Three to Tango
USA 1999
Reviewed by Kay Dickinson
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Chicago, the present. Oscar and Peter are two architects pitching to win a large contract from tycoon Charles. Having been deliberately misled by Oscar and Peter's business rivals, Charles wrongly assumes Oscar is gay. He asks Oscar to attend a private view featuring the work of his mistress Amy and report back on any would-be suitors she might be attracting. There, Amy invites Oscar to a party; they spend the rest of the night together and grow close.
The next day, Charles tells Amy that Oscar is gay. He then asks Oscar to continue spying on Amy, hinting that his refusal to do so will result in his losing the contract. Amy moves in with Oscar, ignorant of his attraction to her. At a party unveiling the bids for Charles' contract, Oscar discovers he's won the title of "Gay Professional Man of the Year". After being introduced to Charles' wife, Amy leaves, distraught. Oscar follows her. They nearly kiss, but she runs away. She resurfaces while Oscar is on stage to receive his award; during his speech, he admits he's straight and confesses his feelings for Amy. She storms out; Charles withdraws his previous offer of the contract. Oscar and Amy resolve their differences and Charles' wife insists that Oscar and Peter get the job back.
Review
Three to Tango is a romantic comedy which revolves around a case of mistaken sexual identity - despite falling for the insufferably kooky Amy, architect Oscar has to pretend he's gay throughout in order to win a big business contract. To their credit, director Damon Santostefano (whose past credits include the horror film Severed Ties) and screenwriters Rodney Vacarro and Aline Brosh McKenna use this premise to mock the surface-level liberalism of their straight characters. The supposedly tolerant Oscar, for instance, finds the gayness that has been wrongly thrust upon him too much to handle; tycoon Charles is keen to flaunt his business connection with Oscar to win liberal kudos. But for all its well-meaning attempts at satire, the film's own attitude towards homosexuality proves as muddled as Oscar's. Most obviously, in having to hammer home for less cognisant audience members which men in the story really are gay, the film resorts to some limp-wristed caricatures (notably, the effeminate, gossipy guests who attend Peter's dinner party).
The finale - which sees Oscar out himself as straight, while on stage to collect his "Gay Professional Man of the Year" award - feels like a typical Hollywood fudge. In his acceptance speech, Oscar makes an analogy between being in the closet and his inability to tell Amy that he loves her. But aside from momentary embarrassment, his public declaration of love has no lasting negative side effects. His bravery here is of a far lesser order than that of the gay members of his audience when they came out. The facile nature of Oscar's uncomplicated promotion of sexual honesty is brought home in a particularly obnoxious cutaway to Oscar's father. Having reacted furiously to news that his son was gay, he glows with joy on hearing Oscar is straight once more.
This said, when the film sticks to what romantic comedy does best - wryly prolonging unrequited heterosexual love and bouncing indefatigably between one-liners - it's enormously likeable. For once Matthew Perry - whose performance in The Whole Nine Yards seemed to have been delivered by rote - has landed an appropriate film role as the "passionate, sincere goofball" Oscar. With his many cartoonish pratfalls captured by fluid, elasticated camerawork (his character wreaks havoc when left alone in Amy's kitchen with only a champagne bottle to hand; a dodgy sandwich provokes a bout of severe vomiting during his first night out with her), Perry's performance neatly plays on the physical and sexual awkwardness he brought to the role of Chandler in Friends. And for all its failure to comment intelligently on the intricacies of sexual identity, Three to Tango does at least offer a touch more wish-fulfilment for Friends fans who like to imagine that Chandler and Joey share more than just a flat.
Credits
- Director
- Damon Santostefano
- Producers
- Bobby Newmyer
- Jeffrey Silver
- Bettina Sofia Viviano
- Screenplay
- Rodney Vacarro
- Aline Brosh McKenna
- Story
- Rodney Vacarro
- Director of Photography
- Walt Lloyd
- Editor
- Stephen Semel
- Production Designer
- David Nichols
- Music
- Graeme Revell
- ©Warner Bros. (US, Canada, Bahamas & Bermuda)
- ©Village Roadshow Films (BVI) Limited([all other territories)
- Production Companies
- ©Village Roadshow Films (BVI) Limited([all other territories)
- Warner Bros. presents in association with Village Roadshow Pictures and
- Village-Hoyts Film Partnership an Outlaw Production
- Executive Producers
- Lawrence B. Abramson
- Bruce Berman
- Co-producers
- John M. Eckert
- Keri Selig
- Associate Producer
- Susan E. Novick
- Production Co-ordinator
- Vair MacPhee
- Unit Production Manager
- John M. Eckert
- Location Manager
- Dorigen Fode
- Assistant Directors
- Bill Spahic
- Rick Kush
- Rose Tedesco
- Malve Petersmann
- Dameon Clarke
- Script Supervisor
- Daniela Saioni
- Casting
- Marion Dougherty
- Associate:
- Douglas Wright
- Canada:
- Diane Kerbel
- Camera Operator
- Christopher Tammaro
- Visual Effects
- Balsmeyer & Everett, Inc
- Special Effects
- Co-ordinator:
- Martin Malivoire
- Foremen:
- Jason Board
- Brendhan Donaghy
- Model Builders
- Backbone Special Effects, Inc
- JS Models Arch. & Eng.
