Film

The Players

Name: The Players
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2012
Cast: Jean Dujardin, Gilles Lellouche, Géraldine Nakache, Alexandra Lamy, Priscilla de Laforcade

Comedy
Dip in and out

A French comedy that doesn't so much tell a story as detonate one: two charming serial cheaters (Dujardin and Lellouche) essentially play everyone in eight interconnected vignettes about infidelity, desire, and the gap between how men think they behave and how they actually do. It's funny, crude, and restless—structured less like a film and more like a nightclub sets itself on fire.

TMDb rating

2.4

If you liked this

Le Divorce2003

Frances and the ensemble prowl Paris in sharp, witty scenes about marriage, betrayal, and keeping face. Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts navigate the same social comedy terrain, watching adultery from multiple angles with dry intelligence and style.

But Whit Stillman's particular brand of sophisticated observation moves slowly. If you want plot momentum or emotional stakes, you'll find it diffuse instead.

In Good Company2004

Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid play a workplace romance that splinters marriages and reputations. Like The Players, it's genuinely funny about the self-delusion men construct around their own behaviour, but warmer and more forgiving.

But It settles into conventional rom-com shapes by the end. The social critique softens when it matters most.

Heartbeats2010

Xavier Dolan's gorgeous, melancholic portrait of two friends destroyed by desire for the same person. It shares The Players' obsession with how attraction warps judgment, but filters everything through style and genuine heartbreak instead of laughs.

But Beautiful doesn't always mean engaging. The pacing is deliberate to the point of drift, and some viewers find the emotional register frustratingly remote.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Players

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

All About Them2015

Both use comedy as a vehicle for examining how men and women lie to themselves about desire; Mouret just asks whether anyone can stop.

Emmanuel Mouret's film about three people trying to navigate desire, honesty, and the rules of attachment. It takes the apparatus of The Players—smart characters performing for each other—and asks what happens when everyone stops performing and admits what they actually want. Tender, intelligent, funny in a completely different register.

But It's a thinking film about relationships that operates almost entirely through dialogue and glance. If you're watching for plot or physical comedy, you'll find it too interior and talkative.

Weekend2011

Andrew Haigh's portrait of two men meeting and falling apart over 48 hours. Both films use a confined timeframe to examine attraction, performance, and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are. Devastating where The Players is comic.

But It's a kitchen-sink drama about working-class gay men. If you want French glamour and farce, you won't find either here.

The Good Girl2002

Jake Gyllenhaal and Aniston in a small-town affair that sours everyone involved. Like The Players, it's genuinely interested in infidelity as a state of mind—how people rationalize, deceive themselves, and believe their own stories.

But It predates modern cinematography and indie sensibilities; some visual choices feel dated. The moralism creeps in by the end.

Chaos2000

Gaspar Noé's brutal, fragmented film about sex, violence, and urban alienation. Both films refuse to prettify desire or give their characters moral cover, though Noé goes places The Players treats as comedy.

But This is genuinely difficult viewing—non-linear, extremely graphic, and designed to upset. It's not entertainment in any conventional sense.

Sexy Beast2001

Ben Kingsley as a friend who arrives and poisons everything—crude, performative, destroying the comfortable lies his hosts have constructed. Same DNA as The Players: men performing versions of themselves until something shatters the illusion.

But It's deliberately ugly and mean-spirited. Some of the aggression feels like the point rather than critique, and that can curdle the fun.

The Last Seduction1994

Linda Fiorentino as a woman who uses male desire as a weapon. It flips The Players' perspective—instead of charming cheaters, you're watching someone dismantle men through their own infidelity and stupidity.

But Stylish '90s neo-noir that sometimes prioritizes cool over character. The femme fatale can feel more like a concept than a person.

Loot2022

Both watch intelligent people perform false versions of themselves for advantage, but Loot asks what costs that performance actually extracts.

An Apple+ series about a newly divorced woman navigating money, power, and the versions of herself she performs in different rooms. It shares The Players' dark comedy about performance and self-deception, but shifts the perspective to someone actually watching through the lies rather than telling them. Sharp, contemporary, funny about how people construct identity.

But It's recent streaming television with a prestige cast. If you're looking for the anarchic, anything-goes energy of The Players, this is much more controlled and aimed at a specific demographic.