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Movie Review

Two Girls and A Guy (1997)

April 24, 1998

FILM REVIEW; The Love Triangle as One-Man Show

Published: April 24, 1998

''I've got the greatest boyfriend in the whole world!'' exclaims Lou (Natasha Gregson Wagner) while waiting on that boyfriend's doorstep to surprise him when he returns home. ''Omigawd!'' she says moments later, having discovered that Carla (Heather Graham), the other woman parked outside the building, is waiting for the same two-timing man.

Introduced by this coincidence, the two women begin comparing notes in a lofty, wordy fashion (great sex is ''matter returning to its pure state of unison after a temporary separation of time and space'') that does not bode well for James Toback's ''Two Girls and a Guy.'' But then something wonderful happens: the guy appears, and he really is Mr. Right as far as this agile, mercurial three-character movie is concerned. Robert Downey Jr.'s Blake Allen is enough of a raging dynamo to find the dark humor and desperate romanticism at the heart of Mr. Toback's ego trip of a premise, and to make Blake sympathetic too. Played less winningly, he could infuriate women and turn men green with envy; played by Mr. Downey, he's a bristling, clever, volatile one-man show.

When actors fall into tabloid hell, their careers too often are already on the skids. But Mr. Downey, who recently completed jail time for drug-related problems, proves again here that he is, professionally speaking, at the height of his powers. ''Two Girls and a Guy'' bursts into life as soon as this wildly inventive actor saunters into the story bellowing Vivaldi, and from that point on, it hangs on his every word. The two women here, especially the talented and ravishing Ms. Graham, aren't able to do anything of comparable interest. Mostly they just browbeat Blake and visibly attest to his good fortune.

Treating sex mostly as a philosophical construct (despite a histrionically passionate eight-minute pas de deux between Ms. Graham and Mr. Downey, who keep their clothes on), the film backs Blake into a corner and then watches him squirm out of it. The two women break into Blake's loft, which is a shrine to his various predilections (a film reel on the mantel, Oscar Wilde and ''Jules and Jim'' on the walls) and which has the CD player too appropriately loaded with ''You Don't Know Me.''

Lou and Carla then spend a brief getting-acquainted period that is devoted to marveling about Blake's virility and treachery. Then they hide and watch him bound in, leave phone messages for his beloved mother and two girlfriends, perform a little show at the piano and otherwise blaze with flamboyance. Only when Carla steps into his line of vision does he falter. ''Wow, you've never looked this phenomenal,'' he flatters her. Then, carefully: ''Did I give you a key?''

Mollifying Carla with a needless speech about the importance of sexual fidelity, Blake is naturally dismayed to find that Lou is on the premises too. But he rallies fast, and from this point the film spins through the elaborate loft (its colorful fourth character) with much more versatility than might be expected.

Shot mostly in sequence over only a week and a half by Barry Markowitz (who also provided vigorous camera work for ''Sling Blade'' and ''The Apostle'') ''Two Girls and a Guy'' works a lot of visual variety into its single setting. By the time Mr. Downey positions himself near a three-paneled bathroom mirror that offers multiple reflections of him and the women, the loft really does seem well-populated. The film is small, but claustrophobia isn't a problem.

Blake and the girlfriends spend most of their time discussing the thorny issue of fidelity and wondering what meaning, if any, it has for them. ''The truth is, I meant everything I said to each of you at the time I said it,'' he says, and for all its windage, the film is essentially a validation for that point of view. As Blake charms his way out of his enviable problem, his elaborate mea culpa is punctuated by pointed references to his ailing mother, whose central role in his life presumably explains a lot. The mother's situation is the closest thing to a plot device in a film that is all mood and conversation.

Mr. Toback films the actresses raptly (Ms. Graham has the dreaminess of Robert Altman's leading ladies) without creating much sense of who Lou and Carla are. Beyond being in Blake's sexual thrall, neither has much in the way of distinguishing characteristics. From time to time, Blake is off camera long enough to let the film's cluelessness about its women stand out. What do they do after having processed the news about Blake's duplicity? They do what suits an overheated male daydream: drink, giggle and play with each other's hair.

''Two Girls and a Guy'' is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes profanity, talk about sex and a two-character scene depicting clothed actors engaging in oral and anal sex, which nearly brought the film an NC-17 rating.


Written and directed by James Toback; director of photography, Barry Markowitz; edited by Alan Oxman; music by Barry Cole; production designer, Kevin Thompson; produced by Edward R. Pressman and Chris Hanley; released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Running time: 92 minutes. This film is rated R.

WITH: Natasha Gregson Wagner (Lou), Heather Graham (Carla), Angel David (Tommy), Frederique Van Der Wal (Carol) and Robert Downey Jr. (Blake).

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