Two Can Play That Game

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A snappily fun Mantrap Movie, as films about husband-hunting gals are known, is that rare hybrid of romantic comedy and Super Bowl.

Boston Globe Jonathan Perry

In addition to the film's two extremely likable stars, the strong supporting cast features a who's who of rising African-American actors.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie does have charm and moments of humor, but what it doesn't have is romance.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The movie still manages to unearth laughs, some of them pretty big, especially once Shanté's program is under way.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Writer-director Mark Brown ruptures and restores the realism in this romantic comedy with ease, dispensing earnest wisdom with a little tongue in cheek instead of undermining it with a lot of irony.

TV Guide Stephen Miller

A sassy romantic battle of the sexes with a refreshing African-American slant.

Portland Oregonian Gary Dowell

An endearing romantic comedy that pokes fun at the ridiculous things people do for love.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Women may appear a bit smarter here, but both sexes are portrayed as superficial and silly.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

The best scenes are the ones that Fox shares with Tamala Jones, Wendy Raquel Robinson and the full-figured Monique as her sassy girlfriends. There's a ripe, crackling spontaneity when these women get together.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Along comes Two Can Play That Game to demonstrate that antifeminist silliness is color-blind.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Ultimately feels somewhat overprocessed, and its humor is a little too broad at times -- it probably crosses the acceptable threshold of penis and boob jokes.

Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour

There probably isn't another actress anywhere who could make that corny self-advertisement work. And there definitely isn't another actress who could make such an overbearing heroine worth watching for an hour and a half.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

A likable, featherweight romantic comedy that hardly asks to be taken seriously, but its very triviality is, in some ways, quite significant.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The characters are so cartoonish, it's hard to care on any level -- except that it wastes such talented performers.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Aside from the shamelessly promoted corporate sponsors, nobody emerges from this game a winner. But the biggest losers are the ones who paid good money to watch it.

LA Weekly Mark Olsen

Ultimately neither freewheeling enough to work as a diverting entertainment nor barbed enough to strike home as any sort of social commentary.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Doesn't anyone get sick of this same old routine?

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

Too bad very few of these high jinks are actually funny -- the outtakes at the end of the film suggest a more relaxed ensemble vibe that the film proper was unable to retain.

Chicago Tribune Loren King

Throws its obvious predecessor, "Waiting to Exhale," into relief, making that 1995 syrupy revenge fantasy look positively Shakespearean next to the moronic Two Can Play That Game.

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

It's the summer's most disingenuous movie -- a real achievement in a waning season that included Tim Burton's "Banana Splits" remake.

Variety Robert Koehler

Few recent movies have conceived their central female character more contemptuously -- a fanatic for a lifestyle that appears to have come from the bestselling "The Rules."