Role Play Review

Streaming Movie Review - Prime Video - Comedy/Thriller

Blending genres is always tricky business, and the results are often a bit of a mixed bag if you will excuse the pun. Story formulas exist, and deviating from them can be disastrous or delightful. I am a hopeful movie watcher, so I am always interested to see how they turn out. Which is why I was anxious to see Thomas Vincent’s comedy/action movie “Role Play,” currently streaming on Prime Video.

Emma (Kaley Cuoco) and Dave Brackett (David Oyelowo) are a couple with a blended family. When Emma forgets their anniversary, she and Dave decide that they need to spice things up. They get a nice hotel room and choose to do a little role-playing at the bar. But Dave doesn’t realize that Emma has been role-playing their entire marriage because her actual job is that of a trained assassin. When Bob Kellerman (Bill Nighy) recognizes her and tries to collect the bounty on her head, Emma kills him, but in so doing, exposes her and their entire family.

Unfortunately, this was one of those movies that did not work with the blending of styles. It managed to be both an unfunny comedy and a tedious action film. Instead of delivering laughs and thrills, I struggled to connect with the story in any meaningful way. It’s never a good sign when you spend most of the movie wishing you were watching a similar film that got it right, but for much of the run time, I just wanted to watch James Cameron’s 1994 movie, “True Lies”, that managed to do everything better.

The performances were fairly lackluster. During the bar scene, you could see what might have been if there had been more to work with in Seth W. Owen’s script. Cuoco has solid comedy chops, but they were severely underused, and her ability to play an action star seemed like a stretch. The direction didn’t aid anything either, leaving the movie feeling stale and uninspired.

More than anything, this movie felt like it was playing everything too safe, so it never felt like there were any stakes. I recognize that putting children in peril can be off-putting to a large audience, but there could have been any number of scenarios that might have made this more entertaining than it was. Instead, this film felt interminable despite a run time of just 100 minutes. I think if either the comedy or the action had been more noteworthy, the whole movie would have been more fun. 

I appreciate it when filmmakers and actors stretch outside their comfort zones. Going beyond filmic conventions is a risk, and I applaud those who are willing to take it. That said, sometimes that risk doesn’t pay off, and in the case of “Role Play,” I think sticking with the same old, same old might have had better results.

This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on January 20, 2024.