Role Play

2024 Amazon MGM Studios

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 40min

Action ~ Comedy ~ Romance

Starring: Kaley Cuoco, David Oyelowo, Rudi Dharmalingam, Connie Nielsen, and Bill Nighy.

“Is that what you want, to mix things up a bit? Or do you want me to be someone else for the night?”

Kaley Cuoco stars as Emma Brackett, a happily married mother of two children living in the suburbs of New jersey with her husband Dave Brackett (David Oyelowo). Emma and Dave both have full time jobs, and Emma travels a lot for her work. Emma also leads a double life that her husband and family know nothing about. As the movie opens she is returning home from a business trip and finds that Dave is making her favorite meal on the grill, Orange Chicken, and the kids have set up the table like a restaurant. Her son informs Emma that he is going to be playing bartender for the evening, and her daughter is going to be the waitress.

Dismayed, Emma realizes that it is their anniversary and she has forgotten. After they put the kids to bed and retire for the evening, Dave gives Emma a present. It is a nurse costume and Dave suggests that some adult role play might help spice things up in their marriage. Emma has a better idea and suggests that the next night they get a babysitter and go into the city to a ritzy hotel and meet at the bar as total strangers. Dave thinks it’s a wonderful idea and they make plans.

The next evening Emma goes to the bar and is spotted by someone from her secret double life before Dave arrives. The stranger, who calls himself “Bob” approaches her and buys her a drink. He hints that he knows who she really is as Dave comes into the bar. Emma brushes him off and Dave circles around to make his move on Emma as a complete stranger. Bob comes back and hints strongly to Emma that her cover is blown and she is not who she says she is. They finally get rid of Bob and go on about their role play date.

The next day after they get home Dave’s sister informs him there was a murder and shootout in the hotel they were staying in. Dave discovers that Bob is dead and the police are looking for the mysterious couple seen in the bar talking to Bob earlier before he was killed. Dave freaks out that the police are looking for them and Emma freaks out because her cover is now exposed. Very concerned about the whole situation she tells Dave that she has to go on an emergency quick business trip and that she will straighten things out with the police when she gets back. She flies to Berlin to meet with her secret life manager to straighten out what has happened.

What follows is a hilarious action filled journey as Dave finds out about her secret life, and Emma tries to set things right in her secret double life and her family life. I am not familiar with Kaley Cuoco although I’m sure I’ve seen her before. And the same with David Oyelowo whose face I know but not his name. I thought they were both really good in this. I could feel the chemistry between them and the love they share for their family and life together. I was completely rooting for Emma to solve her secret life dilemma and get back to Dave and her kids. You could see that that is all her heart really wants, to be back living the simple life with her loving family.

It is more of a family romance comedy than a spy action thriller. I really liked this movie, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I really liked the soundtrack as well.

Role Play Soundtrack

A feel good action comedy romance with a twist, something a little different.

I liked it and yes I recommend it.

Two Thumbs Up!

The Adam Project

2022 Netflix

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 46min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Comedy ~ Sci-Fi

Directed by: Shawn Levy

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener, Zoe Saldaña.

“Time travel exists, you just don’t know it yet.”

Ryan Reynolds stars as Adam Reed, a fighter pilot in the year 2050. He has commandeered a fighter jet equipped to time travel and is attempting to travel back in time to the year 2018. Narrowly escaping and taking a bullet in the side, he puts in the wrong info and crash lands in 2022. He lands just outside the house he grew up in with his mother and father. He makes it out of the jet and makes his way to the shed in the back of the house. Knowing how to get in because he grew up there as a child, he rests for a minute as he assesses his situation and is discovered by…….

12 year old Adam Reed (Walker Scobell)who immediately threatens his older self with a baseball bat. The ensuing conversation as Younger Adam Reed puts two and two together and discovers that this strange man pilot is actually the future him is absolutely hilarious. The witty banter between Ryan Reynolds and Walker Scobell is really well done. Walker holds his own against the veteran actor as they trade barbs toe to toe.

The older Adam explains to the younger Adam that their deceased father, unbeknownst to him, invented time travel. But his partner at the time, Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener), has taken control of it in the future for pure greed and now controls every aspect of it. Old Adam was attempting to go back to 2018 and warn their Dad about his current partner and her future plans. But somehow he ended up here confronting “You, my younger self. The one thing in time travel you’re not supposed to do.”

Before they can go any further, the evil Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) shows up after having tracked him and unleashes a small army of men to take him back to the future. While attempting to fight off the small army of men and losing ground, he is suddenly assisted by his wife Laura (Zoe Saldaña), who Old Adam thought had been killed by Maya. After defeating Maya and her henchmen Laura takes the two Adams to her hideout where she has been for the past four years.

