Playdate (2025) The Action-Comedy That Runs on Juice Boxes and Adrenaline

Brian has just been fired from his job. He becomes a stay-at-home dad. He accepts a playdate invitation from another stay-at-home dad who turns out to be a loose cannon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGTq0blCPVQ

“Playdate” is one of those movies that strolls into your weekend watchlist with the confidence of a film that thinks it knows exactly what it is… right before tripping over its own shoelaces and face-planting on the marble floor. What begins as a straightforward comedy setup - a recently fired man named Brian stepping into the world of stay-at-home parenting - quickly mutates into a parade of goofy action beats, strange character choices, and a tone that feels like it was assembled from spare parts left in a studio storage closet.

Alan Ritchson stars as Brian, and if there’s one thing you can always count on Ritchson for, it’s showing up ready to flex - literally and figuratively. The guy is a machine. You hand him an action scene, he'll crush it. You give him a comedic moment, he’ll at least make it look intentional. In Playdate, he’s once again the stabilizing force holding the entire inflatable bouncy castle of a movie together. If the script forgot where it placed the steering wheel, Ritchson found it, duct-taped it back in place, and powered through the ride anyway.

Then comes Kevin James, typically Hollywood’s go-to human golden retriever of slapstick comedy, but here he plays Derek - a down-on-his-luck dad who comes across less “lovable everyman” and more “guy silently shouting into a void.” It’s a subtle lane shift for James, but the role doesn’t do him many favors. Instead of comedic charm, the character leans into loser energy, with a quiet desperation that occasionally dips into awkwardness. It's not that James can't play against type - it’s just that this particular script doesn’t fully support the experiment. You almost want to give him a pep talk and a sandwich.

The plot kicks into motion when Brian accepts Derek’s invitation for a harmless playdate - something that, in most films, would ring in a gentle comedy about bonding, personal growth, or learning a heartfelt lesson. Not here. Instead, the playdate detonates into a sequence of ridiculous situations, escalating action, and character reactions that feel about two degrees off reality. It’s as if the movie asked itself, “What would happen if we turned a simple hangout into a borderline fever dream?” and then enthusiastically answered its own question.

The humor throughout is… simple. Basic, even. This isn’t layered comedy. There are no hidden gems, no clever subtext, no wink-and-nod sophistication. This humor is content to sit in the shallow end of the pool, kicking happily and splashing water in predictable patterns. And to the movie’s credit, sometimes simple works. Sometimes simple is all you need. Other times, simple feels like the writers ran out of time, shrugged, and handed in whatever was left on the whiteboard.

The action scenes tell a similar story. They’re fine - not memorable, not offensive, just fine. They glide forward on autopilot, checking boxes, fulfilling obligations, offering flashes of excitement without ever truly hitting the throttle. You can almost hear the stunt coordinator yelling, “Okay, now jump over something, it doesn’t matter what, we’re losing light.” Ritchson elevates every moment he’s in, but even he can’t supercharge choreography that seems content with medium effort.

Then there are the villains - and oh, what a collection. Cartoonish motives, exaggerated behavior, and gags that stretch the limits of patience. These antagonists feel like they wandered in from a sketch show and forgot to leave. Their motivations are so thin they could be printed on a napkin, and several of their moments land squarely in the “That was supposed to be funny?” zone. There’s camp, there’s parody, and then there’s whatever these guys are doing.

If the script had taken a breath - even one - it might have landed better. But instead, the movie crams twist after twist into a short runtime like it’s participating in some kind of narrative speed-run. Just when you think the story is settling into a groove, it yanks the wheel and careens into another surprise. Not all twists are bad; some are even entertaining in a bonkers sort of way. But the pace is chaotic enough that you start wondering if the movie is racing against a timer the audience was never told about.

This brings us to the writing, which raises an eyebrow or two. Scenes feel erratic. Jokes appear to materialize out of thin air. Dialogue drifts between functional and questionable. At times, the movie has the vibe of something that may have been rewritten on set - maybe during lunch - by someone who thought, “Eh, close enough.” The script isn’t incompetent; it’s just oddly assembled, like a recipe where all the right ingredients are present but someone forgot how much of each to use.

Still, despite all these wobbles, the film does something interesting: it looks like the cast is actually having fun. There’s a loose, playful energy in many scenes - the kind of vibe you get when actors decide to enjoy themselves regardless of the material. That doesn’t fix everything, but it does give the movie a certain charm. You can sense the enthusiasm trying its best to punch through the inconsistencies, the pacing issues, and those over-eager twists.

In the end, Playdate isn’t a disaster - it’s more like a chaotic experiment that delivers entertainment in bursts, drifts into confusion, and then resurfaces with a grin, as if hoping you didn’t notice the last five minutes didn’t make sense. It’s goofy, inconsistent, oddly endearing, frequently baffling, and occasionally amusing. It’s a film that will probably land best with viewers who don’t mind a messy but energetic ride.

Final Score: 5.8 / 10

Not terrible. Not great.

Just a mildly enjoyable explosion of cinematic randomness.

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