Sometimes you sit down to watch a movie that clearly isn't going to change your life... and somehow you end up laughing more than you thought you would. That's exactly what happened to me with Playdate. It's not smart, it's not original, and it's definitely not aiming high, but there's something in its clumsy charm that ends up being genuinely fun. Maybe it's the mix of goofy action, ridiculous situations, and a cast that looks like they're just having a good time.
I mainly watched it because Alan Ritchson is in it, and honestly, he surprised me. He has a natural comedic timing that doesn't feel forced. That big-kid energy he has -half brute, half puppy- works surprisingly well here. The movie relies on that vibe more than anything else: when he's on screen, things flow; when he's not, the weaknesses show more clearly.
The humor is simple. Very simple. The kind that makes you ask yourself, "Why am I laughing at this?"... right before you laugh again. But hey, in a comedy like this, getting real laughs already counts as a win. It never pretends to be clever or groundbreaking; it just wants to entertain for a while, and that honesty helps.
Technically, it's nothing to brag about. The script is bare bones, the action scenes run on autopilot, and some moments feel so out of nowhere that they might as well have been improvised. But because the film never asks you to take it seriously, you end up forgiving a lot. There are comedies that try so hard to be sharp that they become painful -this one at least knows exactly what lane it's in.
I won't remember it next week, and I doubt anyone will. But during its runtime, it gave me a handful of genuine laughs, and that's more than what many "bigger" comedies manage nowadays. Sometimes a silly movie is all you need.