What follows is a a hilarious action filled adventure as they attempt to go back to 2018 and convince their Dad (Mark Ruffalo) that his current partner Maya is really evil as her future self and must be stopped. Jennifer Garner plays the Adams’ mother and does a good job of portraying the widow dealing with raising her precocious, rebelling son. Again the relationship between the two Adams is well done, and keeps you laughing as they trade witty barbs. This is Walker Scobell’s Movie debut and I think it was an absolutely perfect debut. Well done, Lad!

It is more of a family feel-good movie that does touch on the relationships between a father and his younger and older versions of his son.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

Two Thumbs Up!

Queenpins

2021 STX Films

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 50min

Comedy ~ Crime ~ True Story

Directed by: Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly.

Starring: Kristen Bell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Paul Walter Hauser, Bebe Rexha, and Vince Vaughn.

“When folks use coupons, their oxytocin levels, they kinda spike, like in they get that little tingly sensation. They call it “THE COUPON HIGH”.”

Kristen Bell stars as Connie Kaminski, a three time gold medal winning former Olympic racewalker, currently unemployed and unhappily married in Phoenix, Arizona. Frustrated by several unsuccessful attempts to get pregnant and have a child, Connie has thrown herself into the coupon world. Constantly clipping and stockpiling everything she can get her hands on in a spare bedroom that was going to be the baby room. Her husband Rick, an IRS Audit agent, starts taking on travelling assignments to spend less time at home with Connie as they both deal with the disappointment of not being able to have a child.

JoJo (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) is Connie’s best friend and is also unemployed and living with her mother. JoJo had her identity stolen and it completely ruined her financially. She has started a Youtube channel on saving money and using coupons. Connie and JoJo team up and start a coupon business together after Connie discovers that she can get free item coupons from big manufacturers just by writing a complaint letter. They start selling the coupons on their website SUPERSAVVYSHOPPER.COM. That grows into an illegal operation when Connie learns that the free coupons are printed right across the border in Mexico and hatches a plan to “acquire” them from the facility in Mexico.

They enlist the help of Tempe Tina (Bebe Rexha), who stole JoJo’s identity and is a cyber hacker, to help them set up the illegal coupon operation on a large scale. Ken (Paul Walter Hauser) is a Loss Prevention manager for the local grocery chain A&G where Connie has been using her coupons to shop. When their coupon business starts growing and people start using the coupons, it comes to Ken’s attention and he puts together a case file and approaches the FBI. It then comes to the attention of The Postal Service and Inspector Simon Kilmurry (Vince Vaughn) is assigned to the case.

And what follows is the incredible and hilarious True Story of how a couple of women in Phoenix, Arizona built an illegal multi-million dollar business and the two guys who tracked them down. Ken is a complete a**hole with an inferiority complex. The relationship between Ken and Agent Kilmurry is hilarious, as Ken is a wannabe Law Enforcement agent suddenly thrust into a would be partnership with a real Law enforcement agent. How Agent Kilmurry takes pity on Ken and treats him as an equal is kind of sad yet very funny.

Kristen Bell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Paul Walter Hauser, Bebe Rexha, and Vince Vaughn all do really good jobs in this movie. It is based on the true story and real life crime case of three women in Arizona. And you know I love the True Story movies. Definitely funny and worth a watch…BOGO!

Two Thumbs Up!

Bad Boys: Ride Or Die

2024 Sony pictures

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 55min

Action ~ Comedy

Directed by: Adil & Bilall

Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Joe Pantoliano, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Jacob Scipio, John Salley, and DJ Khaled.

“I don’t know how high up this shit goes, but don’t trust anybody.”

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return in the fourth installment of the Bad Boys franchise which is comprised of:

BAD BOYS 1995
BAD BOYS II 2003
BAD BOYS FOR LIFE 2020
BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE 2024

Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) are Miami Police Detectives and longtime partners. In this episode of the franchise Mike is marrying his therapist of four years and Marcus suffers a heart attack during the wedding reception. During his out of body experience he encounters his dead ex police Captain boss Captain Howard. Captain Howard tells Mike it’s not his time and Mike comes to back in the hospital where Mike is holding vigil over him.

They discover through the news that their ex boss Captain Howard is being accused of being corrupt and tied with the drug cartels. Mike and Marcus refuse to believe the news and set out to uncover the truth and prove his innocence. What follows is a hilarious action-packed thrill ride through the underworld of Miami with tons of action and shootout scenes. I mean SHOOTOUT scenes! In some scenes there is so much firepower going on you can’t even tell who is shooting at who.

