Film Review: Playing House (2010)

Rate This Movie

SYNOPSIS:

Mitch and Jen are a very young and recently married couple who have found themselves in financial trouble already with the purchase of a perfect house. Mitch proposes that his old friend Danny move in to help them with the money troubles, any of us who have seen any of these kinds of films already has some kind of idea of what exactly is about to happen to the young couple.

REVIEW:

“I really love your house…..I want it!”

Directed by: T. Vaughn
Starring: Craig WelzBacher, Sarah Prikryl, Mayra Leal and Matt Lusk

T. Vaughan’s Playing House likes to mess with its viewer, almost anyone who reads the synopsis of this film has some kind of idea of what to expect with the film however Vaughan throws a left at you, even with the left thrown however the film does tend to be quite predictable and it’s the same story many of us have seen before.

Mitch and Jen are a young married couple who are struggling with money troubles mainly brought on by the perfect house that the two have decided to purchase to start their family. The house really is beautiful however with several large rooms and an outdoor pool. You would think that financial problems wouldn’t be harming the young couple however since Mitch is a doctor and Jen is a chef, in fact their jobs seem to cause more problems for the couple than anything since the two of them rarely have time together. Mitch proposes to ease the financial troubles by having his friend Danny move in. 

Danny moves in and it’s only a matter of time before Vaughan starts playing with the viewer. Danny creeps around the house making eyes at Jen and of course this causes many a viewer to instantly assume that Danny is going to be the “fatal attraction”. It is only after Danny meets a cute young woman named Blaire that the viewer is actually introduced to the true evil of the film. Vaughan plays with his characters putting them in various situations for instance Mitch runs into trouble after losing a patient and is even threatened with a law suit that could end his career. Jen is offered a job at her own restaurant which would leave her with even less time with her husband. Danny struggles with relationships and tends to live in the past; he likes to point out several times in the film that Mitch was actually involved with another woman before he even met Jen at a bar. Blaire is introduced and it is obvious from her first scene that she doesn’t mind running around most of the film half naked, which is quite good on the eyes.

It doesn’t take long for Blaire to make herself quite at home in the young newlyweds house. In fact it is only in a few scenes that Vaughan already has her starting to flirt with Mitch. When Mitch loses his patient it is Blaire he confides in instead of his wife. Danny of course makes matters worse by informing Blaire that Mitch was involved already when he met Jen, a piece of knowledge that Blaire takes to heart when she decides which one she really wants.

Vaughan sets up suspense throughout the film by having the house infested with rats very early in the movie. He also has the characters each and every one stalking and spying on each other throughout the film. In one scene Mitch catches Blaire and Danny having sex in their pool, instead of getting upset like most normal home owners would however Mitch attempts to seduce a very tired Jen which leads to more tension between the young couple.

Suspense however is also littered with quite a bit of humor throughout the beginning of Playing House setting the viewer up for quite the roller coaster. When the rats are found in the house Jen screams and instead of being alarmed by the rodents Danny seems more amused by the fact that the young wife was actually cussing. Danny and Mitch’s friendship with their video game consol also leads to quite a few humorous scenes that will make many a group of “bro’s” chuckle. By far the most amusing use of humor in the film is when Jen tells Danny that he should use the internet for dating. I have a feeling that quite a few people can relate to Danny as he searches through the many profiles on his computer and then proceeds to act like he is speaking to an imaginary girl.

T. Vaughan’s Playing House once again stalks on the same ground as other films such as Single White Female and Fatal Attraction but does throw a left at you when you think that you have it all figured out. The characters are likeable and their situations are quite believable which does make the film quite enjoyable, its hardly original but at least it does keep your attention better than most anything released by big time Hollywood these days.

Playing House (2010)