Some Girl(s): The Shallow End of the Dating Pool

Ever think it might be a good idea to look up an ex-love whose heart you broke years ago and ask if you can get together? You know, just to see how the other person is doing. Maybe get some needed closure.

Don't.

It's a horrible idea. Don't ever do it.

Because, believe it or not, the other person has actually moved on. Yes, I know. As difficult as that is to believe, it's true.

Neil Labute's very funny and smart new comedy, Some Girl(s), has that scenario played out four, count 'em, four times, as one terribly clueless groom-to-be arranges reunions with the women he left behind. But don't expect an insightful exploration of male/female relationships here. This is standard 3-laughs-to-a page comedy with a smattering of sensitivity (female sensitivity, of course) to give each scene sufficient texture. Like its central character, Some Girl(s) is attractive and entertaining, but don't expect it to stick with you.

The generically named Guy is a male in a Neil LaBute play so you know he's a disgusting excuse for a human being. But as played by Eric McCormack in director Jo Bonney's arch and swift production, Guy seems… I don't want to say "likeable", so why don't we go with "too shallow to know he's insensitive."

A writer by trade, Guy, who habitually refers to past loves as "some girl", has gained a bit of notoriety with stories based on experiences from his flings and romances. ("A fearless cartographer of the soul, " is how one critic describes him.) The four-scene play is set in hotel rooms in four cities, as the mid-30's bachelor, about to marry a 22-year-old, embarks on a mission which he claims is all part of, "This honesty thing I'm working on."

In Seattle he greets Sam (Brooke Smith), the high school sweetheart he dumped a bit too close to prom night. Sam has grown into the average hometown suburban housewife Guy suspected she would always become. It's a life she proudly defends but LaBute, and especially Smith, make it tragically clear that, even if she's not exactly still in love with Guy, she's frustrated by the missed opportunity to be a part of his exciting world.

Next stop is Chicago, where the frisky Tyler (Judy Reyes) is ready to pick up their sexually charged college relationship right where they left off, blowing cigarette smoke into his mouth as a form of foreplay. But the discovery that, although she had free reign of his body, Guy's heart was elsewhere while they were together, makes her mood go up in… you know.

Fran Drescher is calculatingly cool and aloof as Lindsay, the married Bostonian college professor with whom Guy would regularly meet for hotel liaisons. Her husband, who stuck by her after learning of the affair, waits outside as she exerts her advantage with a bit of sexual blackmail.

With each scene, LaBute matches Guy with an ex of a progressively higher degree of sophistication and ability to hurt him. And although we get hints that he's acting more out of selfish interests than a real desire to heal wounds (When Sam asks him if he took another girl to her prom he answers with a Bill Clinton-ish, "I never asked another girl to the prom.") it isn't until he encounters college girlfriend Bobbi (Maura Tierney), now a successful doctor in Los Angeles, that he's match with someone so intelligent, forcefully honest and completely over him that his ability to pass himself off as a reformed heel whose fear of commitment caused him to make some cowardly mistakes has no effect.

Mimi O'Donnell provides some terrific character-defining costumes and Neil Patel's adaptable set provides some laughs between scenes as its converted into four character-less hotel rooms. Robert Kaplowitz's sound design includes some interesting choices. I'm not positive, but at a point when Guy is quickly flipping through TV channels with his remote, I thought I heard a snippet of a Will and Grace episode.

Perhaps Some Girl(s) could have been a deeper, more insightful play, but the fact that it isn't shouldn't be seen as a fault. It's an enjoyable evening with a fine cast of actors, all experienced in television sitcoms, getting their laughs believably with easily recognizable characters. It's also an excellent play to see on a first date. Your companion's reaction to the piece may help you determine if you'll want to bother with a second one.

Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Eric McCormack and Fran Drescher

Bottom: Eric McCormack and Maura Tierney

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