Irene Jacob and Mariel Hemingway in Fourplay (2001)

I stumbled on this obscure rom-com while browsing Tuna’s archives. The Movie House review was written by Tuna, which is just about a sure sign that I’ve never seen it. I don’t remember it, period, which is surprising because it has a little nudity from two well-known stars, including Mariel’s factory originals.

Here’s what I know:

* There is no Tomato Meter.
* It scores 21% on the Popcorn Meter
* It tops out at 4.8 on IMDb.
* Tuna hated it (see below)

Fourplay is a comedy set in London and starring Mariel Hemingway, Irene Jacob, Mike Binder and Colin Firth. Binder also wrote and directed the film. The original release was called Londinium, and it has been variously known as Fourplay, Four Play, Love Affairs and Love After Sex. Seems like about one title for each viewer who has seen it.

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Binder plays a TV scriptwriter who is brought to London to work on a sitcom starring Hemingway’s character. He is introduced to Jacob, who’s playing a make-up girl, but is also working on a book about London (“Londinium”). They become a couple. Hemingway is married to her producer, played by Firth, but the relationship is going stale. Eventually, the couples end up switching partners. That is pretty much it, except for Colin Firth’s method of letting off steam. He gets pissed in a pub with his mates, then takes them outside and kicks the crap out of them.

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The message seems to be that marriage will always go stale. If you find that a humorless theme for a comedy, I agree with you. Fourplay is competently filmed with good production values, and does make London look very inviting, but has no other merit. It is a complete failure even at simple storytelling, much less being amusing. Don’t look to the sexy premise and stars for some guilty pleasures, either. For a film that is entirely about sex, marriage and infidelity, than is not much in the way of sex or nudity.