by Charles Kirkland, Jr.
It only takes twenty-four hours for Brian and Lucas to find themselves wrapped up in a desperate security incident after they link up with another stay-at-home dad and his son on a Playmate.
Forensic accountant Brian Jennings has just been fired after refusing to fudge numbers for his firm. Suddenly unemployed, he becomes a stay-at-home dad to his stepson, Lucas. Hoping to bond, Brian takes Lucas to the park to toss a football around. That’s where they meet the overly friendly Jeff and his unnervingly strong son, CJ.
In an awkward attempt to connect, Jeff invites Brian and Lucas on a playdate. Lucas jumps at the chance to make a new friend. Brian hesitates, especially after watching Jeff and CJ roughhouse in ways that seem, frankly, superhuman. But he reluctantly agrees, and things go downhill fast as Brian realizes Jeff and CJ are not at all who they pretend to be.
Written by Neil Goldman (Scrubs, Community), Playdate stars Kevin James as Brian and Alan Ritchson as Jeff, along with Banks Pierce, Benjamin Pajak, Sarah Chalke, Alan Tudyk, Isla Fisher, Hiro Kanagawa, and Stephen Root. The film is directed by Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door, Let’s Be Cops).
Kevin James has always occupied an interesting space in the Adam Sandler comedy orbit. His films tend to land in one of two camps: completely idiotic or surprisingly great. The secret ingredient usually comes down to who he’s paired with. With Will Smith, he made the beloved Hitch. With Henry Winkler, the underdog hit Here Comes the Boom. With Sandler? Well… Hubie Halloween and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (you decide which belongs where).
This time, James teams up with Alan Ritchson, better known as Amazon’s towering, terrifying Jack Reacher. Comedy is not Ritchson’s usual lane. He’s intimidating, sculpted, and typically dead serious. On paper, it’s a mismatched duo destined for disaster. But surprisingly, Ritchson pulls it off. He plays a clumsy, slightly dim, almost puppy-like version of Reacher that somehow works. He’s weirdly adorable.
Let’s be clear, though: this movie is not good. The plot is so thin it’s practically see-through. The jokes feel forced, the action is clunky, and the acting is serviceable at best. You’ll know exactly where the movie is going within the first five minutes. But here’s the surprise: it doesn’t matter. All these flaws swirl together into something strangely, inanely entertaining.
If your expectations are low, your standards relaxed, and your brain firmly switched to “off,” Playdate works as a perfect snowed-in, nothing-else-to-watch kind of comedy. Director Luke Greenfield has a history of taking bizarre premises and crafting cultish, guilty-pleasure comedies out of them.
Rated PG-13 for strong language, violence/action, sexual material, some drug references, and smoking, Playdate is not high cinema. Honestly, it might be the opposite. But if you’re in the mood for some stupid fun, the movie delivers exactly that, right down to the blooper reel during the credits. And yes, there’s a post-credit scene… if you’re still around by then.
Playdate is now streaming on Prime Video.
Grade: D+
