David Oyelowo is one of my favorite actors in Hollywood. Since I saw his performance in the movies ’Derailed and The Best Man (2005)’I'd put him on my favorite list of actors. His last films I watched were ’Queen of Katwe (2015)’ and ’See How They Run (2022)’. So when I saw the poster of this movie I was curious and interested to watch the movie immediately and also I thought it was a romantic / erotica film, hahah, considering the title of the movie, but it was not.
This movie was unexpectedly interesting and entertaining for me regardless of the harsh negative reviews from the audience. The audience didn't receive this movie well, there were a lot of complaints and racial disputes. It was expected and I was surprised at all. But then, could it be that the movie targets the wrong audience? Or maybe the plot was not well written?
Well, the question above will be addressed below with my review.
’Role Play (2024)’ is an action, comedy and romance movie produced by Andrew Rona and Kaley Cuoco. It was also written by Seth Owen and distributed by Amazon MGM Studios. It starred Kaley Cuoco, David Oyelowo, Rudi Dharma lingam, Connie Nielsen and our beloveth Bill Nighy. The story of this movie centers on a biracial couple who decided to spice up their marriage on their anniversary in New York with a night of role play, but in the end it invites chaos and secrets unveiled.
Little About The Plot.
Emma and Dave have been married for 7 years and counting. Emma is international contract killer who is wanted by so many people. Her life as a contract killer was kept as secret from her husband for many years. However, as Emma and Dava traveled to New York to celebrate their anniversary, they decided to spice up their marriage with a night of role play.
Emma on the other hand, I had a contract to carry out at new York, so she sedated her husband and carried out the contract kill. That was when our beloved Bill Nighy was introduced to us as the Bob character in this movie. Bob recognised Emma from another assassin job and then he tries to blackmail her but in the end Emma killed him in an unexpected way.
Dave and Emma get back from their anniversary getaway and after a few days they both were recognised as a as a prime suspects in the murder case of Bob. Emma realising are secrets as a contract killer is about to unveiled, she goes an emergency travel for work to cover her tracks. Will Emma's secret be exposed?
My Review And Rating.
This movie received a lot of backlash from its audience which makes me wonder, did this movie target the right audience? Actually it did but the audience were not happy about how the movie was produced and how it was directed.
Hollywood is beginning to lose their audience to other foreign film companies. I can attest to this, I am getting bored of Hollywood and recently I started exploring Norwegian, Russian, Korea, Germany, and French films. Soon my reviews won't entail solely Hollywood films anymore.
Was the plot written well?
My answer to this question is no. The plot of the movie was not written by a creative person. Why it is so is because the plot was very predictable. From the beginning of the movie, I could tell how the movie would end and what would happen next. I see this type of flaw as a failure to engage the mind of the viewers from the writer of the script.
The plot of the movie was missing suspense, tension, twists and turns that would have kept the viewer hooked. It lacked dark humor (if there was dark humor to this movie it would have been very interesting). Also, it lacked solid action stunts and scenes. However, as I view this movie from the perspective of the writer, I think the writer was going for a family kind of action Romcom film and failed to actually explore the family theme in the movie which is why the audience enjoyed watching this movie.
The Cast were averagely good but their roles restricted them from displaying their talents. Most of the audience of the movie were not impressed with the performance of the cast. Some said it was a waste of talent and some said David Oyelowo was not right for the role (hence where the racial disputes came from).
The bad performance of the cast was because their characters were not written well and firmly. Some personalities that were supposed to be attached to each character were absent, especially the role of Oyelowo and that of Bill Nighy. For Nighy, I couldn't take him seriously because his role was written with subtle humor (dark humor goes well with him in any movie).
In my opinion, the plot was okay and entertaining but it wasn't engaging at all. It is the kind of storyline that would be easily forgotten after the view. The Cast performance was manageable for me but it was that bad. Seeing David and Billy made it all better.
The cinematography was fantastic and amazing! I will give the producers that. The visuals were crystal clear and colorful. The scene arrangements were done well. The kills were mild, brutal, not much gore and the action stunts were filmed well. The camera work was not good but it was okay that you might notice it.
Rating this movie, I will give it 7 out of 10 stars. It was okay and entertaining. I enjoyed it regardless of the flaws here and there. I would this movie to fans of David Oyelowo and Bill Nighy, not avid action lovers (they would hate it).
All images above are from the movie screenshots
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