Role Play
Welcome Back! Welcome Back! Welcome Back! It feels like it has been a lifetime since I have reviewed a film this way. Through COVID and the subsequent years, it has felt like my keyboard was on the shelf for good. But here we are. Back in the saddle. Back like Jordan wearing the 4–5. It feels good. I’m sorry for the wait. I’m also sorry that the first film back isn’t a 5-star classic. One to hoot and holler for. Instead, we have Role Play.
I’m sure you’ve seen a version of this story before, as it seems to be one that Hollywood is currently in love with. Spy/Assassin/Whoever has changed and/or is hiding their identity from their family or a significant other when suddenly, their past has caught up with them. And who is coming after them? Well, in the recently released The Family Plan, it is the parental figure of our protagonist. In The Sleepover, it was her former lover. And in the British heist series Culprits, they were being tracked down because of a job they had done years before. Whatever the catalyst, the protagonist can no longer hold on to their secrets and has to come clean.
Emma Brackett (Kaley Cuoco) has been married to Dave (David Oyelowo) for seven years. They have two kids, a suburban home, and a great life. But when she forgets their wedding anniversary, they decide it is time to spice things up. They pretend to be strangers, meeting for the first time at the hotel bar. With the hotel picked and the babysitter hired, they set this plan in motion. And if it wasn’t for the mysterious Bob Kellerman (Bill Nighy) barging into their evening, it would have worked.
Bob’s intrusion opens the door for all of Emma’s secrets to fall out, but with them doesn’t come a reason we should cheer for her. Unlike the protagonists in the aforementioned peers of the genre, Emma hasn’t stopped her second life. We are told, conveniently and repeatedly, by her handler, Raj (Rudi Dharmalingam), that she has to continue to keep her family safe. She has to pay to keep herself hidden. But do we see her tire of leaving her family? No, she’s consumed by work. But has it affected her home life? Just the easily fixable rut and children that miss her but seem to be fine otherwise. Easy, clean, and digestible.
Cliched story, bloodless action, and actors you’ve seen be better in other things. The only aim of director Thomas Vincent and writer Seth Owen is to be background noise as you scroll through your phone in search of better entertainment. This film isn’t interested in interrogating the mind of a criminal having to hide who they are from someone they claim to love. It’s not even interested in why the person being lied to stays. It just wants you to watch it and not frown for an hour and 40 minutes. Sometimes that’s okay. Everyone likes a little mindless watching from time to time; but with a story this familiar, told often in funnier, more compelling ways, I’m just not sure this is worth the time.
I give it 2 out of 5 trash cans.
