Prime Time: Role Play (2023)

I like Kaley Cuoco, and have done for some time. As unpopular as it seems to be nowadays, I enjoyed The Big Bang Theory, and I enjoyed her in it. I am, however, happy to see the variety of roles she has taken on since that show ended, roles that have had people belatedly realising she can do more than just one type of acting.

For as much as I like Kaley Cuoco, I loathed Role Play, a film that feels lazy and predictable from start to finish. It is a mix of action, comedy, and drama that does none of those individual elements as successfully as it should. In fact, it does absolutely none of them well, only coming close during the few scenes that feature a wonderful turn from Bill Nighy.

Cuoco and David Oyelowo play a married couple, Emma and Dave, who get a babysitter for the kids and  head out for a fun date night at a hotel, with a bit of fun role play on the cards. Unfortunately, Emma is frustrated by her work getting in the way. Her work, unbeknownst to her hubby, involves killing people. And so begins a trudge through some familiar tropes that have been done so much better in so many other movies. It’s so tiresomely dull that I can barely find the energy to write this review.

Writer Seth W. Owen is the person I want to rush to blame, considering the humourless and flat script, but director Thomas Vincent does an equally poor job of steering the ship. The fact that the cast cannot elevate the material is more of a testament to how bad that material is, as opposed to the skills of the actors.

Cuoco isn’t allowed to shine, with the exception of those scenes that have her interacting with Nighy, and there’s a disappointing lack of any chemistry with Oyelowo (although that is a plot point, the night of role play stems from them wanting a special date night to give them a bit of a spark again). Oyelowo plays his character as Mr. Dependable, but he’s left with nothing meaningful to do, apart from needing saved by his wife. If I spend much more time praising Nighy then people will start to rightly notice my overwhelming love for the man, but he absolutely steals the film with his few minutes of screentime. Connie Nielsen is wasted, although you can tell that she is trying to make a steak with the minced meat she is given, as is Rhudi Dharmalingam. Nobody else is worth mentioning, for good or bad, because the rest of the cast could just have easily been filled out by Sims.

Although technically competent, there’s something about this that makes it feel worse than many movies that don’t even get the camerawork and audio right. It’s depressing, mainly because it seems to have been thrown together with a minimum effort that shows a real disdain for potential viewers.

3/10

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Morgan (2016)

There's an incident at an isolated lab involving a young girl attacking a woman. That is how Morgan opens. Kate Mara is sent in to appraise and deal with the situation, and within another scene or two the viewers are told that the young girl isn't a young girl. She is a creation. An it. A corporate asset. It's just up to Mara to decide whether it is still a valuable asset or a mistake that should be erased.

Morgan is the feature directorial debut from Luke Scott, the son of a slightly well-known British director named Ridley. It's also the biggest project so far for writer Seth W. Owen. Unfortunately, nothing here gives an indication of a bright future for either one of them. This film is a mess, and often a dull mess (which is hard to get just right). It's almost as if it doesn't know what it wants to do, spending a lot of the first half examining identity and humanity before setting up a third act that brings in some action, a lot of implausible character behaviour, and a couple of twists that are remarkably unsurprising.

Things aren't too bad if we're looking at the whole thing on a purely technical level. The visuals, though drab, are decent and a couple of set-pieces work well enough to make you wish that there were some more scattered throughout.

The major flaws stem from the script, which wouldn't be too bad if it didn't also lead to a complete waste of some great talent. Jennifer Jason Leigh is in this movie, but you might not notice her as she delivers about three lines of dialogue. Michelle Yeoh gets a bit more screentime, but not enough to warrant her presence. Paul Giamatti manages to steal the show with one of the best scenes in the film, Toby Jones is sorely underused, Mara looks stern throughout, and Rose Leslie suffers through the whole thing as a character written without any obvious braincells in working order. She tries her best but the script gives her nothing but one dumb moment after another.

There are other people involved, but they just don't make enough of an impression, despite trying hard (Michael Yare probably does the best out of the supporting roster), or they are just on hand to provide a very brief cameo (Brian Cox).

So you get attempts to explore ideas that end up leading nowhere, some flashes of decent violent action, a lot of wasted cast members and unmemorable characters, and an ending that is supposed to make up for the preceding 90 minutes of tedium (although, trust me, it doesn't). Not recommended. At all.

3/10

Morgan is available to buy here.
And if you're in the USofA you can buy it here.