Role Play review
Like its title basically suggests, Role Play can’t figure out its identity. Is it an assassin thriller with some comedic elements? Or is it an action comedy that goes off track going on an ill-advised path trying to be serious? Either way, the film rarely feels settled into any direction causing for serious tonal whiplash.
Emma (Kayley Cuoco) has a basic suburban life married to photojournalist Dave (David Oyelowo, The Water Man) and raising their two kids (Lucia Aliu and Regan Bryan-Gudgeon). But Emma’s got a secret that’s getting increasingly harder to keep — she’s an assassin taking out high priced targets for big paydays. This does raise some serious questions why Emma and Dave would settle for living in New Jersey in a quaint neighborhood.
After forgetting their anniversary, Emma offers to spice things up…with a little role play. They’ll rendezvous at a plush hotel and act like total strangers swept away in a passionate night. Only catch is Emma gets made by a fellow assassin (Bill Nighy, Living) who’s more than happy to bring her back in to her ex-agency.
Settling that tiny problem puts Emma in a larger set of crosshairs forcing her to go on the run while her old gang, led by Gwen (Connie Nielsen, Wonder Woman 1984), start tracking her down.
Director Thomas Vincent (Bodyguard) and screenwriter Seth W. Owen make the reveal too early so the viewers get the twist right away. This approach makes Dave look somewhat clueless instead of having Dave and the audience learn of Emma’s deception at the same time.
Owen needed to give the script something more than a premise. Whether that’s forcing Dave to play spy games a la True Lies, both spouses being spies like Mr. and Mrs. Smith or Emma having to go all Momma Bear the entire film something more was needed.
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Vincent and Owen want to have the film both ways — as an action/comedy and an action/drama. The constant shifts in tone make it hard to get a read on some scenes — is it supposed to be hah-hah funny or taken seriously. Ah, a character just takes a bullet through the head — it’s a serious scene.
With his experience shooting Bodyguard, Vincent seems to want to lean more into a serious spy thriller. That could have easily worked as Oyelowo wouldn’t have had any trouble summoning the necessary gravitas to make this betrayal sting in full dramatic sense. And Cuoco accounts herself credibly in the action sequences.
Nielsen, however, just doesn’t come off as the intimidating final boss. The big confrontation of Gwen villain-monologuing Emma lacks any kind of excitement or enthusiasm. Nielsen is going all David Carradine in Kill Bill Vol. 2 with no effort put into properly developing Emma and Gwen’s connection.
Role Play also struggles with the comedic moments. They require characters acting in a manner essential to moving the story along instead of them behaving more sensibly. Considering the comedy imbalance, let’s say 35% skews to a more comedic slant, it might as well have been ditched all the same.
Oyelowo is game in these rare comedy moments. Maybe focusing more on Dave’s efforts to reconcile his image of Emma with reality might have played better since Emma only gets one intriguing action scene before the big showdown.
Role Play could have stood out in the undercover family spy genre with some fresh approach beyond waffling on if it’s a comedy or an action film.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Photo Credit: Studiocanal
Role Play is now available to watch on Amazon Prime.
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