Two Girls and a Guy (1998) [NC-17] ***

Carla (Heather Graham) and Louise (Natasha Gregson Wagner) are standing outside a New York City building. They discover that they're waiting for the same person, Blake (Robert Downey Jr.). It turns out that he's told them identical stories, and used identical expressions to express his love. Angrily they break into Blake's upstairs loft to wait for him.

Finally Blake arrives, and the two girls confront him; Carla wants to placate and understand him while Louise wants to confront, antagonize and abuse him. Blake tries every possible tactic to avoid being honest with them. He reminds them that he's an actor, and actors lie. He uses his anxiety about his sick mother to win their sympathy. He even fakes a suicide attempt. But gradually the truth emerges. Blake admits that he fell in love with both of them at the same time and just couldn't give either one up. He admits that in the ten months of their relationships, he's had sex with at least ten other women. Carla admits that she's had sex with four other men, and Louise, who is bisexual, admits to having had sex with three women. Carla suggests that maybe they are not capable of monogamy. Louise senses she's likely to be the odd girl out, so she suggests they form a threesome.

Are these three people capable of love or is it all just amoral sex? Is anything they tell each other the truth, or is it all lies and deception? Or is the answer simply that writer-director James Toback is a legendary misogynist (a man who hates women)? 

Labels: comedy, drama, satire
Internet Movie Database
Metacritic 66/100
Tomatometer (critics=52, viewers=42)
Blu-ray