for a film touted as exploring relationships and black sexuality , trois is surprisingly tame .
despite it 's lurid subject matter and it 's passing nod to fatal attraction ,
it moves along with flat , uninspired dialogue as it sets up a surprising climax that tries mightily to overthrow the considerable dead weight of the rest of the film .
freshly moved to atlanta , jermaine ( dourdan ) and his wife , jasmine ( moore ) , have the trappings of a perfect life .
they have a beautiful house in suburbia .
jermaine is a lawyer on the fast track at his firm .
jasmine is his supportive wife , who is finishing up her college degree .
in an opening montage via a home video of the pair , we see the unremarkable story of their marriage and early marital triumphs .
this is a couple that has it all .
into this eden slithers the lure of lust .
despite his outward appearance , jermaine reveals himself as selfish and covetous of his wife more as a possession than a person .
a glimmer of his true nature peeks out during an early sex scene with his wife as he goes about his business , oblivious to jasmine 's concerns .
we also find that he has been relentlessly asking jasmine to participate in a menage- a - trois , much to jasmine 's dismay .
as jermaine puts it , " do n't you want to be sexually free ?
"
jermaine shares his desire with co - worker terrence ( smith ) , who obligingly sets jermaine up with a woman who might be interested in just such an encounter .
the woman , jade ( palmer ) is a direct counterpoint to jasmine .
jade , at one point was a college student , too .
unlike jasmine , she found herself pregnant , dropped out of school and now struggles to make ends meet .
to further reinforce their differences , it 's revealed that jade is involved in a custody battle over her son .
inevitably , through liquor and a touch of duplicity on jermaine 's part , the forbidden act is consummated .
the aftermath of the encounter sidesteps into fatal attraction territory as acts of violence are perpetrated upon jermaine 's property with the hint that the violence may escalate .
by this point , trois shows itself to be a soap opera without the requisite melodrama : a fatal attraction without the social significance .
the exploration of relationships is strictly superficial and stereotypical .
jermaine comes off as insincere , sexually driven and selfish .
jasmine is bland and subservient .
jade comes off a bit sympathetically , but that is negated by her moral bankruptcy .
yet another tale of a sexually aggressive " dog " of a man who imposes his will upon his accommodating , innocent mate .
the last 10 minutes will undoubtly throw you a curve , but by this point , will you even care ?
if the rest of the movie was as dynamic as the ending , perhaps there could have been some freshness to it .
as it stands , trois is pretty standard fare .
the exploration of relationships is strictly superficial and stereotypical it moves along with flat , uninspired dialogue by this point , will you even care ? shows itself to be a soap opera without the requisite melodrama surprisingly tame bland and subservient pretty standard fare