Three Way

Some truly stupid behavior (excused, in part, by every criminal in this movie being a rank amateur) hampers an otherwise passable crime movie about sloppy blackmailing, sloppy kidnapping, and not-always-sloppy plots within plots. Despite the foolish actions, the dialogue and performances are good, especially those of Dominic Purcell and Gina Gershon. Ali Larter looks fantastic, and the locations are nice even if the time-lapse scenery jumps get a little tiresome by movie's end.

Worth a look for fans of the genre, but by no means the soft-core porn flick some posts here (and the title - I wish!) suggest. Well, one scene, and no, it features neither Gershon nor Larter.

Yes, I myself, a huge Gina Gershon fan, was quite disappointed.The one reason I rented this movie was because of her and I guess she obviously had some free time or was offered a nice monetary payday. The biggest issue I had about 3 Way was the lack of concentration and focus regarding the continuity. The black pullover ski cap with the bright and very noticeable yellow smily face that was on Gina during her introduction to Dominic Purcel.(Who?) The face was visible as the hat was pulled up to her nose. The very next scene the face was gone but the ski cap was still on and pulled up to the same spot. Whether the hat was turned around or replaced, this was a very sloppy and negligent error in principle shooting and post production.

THREE WAY is a modern-day attempt to update the classic 1940s film noir genre to a modern setting, featuring a protagonist up to his neck in murky dealings as he attempts to turn a planned kidnapping to his own advantage. The title and the inclusion of some extraneous sex scenes make this look like an attempt to plough the same furrow as WILD THINGS, but this is nowhere near as good.

Dominic Purcell's protagonist is one of the worst things about this: he's ineffective and weak throughout, and you just wish he'd man up and throw a punch here and there. None of the other cast members are particularly good, with Gina Gerson's role a limited one - she seems to be included for name value alone.

Although the convoluted plotting could have been interesting in better hands, often the writing feels lazy here and many sequences which should be suspenseful just aren't - they're boring instead. After I finished watching, I couldn't help but consider this a waste of time.

"3-Way" is not as good as the cover makes it look. The director's "hip" visual style is only obtrusive. For example, in the beginning we can't be sure if the action is taking place in a motel room or on a boat! But even when the pieces start falling together, the story only gets stupider. The dialogue is often idiotic and the plot is contrived ("I was in the right place at the right time") and convoluted; for a "plan" movie to work, you have to believe that the plan has at least some chance to succeed - the plan in this film seems doomed from the beginning. Dominic Purcell is a charisma-free lead, all the girls are pretty (especially Joy Bryant), but the best acting job by far is done by a really creepy Dwight Yoakam. (**)

1st watched 5/29/2006 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Scott Ziehl): So-so straight to video story about blackmailers being blackmailed by a man who overhears their plot to kill the man's current wife and receive the inheritance. The man who overhears the plot is played by Dominic Purcell as Lew, who just happens to have a checkered past himself and is looking for a way to disappear and thinks he's found it. Other characters enter the story including the brother of someone that the main character supposedly killed and is played by Dwight Youkim and the wife who is supposed to be ofted, played by Gina Gershon. These two more well known names have smaller parts but the DVD box tries to sell them as stars in the movie. Joy Bryant has a bigger role as Lew's girlfriend and partner in his scheme and does a good job in her character. The problem with the movie is that the story doesn't keep your interest and Purcell doesn't do a very good job of carrying the movie. He plays his part half-heartedly and the movie moves along at the same speed making for a very, as I said before, so-so movie.