On January 18, cinemas began rolling out the action comedy “Role Playing Games”, one of the main roles in which was played by the star of the cult sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” Kaley Cuoco. The actress was also producing the project, so, apparently, she had certain hopes for it. In the review below we tell you which other representatives of the genre the local plot is associated with and why, unfortunately, Kayley’s efforts went down the drain.
Pros:
at first the film does not seem as stupid as it turns out to be in the end; the presence of Kaley Cuoco is still a pleasant factor; cool, but too short-lived Bill Nighy
Minuses:
a completely secondary product, but if the genre’s brothers have some moments thanks to which they can claim the viewer’s attention, then there are none here; lack of high-quality action and comedy components
“Role Play” / Role Play
Genre Comedy Action
Directed by Thomas Vincent
Starring: Kaley Cuoco, David Oyelowo, Bill Nighy, Connie Nielsen, Simon Delaney
Premiere cinemas
Year of manufacture 2024
IMDb website
New York airport restroom. Emma Brackett took off her wig, contact lenses and touched up her makeup. She has just finished work and is now heading home to the cozy suburbs of New Jersey. Two children and a caring husband, Dave, are waiting for her there. The close-knit family reunites for a celebratory backyard barbecue to mark the seventh wedding anniversary Emma had completely forgotten about. And all because the woman’s head is filled with matters far from her family, because she is a professional hired killer.
Of course, Dave does not suspect anything about this, who decided to diversify his married life and even bought a revealing nurse outfit for his passion. However, the wifey suggests going further and organizing a real role-playing game, according to the scenario of which attractive strangers meet in the bar of a luxury hotel and continue communicating in one of the rooms. But Emma didn’t take into account the fact that she was already compromised, and one elderly but elegant colleague decided to take advantage of this opportunity and make good money.
If in Ukraine the official release took place in cinemas, then in the USA “Role Playing Games” bypassed the big screens and immediately premiered on Prime Video, having already received negative reviews from critics. And it’s hard to disagree with such a verdict. As with the decision to release a new product on streaming, since there is nothing at all in the film that would be worth seeing on the big screen.
Moreover, this is quite modest in scope and eventfulness, and even terribly secondary cinema, the creators of which follow the path of least resistance. Director Vincent Thomas, who has focused on TV series in recent years (Keeper, Jack Reacher) and screenwriter Seth Owen (Morgan, My Ex-Girlfriend’s Daddy), produce one solid template that audiences can easily navigate through the filmic space. will find a bunch of smaller templates.
At the initial stage, nothing foreshadowed trouble, because for the time being it was moderately interesting to follow events. But the closer the story got to the end, the more reasons for bewilderment arose.
Plot-wise, the film evoked strong associations with frivolous products released from Apple’s production line: last year’s “No Answer” and the recent “Family Plan.”
Those action-comedy absurdities with rom-com elements were equal to the hit “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, clearly lacking stars from the sky. But their authors at least filled their clichéd stories with a sufficient amount of action (the quality of their production is a separate issue). In Role Playing Games, even this has problems.
In 95 minutes of running time, we are offered extremely poor and short fight scenes in Berlin and the final showdown, where the level of absurdity reaches its climax. Here, Connie Nielsen’s heroine will start pointlessly shooting forest pines, or whatever grows there, and David Oyelowo’s character, with a questionable wound, will show miracles of endurance.
The film does not offer any kind of humor, because during the entire time not a single funny episode happens on camera. Once again: in a project that is positioned as an action comedy, apart from the lack of noteworthy action scenes, there is not a single quality joke.
After watching, a fair question arises about the real genre of the film, and here it is appropriate to quote the classic: “What are you?” “Role-playing games” seems to pretend to be an action-comedy, where there is even a place for crumbs of drama, but does not realize itself in any of the given directions.
The situation of the main character also looks somewhat strange, who, with two children and a living husband, continues, albeit part-time, to conduct her killer business. Here one is tempted to exclaim “woman, that’s enough!” Even such a stern man as John Wick first took care of retirement, and only then enjoyed the company of his beautiful wife.
There’s not much to say about the local actors. Kaley Cuoco’s comedic talent is not used at all, and the action scenes look too crumpled, so you won’t be able to get a good look at the leading lady in them. Although Bill Nighy brings a little charisma to this group of mournful faces, his appearance is too short-lived to have any impact on the situation.
As a result, we get a product so low-fat that after watching it wouldn’t hurt to review something meaty from the era of Stallone and Schwarzenegger. “True lies”, for example. So to speak, to restore the level of “nutrients” in the body.
Conclusion:
The fact that “Role Playing Games” is 100% content for streaming, not the big screen, is a fact too obvious. But even when watching at home, it’s better to pay attention to something else.
