Looking at it clinically, the Amazon Prime film Role Play is essentially another made-for-TV knockoff of James Cameron’s 1994 blockbuster True Lies – as if we hadn’t already seen enough of those over the past year, both official and unofficial. Thankfully, this one has just enough of its own twists to be an enjoyable and undemanding action-comedy. If not a classic, I can think of worse ways to spend 100 minutes.
The film also continues the rather fascinating career second act for actress Kaley Cuoco, who spent a dozen years in the thankless role as the sexpot romantic interest on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory before proving herself a capable and appealing lead in more compelling shows such as The Flight Attendant on Max and Based on a True Story on Peacock. While this particular movie probably won’t be much remembered in the long-term, it does a pretty decent job of selling Cuoco as a star.
| Title: | Role Play |
| Year of Release: | 2024 |
| Director: | Thomas Vincent |
| Watched On: | Amazon Prime Video |
Closely following the True Lies formula, an elite super-secret spy maintains a cover as an average suburban nobody with a boring job and a perfectly mundane life, totally unbeknownst to a clueless spouse waiting at home. The gimmick in this case is that the wife, Emma (Cuoco), is the badass globe-hopping assassin-for-hire, while husband Dave (David Oyelowo) obliviously holds down the homefront and takes care of the kids, fully buying into the story that the woman he married just makes a lot of business trips for her middle-management corporate position.
The fun bit of casting in this is that Cuoco could have easily been typecast in a bimbo role after her years on The Big Bang Theory, and it’s equally amusing to see Oyelowo as a milquetoast soccer dad coming right on the heels of playing a hardass U.S. marshal in the Paramount+ Western series Lawmen: Bass Reeves. Both play against type, and have excellent chemistry together. They sell the romantic connection in the scenes before Dave finds out about Emma’s real identity. Backing them up in the supporting cast are Bill Nighy as a rival assassin and Connie Nielsen as a federal agent with some suspicious motives.
The plot plays out just about exactly as you’d expect and holds few real surprises. Dave eventually learns the truth when Emma’s secret life crashes into her cover life and some villains kidnap her kids. The spouses then have to work together to restore their family, redefining their relationship and forming new bonds of trust as they do so. The ending to this story practically writes itself.
Working in its favor, the movie makes another interesting break from the True Lies template in that Dave, once brought up to speed about Emma’s double life, isn’t at all on-board with his wife’s actual job. Unlike the Jamie-Lee Curtis character in the Schwarzenegger film, joining Emma on a mission doesn’t reignite the passion in their marriage. Although he still loves his wife, Dave just wants his old, boring life back, and makes Emma see the value in that too. I have to respect that.
To be perfectly honest, if not for writing this review about it, I’d probably be inclined to forget that I ever watched Role Play or that the movie even existed at all within a couple years time. Nevertheless, the film is well put-together and entertaining while it’s playing on screen. Sometimes that’s enough.
Video Streaming
Role Play premiered on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, January 12, 2024. The film streams in 4K HDR at an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. Although the image is quite sharp, at least on my projection screen, the HDR grading comes across a little too hot. The result of this is that colors can look slightly oversaturated and contrast a bit flat. However, I’ll allow for the possibility that this could be a tone-mapping issue. I’ve heard from some viewers that the movie looks better on Dolby Vision-equipped flat panel TVs. Sadly, Dolby Vision isn’t compatible with projectors. In any case, the problem wasn’t serious enough to be much of a detriment to my viewing, and the movie still looked pretty good overall.
The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is suitable, if not particularly remarkable for an action movie. Fidelity and dynamic range are adequate, but nothing stands out as above average. I noticed a helicopter effect flying overhead in an early scene and some birds later. The forest shootout climax makes some fun use of surround effects and echoes.
The Video File Blog 
For reasons unknown, this will get a theatrical release in Belgium on 28 February. No idea what they were thinking.
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