by Nick Ferro, Contributing Writer
It’s January once again, and with the coming of the new year also comes a plethora of questionable content to fill up the streaming services and theaters. In the past, it was easy to suss out the good from the bad. However, thanks to the pandemic and the steaming wars, it has gotten increasingly harder to determine what is worth your time in this wasteland of a month. With everyone entrenched in awards season discussions and doing their 2023 catch-up, there isn’t time to watch everything (except Shane Conto, who I’m pretty sure is in possession of a time-turner). So I am here to help you either add or cross off one of these January releases on your ever-growing 2024 watchlist, and my task this month is Amazon Prime’s Role Play.
The film stars Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo as your average, run-of-the mill couple living in the suburbs of New Jersey. When Emma (Cuoco) forgets their wedding anniversary, she suggests that they have a fun night out in New York city to re-spark the romance by pretending to be other people. They plan a chance run-in at the bar of a fancy hotel and have themselves a little meet cute. Oh, but one detail I forgot to mention: Emma is secretly one of the world’s top assassins with a very large bounty on her head. Which wouldn’t be a big deal, but they just happen to run into another assassin (Bill Nighy). This chance meeting sets off a series of events that takes the couple on a whirlwind, globetrotting adventure to just Germany (the movie wasn’t long enough to make it to a third country), where Dave (Oyelowo) has to come to terms with his wife’s secrets, decide whether he can get past the years of putting their family in danger, oh, and the whole killing people thing. Killing people is bad.
To start, I will say that this movie plays it safe at almost every turn. There is nothing that will come as a surprise to you, save for maybe some weird choices made by the villain. Ultimately, though, this gives me the vibes of the late-‘90s/early 2000s, mid-tier action spy-thriller rom-com. The only problem is, it doesn’t really spend a lot of time on the romance or the comedy, save for a few well-placed jokes. It also isn’t particularly interested in the spy thriller aspect or the action, save for a couple scenes. Even though it doesn’t do any of its genres well, it does them well enough. Cuoco and Oyelowo are both delightful to watch; they play well together and really carry this material through to the end. This 100-minute romp never bored me, but I also didn’t take a ton away, and I expect to have forgotten this movie exists by March. I am not going to cross my fingers for a sequel, rush out to see the next movie starring these two, or put the director, Thomas Vincent, on my must-see list (although he does direct an episode of Reacher). But I also didn’t hate my time with the movie either.
I’ve long enjoyed watching Cuoco, dating all the way back to 8 Simple Rules. She is especially good in HBO’s The Flight Attendant, so I was actually looking forward to Role Play. Additionally, Oyelowo is another face that I love to see pop up in movies (he’s two-for-two this month between this and The Book of Clarence). He is so incredibly versatile that I have loved him in everything I’ve seen. There are at least half a dozen movies in his filmography that I have on my watchlist. So, when I say to you that this movie is just okay, understand that it’s on the high side, because I really enjoy watching these two do anything. I would also be remiss if I didn’t completely gush over how much I love Nighy. His role as Bob the assassin is charming and amusing, and Cuoco’s intolerance of his attempts to flirt with her makes for a funny awkward scene. For fear of getting your hopes up, his role amounts to an extended cameo at best, as he is vastly underused. But the movie is better because he is in it, instead of some random character actor.
Role Play is a perfectly fine movie to throw on if you’re bored or if you need some background noise. I wouldn’t insist that you rush to watch it right away, but if it came down to this or some other typical January streaming movie, I would probably steer you in Role Play’s direction before anything else that’s come out in 2024. Not a glowing endorsement, I know, but hey, it is January after all. As far as I’m concerned, it could be much, much worse.
Rating: It Was Just Okay
Role Play is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video
You can read more from Nick Ferro, and follow him on Twitter and Letterboxd