Playing It Cool (formerly known as A Many Splintered Thing) is a 2015 American romantic comedy film directed by Justin Reardon and written by Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair. The film stars Chris Evans, Michelle Monaghan, Anthony Mackie, Aubrey Plaza, Patrick Warburton, Ashley Tisdale, Ioan Gruffudd, and Topher Grace. The film was released on video on demand on March 31, 2015 before a limited release on May 8, 2015 by Vertical Entertainment.
BASICS
Director: Justin Reardon
Writers: Chris Shafer, paul Vicknair
Music by: Jake Monaco
Cinematography: Jeff Cutter
Editor: Catherine Haight
Production companes: Voltage Pictures, Wonderland Sound and Vision
Distributor: Vertical Entertainment
Release: March 31, 2015
Language: English
Running time: 91:00 minutes
SYNPOSIS
Me (Evans) is a screenwriter who wants to write action flicks, but his agent, Bryan (Mackie), wants him to write a romcom first. However, He doesn’t believe in love and finds writing about romance difficult. But when he meets Her (Monaghan), he falls in love with her, only to discover that she is already engaged to Stuffy (Gruffudd).
CAST
Chris Evans as Me
Michelle Monaghan as Her
Aubrey Plaza as Mallory
Ioan Gruffudd as Stuffy
Anthony Mackie as Bryan
Topher Grace as Scott
Patrick Warburton as Dick
Martin Starr as Lyle
Luke Wilson as Samson
Philip Baker Hall as Granddad
Ashley Tisdale as herself
Matthew Morrison as himself
Scott Evans as Blissful Boy
Sarah Dumont as Cute Girl
Jaeden Liebher as 6 Year Old Me
Carmina Garay as 6 Year Old Her
PRE-PRODUCTION
The script for the film was originally titled A Many Splintered Thing and was first on The Black List and was a 2011 finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship.
FILMING
The film began filming in late 2012 in Los Angeles and completed in early 2013. The film is produced by Voltage Pictures and Wonderland Sound and Vision.
RELEASE
The film was released in Estonia on September 26, 2014, Latvia on October 17, 2014, South Korea on October 23, 2014 and Romania on December 26, 2014. The film was released in Sweden on February 26, 2015 on DVD and Blu-Ray. The film was also released in Bulgaria on March 6, 2015 and in Singapore on May 7, 2015. The film was scheduled to be released in Chile on May 28, 2015 and Brazil on June 11, 2015. on November 5, 2014 it was announced Vertical Entertainment had acquired US distribution rights for the film with a planned 2015 release. in February 2015, the film was released exclusively on DirecTV Cinema. The film was released on video on demand on March 31, 2015 before a limited release on May 8, 2015. The film premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival on April 11, 2015. The film was released in a limited release and on video on demand in Canada on February 27, 2015.
RECEPTION
The film was largely panned by critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 14%, based on 28 reviews with an average rating of 4/10. The website’s critical consensus reads, “Playing It Cool pits Chris Evans and Michelle Monaghan’s easy chemistry against a screenplay that tries too hard to be quirky and clever, and the results are disappointingly lukewarm.” On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 29 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating “generally unfavorable reviews”.
MARKETING
The international trailer was released on September 17, 2014.
HOME MEDIA
The film was released in Sweden on February 26, 2015 on DVD and Blu-Ray, and was scheduled to be released in the United States on June 16, 2015 on DVD. The film was released on DVD in Canada on May 5, 2015.
