Three to Tango * (1999, Matthew Perry, Dylan McDermott, Neve Campbell, Oliver Platt, John C McGinley, Bob Balaban) – Classic Movie Review 12,695

The promising 1999 romantic comedy film Three to Tango stars the excellent cast of Matthew Perry, Dylan McDermott, Neve Campbell and Oliver Platt, but it turns out to be a stale, inept, unfunny farce.

Director Damon Santostefano’s 1999 romantic comedy film Three to Tango stars the excellent cast of Matthew Perry, Dylan McDermott, Neve Campbell, Oliver Platt, John C McGinley and Bob Balaban.

That’s very promising, and it should be fun, but it turns out to be a stale, inept, unfunny farce, with a horrid, leering tone.

A businessman (McDermott) mistakenly assumes his friend, a Chicago architect (Perry), is gay and Perry carries on the pretence to keep a restoration contract. So McDermott gets Perry to spy on his mistress (Campbell) whom he suspects of being unfaithful, but now risks losing the woman himself.

The capable, talented stars give what should be appealing enough performances, but Perry loses his Friends in this witless, borderline offensive farrago.

It is written by Rodney Patrick Vaccaro and Aline Brosh McKenna, indulging shamelessly in annoying gay jokes and stale gay clichés.

It is produced by Warner Bros and Australia’s Village Roadshow Pictures Entertainment. It failed at the box office, earning $10.6 million against a budget of $20 million, as well as with critics, putting a dent in the stars’ careers.

It is filmed in Toronto, Ontario, but set in Chicago.

The cast are Matthew Perry as Oscar Novak, Neve Campbell as Amy Post, Dylan McDermott as Charles Newman, Oliver Platt as Peter Steinberg, Cylk Cozart as Kevin Cartwright, John C McGinley as Josh Strauss, Bob Balaban as Decker, Deborah Rush as Lenore, Kelly Rowan as Olivia Newman, Rick Gomez, Patrick Van Horn, David Ramsey, Kent Staines, Ho Chow, Michael Proudfoot, Stephanie Belding, Ray Kahnert, Barbara Gordon, Roger Dunn, and Meredith McGeachie.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,695

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