Cheap Three to Tango (DVD) (Matthew Perry, Neve Campbell, Dylan McDermott) (Damon Santostefano) Price

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Customer Reviews of Three to Tango

Perry & Campbell are sensational!
First & foremost, I don't really mind what I have been hearing from the tabloids about Matthew Perry and Neve Campbell. Actually when I heard this movie is out, I was intrigued. I picked this movie deliberately from Amazon when Perry and Campbell were featured with Dylan McDermott of The Practice in the title cover of the DVD. And when I saw it, they were sensational as they were paired up for the first time in this savvy romantic comedy masterpiece. The story is very original of its kind since "The Object of my Affection" with Paul Rudd & Jennifer Aniston. In that movie, a straight female falls in love with an openly gay guy who are not meant for each other romantically. While in Three to Tango, we see quite the opposite - a straight guy, who is misunderstood of being gay, falls in love with a straight gal, who thought that he's gay, and at the end were meant for each other. As intrigue comes to embrace its viewers, the story is beautifully directed and well portrayed. The movie kicks off with two architectural partners, Oscar Novak and Peter Steinberg played by Perry and co-star Oliver Platt respectively, together pursuing a job opportunity with a Forbes' tycoon, charles Newman played by McDermott. When Newman finds out their gay status, Steinberg & Novak was awarded its big break, except for Oscar Novak, who was misunderstood of being gay, was given additional duties to spy on the tycoon's mistress, Amy played by Campbell, for her suspected relationship with a hunk football player, Kevin Cartwright played by Clyk Cozart. Wait what you are about to hear when Kevin confesses his attraction to Oscar. And wait to see the part when Oscar was selected and honored as "Gay Professional of the Year". It's chaotic fun just like the good old school days. Towards the end, Oscar confesses his true identity during his honorary speech and his love for Amy. The final act is a kissing scene of Oscar & Amy, which put the viewers to draw their conclusions especially for Friends and Party of Five fans. For the movie theme, it's love conquers all. But for desperate fans seeking gossip, the movie creates this hysteria, when these two were paired up for the first time. And Three to Tango became a hit. Adding to the praise is the superb musical score. The swing era of the 50s and 60s is well adapted to the atmosphere of humor around this modern story. If you're expanding your gay library or if you're just starting to build one, or if you're a huge fan of Friends and Party of Five, then you'll like this one. After all, Perry & Campbell are just among the youngest and cutest stars around.

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Ignore the critics and give this one a try.
I have finally given up reading reviews by professional movie critics. Because if I took most of the recommendations they hand out, I would miss some very good movies. And "Three to Tango" is one of them I would have missed.

Matthew Perry stars as an up and coming young architect striving with his gay business partner (Oliver Platt) to land a very lucrative, high profile job. Through a huge misunderstanding Perry is believed to be gay, and the hilarity ensues. Dylan McDermott is delightfully nasty as the high-powered businessman unafraid to throw his weight around to get what he wants. No longer seen as a threat, he convinces Perry to play watchdog over his mistress (Neve Campbell) for fear that she fall into the arms of another man. Perry, of course falls head over heels, and is now powerless to do anything about it for fear of losing his job. The fact that everyone now assumes that Perry is gay lends itself to some very funny scenes, but also some very over the top, unbelievable situations.

Matthew Perry is charming as usual, and delivers each line with his signature comedic timing. Neve Campbell is perfect as the flighty, artistic love interest and the object of two men's affections. Oliver Platt is very good as the straight man to Perry's antics, but delivers his share of funny moments as well. I can't help but feel that some critics refuse to take Perry's ability to act outside of the "Friends" confines seriously. I think that he has a great deal of talent, a natural feel for comedy, and is obviously the best of the "Friends" bunch. Give this movie and try, and I bet you won't be dissapointed.

