By Biray Alsac
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 28, 1998

Three's a Crowd

It's about time a film came out that tackled the question of honesty in relationships without trying to bypass taboo dialogue in the name of political correctness. "Two Girls and A Guy," a relatively short but thorough exploration of this question, pushes the boundaries and adds new depth to what we relate to as romantic comedy - it's a great attempt at a more modern post-romantic comedy genre.

"Two Girls and A Guy" is about a struggling actor named Blake (Robert Downey Jr.) who, for ten months, secretly dates Carla (Heather Graham) and Lou (Natasha Gregson Wagner) at the same time. Both women, positive of their stable, loving, monogamous relationship with Blake, are shocked to discover the other - outside his apartment, awaiting his arrival from a two-week long business trip.

When Blake comes home he definitely gets what he deserves: a mouthful of questions, comments, insults, profanity and, of course, the common attack on his penis size. Although he is in a no-win situation, caught in his own lies, he hopes to gain some type of self-respect as he is verbally ripped apart by the two women.

The pace of the story, the tension between the characters and the intensity of the situation begin to climax once Carla and Lou discover that they've been tricked, lied to and used to satisfy Blake's desires. Tackling questions of revenge, hate, torture, love, threesomes, competition, truth and lies, the girls wait in his apartment, preparing an attack on their cheating boyfriend.

This movie is more than just a male bashing session, although it seems to start off that way. We know how emotional and physical elements are heightened and strained in relationships between people. But sometimes it gets frustrating when we see Hollywood sensationalize relationships and make them out to be this simple, all-about-love, black and white, happy romantic ending, stereotypical emotionless attraction between two characters.

"Two Girls and A Guy" is different because it truly takes the time to fully embellish and create a believable story and genuine, multi-dimensional characters. The film is set in only one location, Blake's apartment, an unusual approach which effectively eliminates miscellaneous characters and subplots - conventions that films of this type often employ to lighten up more serious human issues.

"Two Girls and A Guy" does not digress from the three characters. The dialogue is intelligently written, remarkably witty, and appears, at times, to be improvised.

Despite the obvious setbacks Downey Jr. has endured during his career, this film could possibly be a light of hope that his talents have not gone to total waste. The role of Blake is so parallel to Downey's true life persona, it is often creepy to see him psychoanalyze and face himself through this character.

"Two Girls and A Guy" was written and directed by James Toback, who has received Academy Award nominations for his screenplay work for "Bugsy." Toback's direction in this film works brilliantly on screen. He really allows Downey to experiment with his character and creates a lot of room for improvisation among the actors.

Unfortunately, the technical and aesthetic qualities of the film do not rank as high as the overall character and story development. Strange lighting schemes are used, presumably to create the desired natural look; the result is confusing and negatively affects the mood of the film.

"Two Girls and A Guy" is definitely not for everyone. The film lends itself to a young, though mature, crowd; the kind of people who are dealing directly with the types of relationship/personal issues addressed in the film. And for those of you who are expecting some type of threesome action, this film does not cater to those curiosities - if that's what you're looking for, just go see "Wild Things."