From the beginning, it is clear that Playdate is set on being a commercial entertainer, nothing more, nothing less. But with an unfortunate lack of focus, the film keeps getting distracted with itself, like a puppy chasing a butterfly. The story is a solid skeletal foundation, yet the flesh, blood, and the rest of the body lack life.
Playdate follows two men, Jeff (Alan Ritchson) and Brian (Kevin James), who take care of two kids, Lucas (Benjamin Pajak) and CJ (Banks Pierce). Alan Ritchson’s earnest performance as Jeff largely saves the film. Jeff is a former special forces operator who struggles to understand normal social cues. While this could have come off as irritating ignorance, Ritchson converts those potentially annoying traits into funny, likeable moments. Kevin James, usually the comic, plays the straight man this time. Even in his average-man persona, he still delivers a handful of memorable laughs. The film gives its leads the right moments to shine. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast.
Isla Fisher plays a quintessential American helicopter parent whose only job is to conveniently appear in the middle of a high-stakes car chase, along with her friends, to derail it. Stephen Root, as Jeff’s absentee father, appears only as a source of tragic emotion or flat humour. Paul Walter Hauser’s Galifinakish induces annoyance rather than laughs. Alan Tudyk plays a parody of Silicon Valley tech CEOs, but he does very little with it, and the satire falls flat. Even Hiro Kanagawa, whose sole purpose is to deliver lines in a stoic manner, has the rug pulled from under him by lazy writing.
In films, outdated tropes can be used to poke fun at characters, the story setting, or the trope itself, and their light nature, with which these tropes are used, is what makes them memorable. That is not the case with Playdate. Music is frequently used to force tonal shifts—one moment a heartfelt scene, the next an upbeat rap track blasting to artificially elevate the mood. While Playdate seems intent on dishing out empty laughs and unearned highs, it still falls short of even that goal.