I don’t really remember Bad Boys or Bad Boys II. It seems familiar to me but that was a long time ago and I don’t really recall the specific stories. I haven’t seen bad Boys For Life. So I went into this judging it on it’s own merits. I did go into it with a slightly jaded view of Will Smith. After the infamous slap heard around the world, I made it a point to silently boycott him and not watch anything he was in. And it took me awhile as I watched to not judge him in that light.

From the beginning it felt like another nostalgic revamp of a movie that was popular decades ago. Like……Beverly Hills Cop comes to mind. It just felt rehashed and like it was trying to capitalize on the past because apparently good fresh ideas are in short supply. You know, otherwise why did we wait decades to put out a sequel. Eddie Murphy was too busy for thirty years? The plot started to remind me of Spenser Confidential, Mark Wahlberg and his partners set out to prove their Police Captain’s innocence after he is accused of being in cohorts with the drug cartels after his death. It’s a familiar storyline.

But the comedic banter started to grow on me pretty quick. And the pace of the story and the action doesn’t leave you with much time to think. Buckle up and pay attention. In the end I liked Will Smith in this, and Martin Lawrence is hilarious. I liked Armando (Jacob Scipio) the escaped convict who turns into a good guy hero at the end. The rest of the actors were all familiar faces and I liked them in their roles. The action is top notch in this movie. Non stop car chases, fires, explosions and shootouts.

So that’s a yes for me, BAD BOYS:LIVE OR DIE stands on it’s own merits, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock but…eh, that’s between them…..unless he does something stupid again…..Alright…let it go. I do love I ROBOT.

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG!

Two Thumbs Up

Hubie Halloween

2020 Netflix

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 43min

Comedy ~ Horror ~ Mystery

Directed by: Steve Brill

Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Julie Bowen, Ray Liotta, Rob Schneider, June Squibb, Kenan Thompson, Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Buscemi, Tim Meadows, Maya Rudolph, and Ben Stiller.

“Happy Halloween to all, and to all a good fright.”

Adam Sandler stars as Hubie Dubois, a mentally challenged guy living with his mother in Salem Massachusetts. His family has been in Salem since before the witch trials in the 1600’s and had family involved in the witch trials. He rides a bike with a radio strapped to the front and rides it around town and to his job as a deli worker in the supermarket. He has dubbed himself the Halloween monitor and spends Halloween policing the town and all the activities going on in town.

Kevin James stars as the Chief of Police. Julie Bowen plays the police Chief’s ex-wife. Kenan Thompson plays a Police Sargent. Steve Buscemi stars as the guy who moved in next door with a Halloween secret. There are a lot of stars in this movie. In the beginning it seemed like every scene had someone new. Going in to watching this I knew that it was going to be a silly, humorous Halloween movie. I was good with that, “Good, I need something lighthearted, something halloweenish but not too scary or gory. And nothing serious, a comedy would be good.”

As it started it was exactly what I thought it would be. And I was pleasantly surprised by the star power. And I love Steve Buscemi, I have a friend that looks and sounds just like him. So, I have conversations with Steve Buscemi all the time. LOL. As I watched I was like, “Look, there’s Steve Buscemi…………..and Kevin James………KEENAN THOMPSON! and Ray Liotta. Wow!” But there were two things that started to bother me right away.

The first one was Adam Sandler’s character Hubie being portrayed as having less than average intelligence, riding a bike around town with a radio strapped to the front. And everybody in town is making fun of him and abusing him. It grew on me because at first I was ok with it, it’s just a movie right? But then it became relentless as every scene depicted things thrown at him wherever he went and the abuse was relentless. I started to feel sorry for him and it reminded me of a real life Hubie from my home town.

He used to ride around town with his radio. He was a full grown man with the mindset of a child. He couldn’t work but they trusted him enough to let him wander around town. But I realized a couple of years ago in talking with my Mom how cruel everybody in town had been to him. I grew up with the phrase “Don’t be a Hubie, you pulled a Hubie, etc.” In talking with Mom about that, she didn’t realize that it was actually about the guy that used to ride around town on his bike. I changed his name to Hubie for the sake of the article but in hindsight it seems that the town secretly made fun of him because he was less than normal. Anyway, there’s that.

And Adam Sandler’s very annoying voice as Hubie. At first I tried to overlook it, as it was way over the top, but it really started to grate on me. I kept trying to ignore it because I was enjoying the movie. But the further into the movie I got, the more pronounced his voice became. SO annoying, I couldn’t get past it. It was so bad I quit watching……..yup, I quit. Couldn’t do it.

So that’s a no for me…..

Two thumbs down, way down!