves feeling badly. She calls again, everything is going well, until his dishonesty about the charities surfaces and she stomps away. Mallory finally confesses she loves him when he asks her for help. The next morning, She wakes him with a call, only to confess she is already engaged.
A night of binging, followed by making a fool of himself at her apartment and his granddad dying, gets him back on track. His writer's block melts away and the rom-com gets done. Scott finally gets a date with that guy, Mallory gives the friend a chance. He realizes he has to try to stop the wedding. A flight, clich run through an airport and a taxi ride, checking all of the heart sculptures later, he finds Her
The ending message: Love isnt a thinking thing, its a feeling thing. Live your own story.
Cast
* Chris Evans as Me
* Michelle Monaghan as Her
* Aubrey Plaza as Mallory
* Ioan Gruffudd as Stuffy
* Anthony Mackie as Bryan
* Topher Grace as Scott
* Patrick Warburton as Dick
* Martin Starr as Lyle
* Luke Wilson as Samson
* Philip Baker Hall as Granddad
* Ashley Tisdale as Herself
* Matthew Morrison as Himself
* Scott Evans as Blissful Boy
* Sarah Dumont as Cute Girl
* Jaeden Martell as 6 Year Old Me
* Carmina Garay as 6 Year Old Her
* Tony Cavalero as Charity Waiter
* Kyle Mooney as Other Dude
* Beverly D'Angelo as Lyle's Girlfriend
* Mikaela Hoover as Lacey
* Abby Ryder Fortson as Little girl
Production
Pre-production
The script for the film was originally titled 'A Many Splintered Thing' and was first on The Black List and was a 2011 finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship.Filming
The film began filming in late 2012 in Los Angeles and completed in early 2013. The film is produced by Voltage Pictures and Wonderland Sound and Vision.Release
The film was released in Estonia on September 26, 2014, Latvia on October 17, 2014, South Korea on October 23, 2014 and Romania on December 26, 2014.http://www.chrisevansfangirls.com/2014/09/26/two-more-posters-for-playing-it-cool-and-some-release-dates/ The film was released in Sweden on February 26, 2015 on DVD and Blu-Ray. The film was also released in Bulgaria on March 6, 2015 and in Singapore on May 7, 2015. The film was scheduled to be released in Chile on May 28, 2015 and Brazil on June 11, 2015. on November 5, 2014 it was announced Vertical Entertainment had acquired US distribution rights for the film with a planned 2015 release. in February 2015, the film was released exclusively on DirecTV Cinema. The film was released on video on demand on March 31, 2015 before a limited release on May 8, 2015. The film premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival on April 11, 2015. The film was released in a limited release and on video on demand in Canada on February 27, 2015.
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 14% based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 4.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "'Playing It Cool' pits Chris Evans and Michelle Monaghan's easy chemistry against a screenplay that tries too hard to be quirky and clever, and the results are disappointingly lukewarm." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 30 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Marketing
The international trailer was released on September 17, 2014.Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Caucbtb348c Ghostarchive] and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20170401201231/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Caucbtb348c Wayback Machine]:
Home media
The film was released in Sweden on February 26, 2015 on DVD and Blu-Ray, and was scheduled to be released in the United States on June 16, 2015 on DVD. The film was released on DVD in Canada on May 5, 2015.
References
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