There was a time when I didn’t even think of subscribing to the Amazon Prime Video streaming service. I mean, I already have a couple of them sucking up my monthly income. So, why would I want another? But then came a little show called Reacher. I remember the first time I saw a clip of this and it had the titular character, Jack Reacher, a mountain of a man, who took a very no-nonsense attitude when it came to handling a mistreated dog and its owner. As someone who loves dogs, this was very cathartic. So, I decided to look up this show and saw it was on Amazon Prime Video. I actually wounded up subscribing to the service for myself just to watch it. Ever since, I have been paying a little extra for the streaming service.

So, when I saw the actor who played Jack Reacher, Alan Ritchson, was in an Amazon Prime Video exclusive movie, I had to check it out. Why? Because it’s a comedy. I wanted to see if his level of charisma carries over to a different genre. So, I did go see Playdate to see if the guy can also do comedy and to see if this movie is any good. After seeing it, I can say Alan Ritchson can do comedy. And, yes, this is a movie. Good? Well…

By the way, although Playdate is sitting comfortably in the Top 1 spot on Amazon Prime Video, I’m still going to make this a SPOILER FREE review. Just because a lot of people have seen it doesn’t mean everyone has seen it. Some may be holding off from watching Playdate. So, just to be on the safe side, SPOILER FREE review.

Playdate actually focuses on Brian, played by Kevin James. He’s newly married and is trying to bond with his new stepson, Lucas. While trying to play catch with his stepson one day, he runs across Jeff, played by Alan Ritchson, who is playing catch with a kid, CJ. Seeing that Lucas is bonding with CJ, Jeff sets a playdate between the two with Brian. Jeff also tries to bond with Brian as well. However, it turns out that Jeff and CJ are being targeted by a shadowy organization and now Brian and Lucas have also become targets.

As the biggest reason why I wanted to see Playdate was to check Alan Ritchson’s range, I guess it only seems fair to start the review on what I thought about the cast’s performances. I actually thought they were pretty good. I’ve seen Kevin James in other stuff and his performance is pretty much par for the course. Alan Ritchson gets to really stretch his comedy muscles here and I have to say he’s… okay. Like with what he does for Jack Reacher, Jeff here is charming but my problem with his performance is mostly on the script as he’s too goofy for his own good. I do have to give props to the child actors here, Benjamik Pajak and Banks Pierce, who play Lucas and CJ, respectively. One of the problems I have with most child actors is they don’t really behave realistically. To be fair, they don’t but they do match the film’s offbeat silliness so it works out.

When it comes to the rest of the supporting cast, I can’t really say all that much about them because they don’t really get a whole lot of screentime. Honestly, it seems like a waste to get some really talented actors and actresses like Sarah Chalke, Stephen Root, Isla Fisher, Paul Walter Hauser and Alan Tudyk and they only appear for around five mintues in your 94-minute film.

I really have to blame the script for this as Playdate feels like a film where they just tossed in ideas the producers and writers thought would be funny without considering if it makes sense. As this is a SPOILER FREE review, I can’t really get into the details when it comes to examples. But I can safely say Isla Fisher’s entire role in the film could get cut out and the entire movie would make as much sense as it does. There are also no emotional beats when there should be. Once again, this is a SPOILER FREE review so I can get into the nitty-gritty. But even in a comedy movie like Playdate, there should be a pause to let something heartbreaking or an emotional epiphany time to breathe.

Although the script is pretty terrible, I will say the action does make Playdate bearable to watch. Honestly, based on the incredibly silly vibe of the film, I was fully expecting them to half-ass the action scenes. But they weirdly didn’t. The fight scenes were really impressive, especially the ones involving the kid who plays CJ. The extended car chase scene does a good job in tricking viewers into thinking it’s a lot more high-budget than it really is.

However, it is hard for me to recommend people to go check out Playdate as, honestly, I didn’t find it funny. I fully subscribe to the idea that a movie has to do what it sets out to do. Playdate is an action-comedy movie and, while it does the action pretty well, it does atrociously when it came to trying to make me laugh. Oddly enough, I do think it needed to lean into the absurdity more. It’s already a ridiculous movie but it needed to go over the top to really make the jokes and gags work.

There is some fun to be found in Playdate. Alan Ritchson is still charming and the action is way better than you would expect from a movie like this. It does flounder on the comedic aspect and the subplots feels like a mishmash from other subplots that were cut out from other films and television shows. I do think, if you have kids, they’ll be entertained and, as the adult, you won’t be groaning too much because of the action moments and Alan Ritchson.

Have you seen Playdate? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!