Playdate review – seriously no fun at all (2025)
Playdate is a maniacal and diabolical way to spend 93 minutes.
It’s way too much of everything. The jokes are too silly for an action comedy and the plot is too complex for this slapstick level comedy. Playdate isn’t a complete loss, however. Alan Ritchson (Reacher) gives an inspired over the top performance that’s a fun departure from his normal action hero roles.
Brian (Kevin James, Guns Up) is trying hard to connect with his stepson Lucas (Benjamin Pajak), whose athletic prowess is only slightly worse than his dancing. At least Brian’s wife, Emily (Sarah Chalke) recognizes the effort he’s made to bond with her son.
In an unnecessary sequence to double down on the fact that Brian doesn’t always stand up for himself, he gets fired for refusing to cook the books. That gives him plenty of time to spend with Lucas, who’s home from school for the day.
To kill some time, Brian takes Lucas to the park and meets the Mami Mafia headed by Leslie (Isla Fisher, Now You See Me Now You Don’t).
By this point in Playdate, director Luke Greenfield has introduced a number of quirky scenarios and wacky scenarios — none of which play into the larger scope of the film. They’re just loud distractions to help establish the film’s wholly chaotic tone.
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After escaping the mommies, Brian and Lucas encounter Jeff (Ritchson) and his son, CJ (Banks Pierce). Thrilled to meet another kid his age who doesn’t treat him like an outcast, Lucas is ecstatic at the suggestion of spending the day with his new friend. Brian is less enthusiastic about spending time with the overly friendly gym-bro Jeff.
It doesn’t take long for Brian’s suspicions to be proven right as he slowly starts to learn the truth about Jeff and CJ’s relationship. Just as armed goons arrive looking for CJ.
At this point, Greenfield ups the wackiness and largely sticks into the straight up absurd lane.
Jeff speeds the minivan through a crowded suburban street with little regard for babies in strollers, girls at a lemonade stand, a neighborhood crosswalk. In another wild sequence, Jeff starts ramming into a car with a child inside. Clearly, he’s not trying to kill the kid, but it’s a weird scene. This doesn’t show Jeff in a particularly good light and makes Brian justified for wanting to get himself and Lucas away from this maniac.
If absolutely nothing else, Ritchson gives this performance his all even if it’s wasted in a film that doesn’t deserve this much effort. There are some goofy cameos from other reliable comedic actors Stephen Root and Alan Tudyk trying desperately to give Playdate a boost.
Screenwriter Neil Goldman seems like he was workshopping jokes on the fly and rarely was able to come up with a satisfying punchline. The gags fly fast and at a furiously frustrating rate to the point where Goldman doesn’t give them enough time to land. This would be a problem if the humor was actually funny.
James is always game to make a goofy premise work though he’s swimming upstream with Playdate. Maybe that’s due to James playing the straight man to Ritchson’s zany scene-stealer?
As the second act unfolds it feels like Goldman has completely forgot the plot, the point or even the title of Playdate.
Ironically, the post credit gag reels show James and Ritchson having better chemistry just spontaneously playing off each other than most of the actual scripted segments. Maybe Playdate would have been better if the entire film was them working without a script?
Rating: 2 out of 10
Photo Credit: Amazon MGM Studios
Check out Playdate on Amazon Prime.
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