Three To Tango Parent Guide

If you recall the 1980’s television series Three’s Company, then you aren’t likely to get left behind in the plot line of Three to Tango, even if you run out to get some popcorn.

Oscar (Matthew Perry) and his partner Peter (Oliver Platt) are two Chicago architects trying to win the bid to design a new cultural center, under the direction of local tycoon Charles Newman (Dylan McDermot). Their competition is a well-established company. But if they could get this project, it would launch their fledgling firm.

The pair is so eager to please that when Charles asks Oscar to watch over his mistress Amy (Neve Campbell) while he spends some quality time with his wife, Oscar agrees. What Oscar doesn’t know is that Charles believes he is gay (in reality, its Peter who’s the homosexual). That’s when things get complicated. Not wanting to risk the huge contract and upset the eccentric Charles, Oscar takes Amy under his arm—and eventually into his apartment.

Meanwhile, the project is gaining publicity, but Oscar’s design expertise is not what the media is focusing on. Instead it is his opportunities as a gay businessman. At he same time, he’s falling for Amy, and she would be falling for him too—except he’s gay… isn’t he?

For those younger audience members who spent their late teens swooning over Matthew Perry on Friends, the idea of having a heterosexual guarding the gorgeous mistress while pretending to be a homosexual may come across as a fresh idea. For the rest of us, this film is full of characters we’ve seen before, who are as fake as the bubbles glued to Neve Campbell’s breasts in a bathtub scene.

With the repeated misunderstandings of sexual orientation driving the plot and humor, this script falls flat. Obviously sexual themes are predominant, and although we never see any sexual actions on screen, none of these characters have a shred of moral conscience in the bedroom—or the office for that matter. You may want to give some thought before letting your family members tango with this video.

About author

Rod Gustafson

Rod Gustafson has worked in various media industries since 1977. He founded Parent Previews in 1993, and today continues to write and broadcast the reviews in newspapers, on radio and (of course) on the Internet. His efforts also include writing and researching media in all its forms and observing how it effects society and culture. He and his wife Donna have four children.