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Playing with Fire (2019)

2019 • 1h 36m • Comedy, Family • PG
On September 23, 2026
#5929▲ 153
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Kamurai on Playing with Fire

6/10 · Oct 23, 2020

It's an okay film; I don’t foresee myself wanting to revisit it, and my suggestion would be geared toward a younger crowd. Nickelodeon has engaged in some unusual projects, and assembling this particular group of actors falls into that category. The cast is impressive, but doesn’t feel like what one might expect for a children's movie. I doubt kids would recognize Dennis Haysbert or Judy Greer, and I honestly hope they wouldn’t be familiar with John Leguizamo, Keegan-Michael Key, or Brianna Hildebrand, although they may know John Cena if they follow wrestling. There are numerous events unfolding throughout the film, but often without a sense of connection between them. The core idea is genuinely charming (though quite silly), yet for much of the runtime, it lacks substance beyond finding humor in the setbacks experienced by these well-meaning public employees. Many of the jokes feel too mature to land effectively or conversely too simplistic for my taste. I’m not criticizing the visual gag of bubbles filling a room, but context matters (similar to "Just My Luck"), and that film had a strong sequence of bad luck leading up to a comparable moment which gave it impact; here, they seemed to opt for a different approach. What could have been truly good ended up being merely adequate.

Source on TMDB