Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Playing With Fire

This film had a Rocky first two acts that won me over by the final act. This is an awkward comedy staring John Cena and has a cast of very interesting choices. The film is very weak for about 85% of it as it relies very heavily on cheap jokes to make kids laugh when we all know kids are smarter then just cheap laughs and the film does have a ton of scenes that are not needed at all with very shallow character depth within a lot of the characters but the film like I mentioned somehow pulls off a good final act that dose have enjoyment to be had within the final 50 minutes of this film. 

Firstly, This film has a very paper thin plot that goes nowhere. The issue I had with this film or the many issues I had and one of the first ones are that the plot doesn’t go anywhere once we are introduced to these characters at this firehouse with the kids that’s it they get into shenanigans and what the think is fun comedy and their is nothing until a lot further along that the film has some sort of character progression with any of its characters. As a lot of the characters remain shallow and not fleshed our properly as I do like the characters but just give me more context to them as the film just threw jokes for them to give us with very little soul to their characters which is upsetting as I do want to enjoy this film but the film has many glaring flaws and that’s two of them. 

The big one is the use of jokes and how they decide to go about doing these jokes. John Cena said in a interview that  kids would like the film due to its content of poop jokes and soapy stuff which did upset me a bit as kids are a lot more smarter then just giving them that we have high caliber kids films that kids love and deserve not just bottom of the barrel by the numbers jokes that you presume that kids will laugh at. I found a lot of the jokes set up in this film to be very awakened and painful to watch unfold as it wasn’t funny at all it just made me uncomfortable which I shouldn’t have to feel when watching a John Cena firehouse movie. They should of definitely have spent more time in the writing room coming up with better comedic situations to get the characters in rather then just cheap ones that resulted in cheap laughs Their was only two jokes in this entire film I laughed at the rest I was silent for which I shouldn’t be considering this is a comedy but like I said the comedy is not well written here. 

However, during this film’s final act the film finds its place and footing well I think it does and has a very heartwarming quality that it brings that is actually quite unexpected to be honest and it’s so well done it’s incredibly cheesy no doubt but when the emotions are high you can’t help but get swept up into it as the film does deliver a punch of emotion that did hit me that spoke about family and togetherness which was actually quite well done that is the only compliment this film gets from me. 

Overall, Playing With Fire is a awkward, uncomfortably unfunny comedy that really tries to hard to appeal to children and instead just has these ridiculous unoriginal situations that they think is funny but the film redeems a bit of itself by the end by wining you over in the slightest by it’s heartwarming message and I will say Playing with Fire is a awakened family comedy but I could see it becoming a guilty pleasure film. 

This film centres on these smoke jumpers that can tackle anything until they’ve met their greatest match ... kids

Rated PG : for rude humor, some suggestive material and mild peril

Keegan-Michael Key : Keegan delivers a very fun performance!  Key has given a performance in a lot of ways carries this film. Their is only two solid performances in the film  that is Keegan-Michael Key and Brianna Hildebrand as they are the strongest performances in the film for sure but it’s Keegan-Michael Key’s fantastic turn in this film that makes this film enjoyable in some sense. As he plays the second in command at the firehouse and so their is a lot of moments I won’t lie where I was absolutely cringing at how bad these jokes were their was a moment where one went one for probably 5 minutes to long and felt dragged out and it’s material totally beaten up from overuse. With that aside their was a handful of moments of Keegan-Michael Key’s performance I actually really enjoyed as he has like I mentioned large amounts of comedy but also their is a scene with a shocking amount of emotion that comes out of nowhere and I think it works so well because you don’t expect it and he just really tries his best with this terrible screenplay and has a solid emotional range within this film. You can tell he’s having such fun onscreen but he is able to play some really funny moments hilariously well and then also be able to provide the more dramatic heavy stuff with such ease. Keegan-Michael Key is a pure enjoyment to watch onscreen and is the best part of this film honestly as he’s trying so hard to make this watchable and for that man I’ll say this and I mean it you were fantastic in this film. 

Andy Fickman : Andy is an actual ok director in my books as he has directed a handful of films I’ve seen and enjoyed over the years. Fickman directed The Game Plan, Race To Witch Mountain and You Again all films I really had fun watching and so I was unaware he directed this film until I saw the credits. Wow am I disappointed in you Andy as since I’ve seen a good chunk of his films as mentioned so I know he’s capable at the most of making a fun film and this was anything but that for the most part. As the film relied way to heavily on poorly structured and written jokes and then within the last half of the film it finds its footing and does it redeem the whole film? No it doesn’t as the film has a interesting over the top premises that goes absolutely nowhere as in the film when they find those kids that’s it they just have fun in a firehouse nothing else comes out from that which makes it quiet bland and boring as well. The comedy was awakened and uncomfortable at times and the actors tried to the best of their abilities to make this at all watchable and Andy seems like he just resorted to cheap laughs instead of actually wanting to make a enjoyable family comedy which he fails at here. The film is dull boring, awkward and painfully unfunny even though with its strong final act cannot redeem the entire film. This is definitely Andy Fickman’s weakest film he’s ever directed to date.