Players Review: Sleazy Netflix Rom-Com Celebrates The Terrible Side Of Dating Culture

It’s Valentine’s Day Week, and there are plenty of old and new rom-coms to look forward to, with Netflix also releasing its latest romantic comedy, Players, starring Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez. Written by Whit Anderson and directed by Trish Sie, the story sees Mack (Rodriguez), an outgoing sports reporter, who develops schemes to land one-night stands. When she starts falling in love with her latest play, Mack intends to turn her latest interest into a long-term relationship. As far as rom-coms go, Players barks up a creative tree, but this story is about as trashy as they come.

Players is a 2024 romantic comedy movie created for Netflix by director Trish Sie. Mack, a sportswriter in New York City, leads a crew with her best friend, Adam, as they run plays to help one another hook up with various people. However, when Mack begins to break one of the group’s cardinal rules – don’t fall in love with a mark – she shifts gears and learns the rules of real love.

Pros

• Gina Rodriguez is her usual charming self.

Cons

• Anderson’s script never fully analyzes its central character.
• The film celebrates sleazy dating culture over critiquing it.
• The on-screen friendships seem unrealistic and contrived.
• The ending of Players is rushed and completely unearned.

Mack has spent her post-college years devising dating plays so that she and her friends could hook up with whoever they set their sights on. When a war correspondent, Nick (Lucifer actor Tom Ellis), begins working at her dying newspaper, Mack turns on her tricks with the help of her crew, including Adam (New Girl’s Damon Wayans Jr.), Brannagan (Augustus Prew), Little (Joel Courtney), and Ashley (Liza Koshy). This hook-up scheme is at the center of their friendships, which is where the first big issue of this film surfaces.

Players Doesn’t Know How To Incorporate Realistic Dating Culture Criticisms

It’s difficult to support a film whose characters’ entire personalities revolve around hooking up with other people. Even in the real world, people are more complex and interesting than whatever shallow part of humanity this script wants to highlight. Whatever feminist view or girl power the story also attempts to celebrate through Mack, who doesn’t seem to have any female friends, completely fails. Instead, the film is a wasted opportunity to critique the dating world. With the internet now being a hub for podcasters to share their grievances on the topic, Players is a poor excuse for a dating/hook-up story.

Towards the middle of Players, we come to understand that Mack lost her parents, which may explain her rambunctious appetite for hooking up with no strings attached. But this is a Netflix rom-com where Anderson finds no need to dive deep into Mack’s personality or psychological state that would clue the audience in on her actions. Never mind that even her reasoning for wanting to finally try a relationship is half-assed and silly, to say the least. Humor and ridiculous scheming to trick people into relationships is the priority of this messy script.

There’s a point when Mack quickly learns that turning a hookup into a quality relationship when it’s built off of lies is nearly impossible. For example, when Mack and Nick join Adam and Claire (Ego Nwodim) on a double date, the conversation reveals that Mack and Nick have very little, if anything at all, in common. It begs the question of why Mack is even interested in Nick in the first place. This brief moment highlights the problems with dating culture, in that people no longer seem interested in important commonalities or virtues, but that’s the extent of it.

The Cast Tries Their Best, But Players Is A Rom-Com You’ll Want To Forget

Moments like this contrived dinner date is exactly what happens when a script caters to comedy, albeit unfunny humor at that, over quality characterizations and storytelling. It leans into unrealistic territory, and we’re unfortunately left with a trashy story that very few will like. Not even the ever-charming Gina Rodriguez and confident Damon Wayans Jr. could save this film. And thanks to an ending that is so undeserved, I wouldn’t be surprised if Players actually ended up turning everyone’s sweet Valentine’s Day sour.