Film Review: FAIR PLAY (2023): Chloe Domont’s Wickedly Entertaining Thriller Has Two Fine Lead Performances

Fair Play Review

Fair Play (2023) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Chloe Domont and starring Phoebe Dynevor, Aiden Ehrenreich, Eddie Marsan, Rich Sommer, Sebastian De Souza, Sia Alipour, Brandon Bassir, Jamie Wilkes, Geraldine Somerville, Patrick Fischler, Laurel Lefkow, Buck Braithwaite, Jim Sturgeon, J. Pace and Abe Fark.

Chloe Domont’s Fair Play is a tense, disturbing thriller that opens innocently enough. By the film’s conclusion, however, this film could serve as a warning that would make anyone think twice about getting romantically involved with someone at work. This film is commandeered by two intense performances by its leads, Phoebe Dynevor and Aiden Ehrenreich. Their work is among the best of the year although these stars may unfairly get slighted come Oscar time due to the violence and coldness found in the movie. Nevertheless, Domont’s film is certain to become one of the year’s most talked-about pictures.

As the film’s main story begins at a wedding, a man and a woman who work as analysts in New York City for a hedge fund are getting ready to have sex in a bathroom. Emily Meyers (Dynevor) is having her period and both she and her romantic partner, Luke Edmunds (Ehrenreich) have gotten blood on their clothes. A ring falls out of Luke’s pocket and on to the floor and he ends up proposing to Emily. She’s happy and all seems to be merry as the couple seem to just be beginning their lives together as a couple. One problem, though: They have to look like they are not involved with one another at work due to the office’s code of conduct.

A few of the office scenes of the movie effectively show certain male employees getting fired in the background as everyone else is hard at work trying not to become one of those people. One of the employees says, “I thought he would have jumped” when a co-worker gets the bad news. When business gets complicated at work, Emily saves face and winds up with a promotion. Luke sort of feels disappointed but is kind of supportive for a little while.

Emily becomes a superstar at the office and must succumb to going out with the guys at work in order to play the role of their fearless and successful colleague. This includes Emily suggesting that they go to a strip club when another male worker hints at that idea. Emily ends up with roughly a half million dollars commission but Luke feels slighted as he watches Emily change her character in order to be the high-powered businesswoman she has become. Luke, himself, is highly ambitious and wants success of his own but when he begs to his boss, Campbell (a well-cast Eddie Marsan) for a promotion, Campbell announces he has already selected someone else for the position that Luke had wanted.

This is where the movie goes off the deep edge and although it’s absolutely engrossing to watch the events of the picture unfold, the film could make audiences a bit restless. Luke and Emily lose sight of their romance. The sex is not working out between them and to make matters worse, Emily’s mom (Geraldine Somerville) has already started putting a party together to celebrate Emily’s engagement whereas Luke hasn’t really told his family about it.

Without giving away too many spoilers, the movie becomes unnecessarily violent. Emily hits a glass over Luke’s head, Luke bangs Emily’s head on a sink and it sometimes feels like The War of the Roses meets Gone Girl as the movie goes through a series of uncomfortable scenes of tension between Luke and Emily. By the film’s end, it feels like a fighting match between the pair and depending on who you sympathize more with, you’ll probably be taking one of their sides.

The lead performances make it all work, though, because of the brave work of the two main stars. Dynevor’s performance is electrifying such as when her character shows a vulnerable side to her as she asks Luke for sex. Dynevor carries much of the movie’s success on her shoulder in the showier role while Ehrenreich gets some of the movie’s best dialogue. A scene where Luke goes buck wild at the office in front of business people (who Emily is supposed to impress) is particularly effective as is a sequence towards the end where Ehrenreich’s character seems to have come full circle after some brutally aggressive behavior. Both stars play off each other with ferocious intensity that makes the movie impossible to take your eyes off of.

Despite being overly disturbing, Fair Play works as a cautionary tale. Who wants to deal with the politics of the workplace by complicating matters with a romantic partner at the office? After seeing this film, interoffice relationships could lessen significantly. Domont has made a stand-out movie that truly has something to say about the way the hunger for success can overcome the strength of romantic relationships. Even without its valid message, though, the movie also works as a complex thriller that is cold and vicious but undeniably fascinating to watch from beginning to end.

Rating: 8/10

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