- Art Director
- Vlasta Svoboda
- Set Decorator
- Enrico A. Campana
- Illustrator
- Marian Wihak
- Key Scenic Artist
- Derek Stephenson
- Costume Designer
- Vicki Graef
- Wardrobe Supervisor
- Laurie Munday
- Key Make-up
- Marilyn Terry
- Key Hair
- Veronica Ciandre
- Titles Design
- Greenberg/Schluter
- Titles/Opticals
- Pacific Title/Mirage
- End Titles Sequence Consultant
- Eric Heimbold
- Conductor
- Tim Simonec
- Orchestrations
- Tim Simonec
- Michael Harrington
- Steve Zuckerman
- Music Supervisor
- John Houlihan
- Music Editors
- Ashley Revell
- John LaSalandra
- E. Gedney Webb
- Music Scoring Mixer
- John Kurlander
- Music Score Programmer
- Dave Russo
- Soundtrack
- "Jumpin' East of Java", "I Wanna Rock a/k/a (Everytime I Hear) That Mellow Saxophone" - The Brian Setzer Orchestra; "Sanctuary" - Blair; "Peter Gunn Theme" - Jack Costanzo & His Orchestra; "Go Tell the Preacher" - Mighty Blue Kings; "Pao de açucar" - Daniel Indart Quartet; "Bottlecap" - Kacy Crowley; "Let's Get It On" - Marvin Gaye; "Mr. Zoot Suit" - The Flying Neutrinos; "Hot Blooded" - Neve Campbell; "Violent Love" - Indigo Swing; "Maddest Kind of Love", "Jumpin' Jack" - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy; "It's Not Your Fault" - CIV; "Trou macacq" - Squirrel Nut Zippers; "Goin' Out of My Head" - Michael Dees; "Swing Sweet Pussycat" - The Atomic Fireballs; "Salt in My Wounds" - Shemekia Copeland; "That Says It All" - Duncan Sheik; "Here Comes the Snake" - Cherry Poppin' Daddies; "(Theme from) Bonanza"; "Brazil"; theme from "Of Human Bondage"; "By the Light of the Silvery Moon"
- Sound Mixer
- Peter Shewchuk
- Re-recording Mixers
- Rick Alexander
- Christian Minkler
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Michael Kirchberger
- Dialogue Editors
- Richard Quinn
- David Bergad
- Sound Effects Editor
- Jennifer Ware
- ADR
- Mixer:
- Thomas O'Connell
- Editors:
- Suzanne Fox
- Jeff Watts
- George Berndt
- Foley
- Artists:
- Margie O'Malley
- Marnie Moore
- Mixer:
- Frank Rinella
- Glass Blowing Consultants
- Daniel Crichton
- Robert Hilts
- Architectural Consultant
- Betty Wong
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Shane Cardwell
- Film Extract
- Of Human Bondage (1964)
- Cast
- Matthew Perry
- Oscar Novak
- Neve Campbell
- Amy Post
- Dylan McDermott
- Charles Newman
- Oliver Platt
- Peter Steinberg
- Cylk Cozart
- Kevin Cartwright
- John C. McGinley
- Strauss
- Bob Balaban
- Decker
- Deborah Rush
- Lenore
- Kelly Rowan
- Olivia Newman
- Rick Gomez
- Rick
- Patrick Van Horn
- Zack
- David Ramsey
- Bill
- Kent Staines
- gallery owner
- Ho Chow
- cabbie
- Michael Proudfoot
- diner waiter
- Shaun Smyth
- Robin Brûlé
- Brett Heard
- interns
- Les Porter
- Andrew Dolha
- Ned Vukovic
- Peter's friends
- Keith Kemps
- Lowell Conrad
- dinner guests
- Rumina Abadjieva
- reception guest
- Lindsey Connell
- newspaper reporter
- Katherine Steen
- beautiful girl
- Steve Richard
- weight lifter
- Stephanie Belding
- Joanne
- Ray Kahnert
- Jonas
- Sven van de Ven
- meeting leader
- Glen Peloso
- business man
- Barbara Gordon
- Jenny Novak
- Roger Dunn
- Edward Novak
- Meredith McGeachie
- Megan
- Marni Thompson
- Deborah Pollitt
- Anais Granofsky
- Amy's girlfriends
- Ed Sahely
- George
- Lindsay Leese
- Sandy
- Tom Forrest
- kissed guy
- Barbara Radecki
- TV reporter
- Shemekia Copeland
- blues singer
- Certificate
- 12
- Distributor
- Warner Bros Distributors (UK)
- 8,848 feet
- 98 minutes 19 seconds
- Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS
- In Colour
- Prints by
- Technicolor