Kaley Cuoco

David Oyelowo

Bill Nighy

Connie Nielsen

Rudi Dharmalingam

Lucia Aliu

Reagan Bryan-Gudgeon

Simon Delaney

Sonita Henry

Jade-Eleena Dregorius

Julia Schunevitsch

Stephanie Levi-John

Steffen Jung

Betty Kaplan

Dong Hyun Yoon

Matthias Schmidt

Moritz Berg

Angus McGruther

Dominic Holmes

Jonathan Failla

Stacy Thunes

Cornell Adams

Steven Stalder

Erkan Sulcani

Thomas Vincent

George F. Heller

Alex Heineman

Andrew Baldwin

Seth W. Owen

Andrew Rona

Luc Etienne

Eric Ford

Carl Woebcken

Henning Molfenter

Mariana Vasconcellos

Matt Challenor

Anna Marsh

Rael Jones

Maxime Alexandre

Cornelia von Braun

Ron Halpern

Volkhart Buff

Jenna Smith

Rickie-Lee Roberts

Manuel Vogt

Benoît Hillebrant

Adolf Wojtinek

Laurent Demianoff

Shana Eddy-Grouf

Alois Knapps

Roxane Fechner

Anja Müller

Mona May

Nick Angel

Wolfgang Metschan

Gareth C. Scales

Felix Audu

John Papsidera

Billy Buff

Marco Bittner Rosser

Christoph Fisser

Hélène Irdor

Monette Moio

Christian Petersson

Sébastien Peres

Reiner Bajo

Björn L. Hübscher

Ingeborg Heinemann

Katey Lee Carson

Action

Comedy

Romance

Role Play

StudioCanal

The Picture Company

Studio Babelsberg

France

Germany

United States of America

English

Español

assassin

berlin, germany

husband wife relationship

secret life

submissive

hired killer

secretive wife

clueless husband

mother daughter relationship

woman spy

cliché

Manuel São Bento

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://www.firstshowing.net/2024/review-cuoco-oyelowos-role-play-film-is-not-a-bad-start-to-2024/

"Role Play follows expectations, both good and bad. While the main performances, particularly from Kaley Cuoco, breathe life into the characters, most of the supporting cast falls prey to uninspired dialogue. The narrative, though formulaic and predictable, maintains a rather lively pace, ensuring a sustained interest.

As a few other issues emerge, these are somewhat compensated by the filmmaker's commitment to providing a light-hearted, fun, entertaining movie that aims to offer families a good time without much seriousness."

Rating: B-

CinemaSerf

Anyone remember Henry Goulding's "Assassin Club" (2023)? Well if you add that in with the repetitive bits from "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (2005) then you will arrive at something akin to this unremarkable thriller. "Emma" (Kaley Cuoco) is married to "Dave" (David Oyelowo) but she has a secret. She's part of an international organisation that gets paid to kill folk. She wants to leave that organisation and so it declares open season. Meantime she and her husband decide to celebrate their anniversary by hooking up in an hotel bar and pretending that they'd never met before - an opportunity for some good on fashioned courting and a few vodka Martinis. Enter the scene saving Bill Nighy as the ostensibly single old fellow alone in the hotel trying to hit on her. Of course, he's not quite what he seems and a slightly comedic scenario ensues. Sadly, though, thereafter this is all just a standard cat and mouse adventure with loads of set piece out of the frying pan into the fire escapades that gradually draw in her unwitting husband, their children and of course some family baggage from her past courtesy of Connie Nielsen. As ever, the menacing baddies couldn't shoot their way out of a rice-paper bag and her ninja skills become the stuff of "Kung Fu" - only without any sense of mystery or subtlety. The acting is stiff and the dialogue must have taken a few more Martinis to concoct before resorting to the "Janet and John" book of college film scripting. I wonder just how many more deadly killers there are lurking around the suburbs of small American towns! Fills the television screen whilst you're doing the ironing, maybe - it certainly does not need your full concentration!

Role Play is a rather tepid affair, that fails to cash in on its comedic potential. 

There's a lot of scope for comedy in Role Play but the script fails to deliver the laughs. What you get instead, is an exposition driven action film, with a reluctant assassin back story, that's all too familiar.

In summary, works as a a simple action film but its not exactly original, nor is it especially funny.

Emma Confronts Bob In His Hotel Room

Emma and Dave Are Persons of Interest

Planning the Role Play

Official Trailer

Role Play( 2023)

Every couple has their secrets.

Overview

Top Billed Cast

Social

A review by Manuel São Bento

Written by Manuel São Bento on Fri Jan 12 2024

Media

Recommendations

Facts

Status

Original Language

Budget

Revenue

Keywords