How do you make a “rom-com” centered around a long-time married couple (yes, they’ve got kids)? Well, one idea would be to throw them a “curve”. With the Bracketts in this story, she’s forgotten their anniversary prompting him to take, well not desperate, but offbeat measures. Would it “spice” things up considerably, maybe rekindle those old sparks, if they pretended to be strangers meeting for the first time? But how could she have “blanked’ on the “big day”? For that answer, this new movie mixes in elements of an action flick. With that new twist, we learn that she indulges in many variations of ROLE PLAY.
Oh, the lady in question is Emma Brackett (Kaley Cuoco). At the start of the story, she’s on the job, donning a wig, and terminating a target. As in assassinate. From there she phones her handler Raj (Rudy Dharmalingam), and heads to the airport. In the next scene, Emma has taken an Uber to the quiet, nondescript suburban two-story she shares with hubby Dave (Davis Oyelowo) and their two kids, preteen Wyatt and adorable moppet Caroline. But why are they preparing her favorite meal (Dave’s BBQ pineapple chicken) as the kids “play restaurant”? It’s the big wedding anniversary and Emma was too preoccupied with her “gig”. Dave thinks that she’s often on the road conducting training seminars, so he doesn’t blink when Emma takes a call from her boss Ralph (really Raj again). It seems that the “hired killers’ union” (actually “the Sovereignty”) is angry over her going “freelance” and has put a price, and a “target” on her. Emma’s not globetrotting again and promises him that she’ll “lay low”. That night Dave shyly gifts her a “naughty nurse” outfit. But Emma “ups the ante” with a suggestion that they get a sitter, assume fake identities, and “hook up” in the bar of a swanky NYC hotel. She dons a slink LBD and a red wig and waits for Dave at the bar. Of course, he gets stuck in traffic, which allows time for an older, dapper Brit named Bob (Bill Nighy) to make a pass at her. Dave finally arrives as Bob insists that they do “shots’ and makes several odd comments to Emma. It turns out that the couple aren’t the only role players leading to an incident at the hotel that puts Emma on the run and Dave in the “hot seat”. Will she have to tell him the truth, or will it be too late to save them as Emma’s past catches up to them?
After being a TV sitcom staple in a couple of long-running shows, Ms. Cuoco gets a chance to show another side to her considerable talents. We’ve seen her snarky and sarcastic while projecting a playful sultry vibe, along with an engaging warmth. Now we get her “action hero mode” (we got a smattering from her vocal work as Harley Quinn in the Max animated series), and she’s splendid. She’s brusk and all business in the first half then shifts into “mama grizzly” as things get more “personal”. And this is a huge chance of pace for her co-star as Oyelowo proves to be an entertaining comic straight man as the bewildered and baffled Dave, a guy who just wants to chill with the “fam” after his 9-to-5 office drone job. After his superb Oscar-winning dramatic work, it’s great to see his lighter side. The two actors work well together and with the charming, but a bit sinister, Nighy as the wonky entertaining barfly. Another screen vet, Connie Nielson turns in a terrific performance as a special agent who is also more than she appears.
In the director’s chair is TV series vet Thomas Vincent who effortlessly switches gears from domestic bliss (the kids are more cute than cloying) to sexy banter (Cuoco’s a fiery sassy ginger) before plunging us into deadly showdowns. The script from Seth W. Owen provides some great dialogue for the two leads even though we soon realize that most of the plot is rehashed and reheated elements of TRUE LIES and MR. & MRS. SMITH. Nighy’s off-kilter Bob shakes things up a bit, but much of the finale seems to be a lighter version (and fairly bloodless) take on Bourne and John Wick. And though Emma is supposed to be a world-traveling pro-killer, we never really get a sense of the far-flung locales. There’s a basic cable blandness for most of the flick along with a lack of real brutality to the action (perhaps to try for a lighter rating than the “R” it received). The actors playing the Bracketts have easy-going chemistry but that’s not enough to redeem the overall familiarity of ROLE PLAY.
2.5 Out of 4
ROLE PLAY is now streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video