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Social satire about homosexuality
Synopsis:
Oscar Novak (Matthew Perry) is an up and coming architect, bidding with his partner (Oliver Platt) for a project to renovate a classic Chicago landmark. Business Tycoon Charles Newmann (Dylan McDermott), the man seeking the bids, mistakenly comes to believe that Oscar is gay and asks him to babysit his mistress (Neve Campbell) for him. With his business on the line, he agrees to do it, but even in agreeing, he must now pretend to prefer a sexual preference that he does not. Things go from bad to worse when he falls for the tycoon's Mistress.

About the Movie:
This is not a film for social conservatives. With homosexuality having become one of the major hot topics in America, this film proves how a movie can have as much a social agenda as a church can..

One interesting thing to point out about this film is how it uses Mathew Perry's character Oscar Novak to mirror the plight of closeted homosexuals. The Amazon Editorial Review (by Mark Engleheart) completely missed the point of the movie in saying that Novak's supposed gayness is treated simply as "an oppressive burden."

Social standing, job security and even friendships hang in the balance because of Novak's supposed sexual orientation. The film's point is that this is a burden that many homosexuals feel they have to deal with. In a sense Novak is now forced to deal with the same issues that gays deal with by having to "be in the closet" about being straight. If anything, the movie advocates openness and tolerance, something Novak learns about first hand. It's the classic, "walking in another man's shoes" satire.

Ultimately, Three to Tango is a film that pretends to be a romantic comedy but is really a obvious endeavor to promote an image of homosexuality as "normal" through genuinely humorous satire. In an era of political correctness, this is the ultimate film for it. It presents a perfect politically correct image of homosexuality, even going so far as to make it seem like the ideal to strive for. Homosexuals are the good guys, sensitive, understanding, and open, while straight men are losers, who cheat on their wives and are emotionally detached and insensitive.

Three to Tango does it job very well, playing on the audience's emotional output, and challenging their conventions with uneasy situations (as many movies do) to get the audience to agree with the premise.

Matthew Perry's character gets into his situation and gains his love interest precisely because he fits the stereotypical homosexual image (the one of the sensitive well-dressed male without the lisp and limp wrist). The movie seems to say that the homosexual image is the one to strive for, because Perry, a straight man fits it so perfectly and finds happiness with a beautiful woman in the end as a result.

Meanwhile, the quasi bad guy, Dylan McDermott's character, Charles Newmann, is a caricature of a straight man, insensitive, an adulterer, a manly man, who's possessive, jealous, selfish and vindictive. He's over the top and unlikable, precisely because he was written to be that way. McDermott plays the role to the T, which provides a perfect counterpoint to the film's overall portrayal of the straight/gay issue.

The end statement is that sexual orientation should not be the issue, it should be your feelings and who you are.

In all honesty, it's hard not to like this film at least on some level, even if you don't agree with the message that it is preaching. Matthew Perry is an expert at filling out the role of a bewildered man thrown into unexpected and peculiar situations with both humor and sensitivity. He's a wonderful and charming comic actor, and it shows. Neve Campbell is cute as his co-star, and there are a lot of comic moments that are laugh out loud funny.

Of course, a lot of the humor comes directly from Oscar being put in the position of a straight man dealing with being thought of as gay, with some of the humor being overtly sexual in nature. People who disagree with the homosexual lifestyle will understandably dislike this film, because it is openly pro-gay and presents the issue in an extremely one-sided manner.

About the DVD:
Three to Tango comes in a cardboard snap case on a double-sided DVD with both fullscreen and Widescreen versions of the film in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The image and sound are pretty good for a budget DVD, with only a little film grain or artifacts. The movie is translated into French and has English and French subtitles. One wonders when the big studios will figure out that Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language on the North American continent.

As far as special features, this one has what appears to be something that is becoming standard on Warner Brothers budget DVD releases. They include the theatrical trailer for the film and a series of textual production notes that provide background on the movie. They're interesting to read, but not much as far as special features go. This release even skimps on the actor bios that usually provided with most budget releases.

Bottom Line:
A comedic film with a clear social message to provide to its audience that will undoubtedly turn away some because of it. A decent (depending on social views) movie on a standard DVD release. 3 stars.