Played and Betrayed

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I will get straight to the point: The first 20 minutes of the film started off intriguing. Then it all went downhill. Here are the main reasons why I call this film silly: 1) A married couple (couple #1) with a rocky relationship goes on vacation to England. Upon arrival at the hotel, they meet a suspicious couple (couple #2) and, while the four of them talk, the hotel concierge approached the group and tells couple #1, "Your room is ready. You are in room 12345." Hotels NEVER say another guest's room number aloud--not even to the guest--and especially not in front of other guests. But that is just an appetizer. 2). Couple #1 has dinner with shady couple #2, who introduce themselves as a "celebrity stylist" and an "A&R director" for a record company. When #1 asks #2 if they have any famous clients, Both members of #2 say, "We can't say, we're under non-disclosure." BULL----! I know several people who have those occupations and they can't WAIT to tell you who their clients are. But couple #1 believed them and was not even suspicious. This just shows how ignorant the screenwriters are and/or made couple #1's characters. 3) The husband in shady couple #2 fakes killing his wife, calls couple #1 to his hotel room to help him dispose of the body, and, instead of calling the cops, couple #1 agrees to help--and take the body out to the car themselves!!! As if that's not silly enough, they were in the room with the "dead" woman for several minutes standing over her. Didn't they see her move or breathe during several minutes from being in the room with her, taking our down to the car, and putting her in the trunk! RIDICULOUS! Oh, and the reason they agreed? Shady husband #2 recorded them having sex on the balcony and threatened to tell their bosses. I'm not kidding! 4) Couple #1 track down another woman who was scammed by couple #2, so much so, that the woman accidentally killed her husband with the drugs the shady couple gave her to give her husband during sex. They helped her cover up the death, and ... that's it. There was nothing else about that woman or couple in the film. 5) Ok ... the plot. SMH. Couple #1 track down couple #2 to retrieve their sex taps, drive to their house ... wearing cliche burglar outfits: black hats, black shades, black clothing, and rubber gloves!!! Then, Husband #1--who is a wuss--finds a gun in couple #2's house and pulls the gun on them to make them confess. No, really. Then (cliche) the 2 men struggle for the gun, it goes off and kills shady husband #2. BUT GET THIS: As shady wife cries over her dead shady husband, the sweet, thoughtful, afraid wife #1--calmly and matter-of-factly says, basically, see what happens when you treat people badly. WHAT????!!!! No emotion? Your husband just killed a man in front of you!!! It turns out that shady couple #2 are both psychiatrists who used fake identities to help other struggling couples strengthen their relationships. THE END.

I will get straight to the point: The first 20 minutes of the film started off intriguing. Then it all went downhill. Here are the main reasons why I call this film silly: 1) A married couple (couple #1) with a rocky relationship goes on vacation to England. Upon arrival at the hotel, they meet a suspicious couple (couple #2) and, while the four of them talk, the hotel concierge approached the group and tells couple #1, "Your room is ready. You are in room 12345." Hotels NEVER say another guest's room number aloud--not even to the guest--and especially not in front of other guests. But that is just an appetizer. 2). Couple #1 has dinner with shady couple #2, who introduce themselves as a "celebrity stylist" and an "A&R director" for a record company. When #1 asks #2 if they have any famous clients, Both members of #2 say, "We can't say, we're under non-disclosure." BULL----! I know several people who have those occupations and they can't WAIT to tell you who their clients are. This just shows how ignorant the screenwriters are and/or made couple #1's characters. 3) The husband in shady couple #2 fakes killing his wife, calls couple #1 to his hotel room to help him dispose of the body, and, instead of calling the cops, they agree to help--and take the body out to the car themselves!!! As if that's not silly enough, they were in the room with the "dead" woman for several minutes standing over her. Didn't they see her move or breathe during several minutes from being in the room with her, taking our down to the car, and putting her in the trunk! RIDICULOUS! Oh, and the reason they agreed? Shady husband #2 recorded them having sex on the balcony. I'm not kidding! 4) Couple #1 track down another woman who was scammed by couple #2, so much so, that the woman accidentally killed her husband with the shady couple gave her to give her husband during sex. They helped her cover up the death, and ... that's it. There was nothing else about that woman or couple in the film. 5) Ok ... the plot SMH. Couple #1 track down couple #2 to retrieve their sex taps, drive to their house ... wearing cliche burglar outfits: black hats, black shades, black clothing, and rubber gloves!!! Then, Husband #1--who is a wuss--finds a gun in couple #2's house and pulls the gun on them to make them confess. No, really. Then (cliche) the 2 men struggle for the gun, it goes off and kills shady husband #2. BUT GET THIS: As shady wife cries over her dead shady husband, wife #1--calmly and matter-of-factly says, basically, see what happens when you treat people badly. WHAT????!!!! No emotion? Your husband just killed a man in front of you!!! It turns out that shady couple #2 are both psychiatrists who used fake identities to help other struggling couples strengthen their relationships. THE END.

Directed by Jaira Thomas and written by Briana Cole (The Marriage Pass), this finds Brandon (Asan N'Jie) and Andrea (Savannah Steyn) going on a vacation to the UK to try and fix their marriage. He's a workaholic and it seems like whatever got them together is long gone. Even when they make their way to their resort, he's answering work calls. Things change when they meet Percy (Solomon Israel) and Chanelle (Adwoa Akoto), a married couple who encourage them both to get what they want. For Brandon, that may be a watch and standing up for himself. For Andrea, it's finding what she feels is lost from the marriage. After a night of getting their groove back on, they're shocked when Percy calls them to his room. He's killed Chanelle and needs help getting rid of the body. From that giallo-esque beginning, Played and Betrayed finds two couples switching the dynamic, going from innocent to role player and getting Brandon and Andrea closer while they deal with something they never thought they'd ever get into and emerge as people -- and a couple -- they never thought they were. I don't know if I totally believe the changes that they go through in just a few weeks, much less the way they bring in the story of how Percy and Chanelle helped Tia (Lola Wayne) kill off her horrible husband, but I guess when you go so far down the path, you have no problem doing some dark deeds and being just fine with it. By the end, it seems like our protagonists have become our antagonists.