REVIEW: Playdate (2025)

Alan Ritchson and Kevin James team up for a wild suburban action-comedy in Playdate.

Amazon Prime’s new suburban action-comedy leans all the way into chaos — TikTok dances, pizza-mascot brawls, and Alan Ritchson vs. Kevin James in full dad-mode mayhem.

Luke Greenfield’s Playdate, written by Neil Goldman, arrives today on Amazon Prime, ready-made for the chaotic comfort-watch crowd. The film stars Alan Ritchson as Jeff Eamon — a man suddenly on the run with a young boy named CJ (Banks Pierce) after crossing paths with a group of violent killers. Their escape takes an unexpected turn at a quiet neighborhood park, where they collide with Kevin James, playing stepdad Brian Jennings, alongside his stepson Lucas (Benjamin Pajak). What unfolds from there is a bright, loud, suburban buddy-comedy stitched tightly to a PG-13 action engine.

The cast is stacked for exactly this kind of Friday-night streaming energy: Sarah Chalke plays Emily, Brian’s wife; Isla Fisher steps in as Leslie, a morning-wine mom straight out of the HOA trenches; and Alan Tudyk briefly steals scenes like he always does. Ritchson and James find an easy, surprisingly sharp rhythm together, bouncing between slapstick dad jokes and legitimately fun stunt choreography. The boys hold their own too, grounding the story even when the film slides into Live-Action TikTok Energy™.

Playdate leans into modern suburbia’s whole ecosystem: the identical Honda Odysseys, the bottomless mimosa moms, the mall-dojo fight moves, the influencer-era over-choreographed dance routines. Some of the editing choices are odd, and a few scenes feel like they were stitched together out of order, but honestly — none of that sinks the experience, because the movie never pretends to be anything grander. It’s a suburban action-comedy with a kid who fights like a mini-DARPA prototype and a stepdad desperate to prove his worth. The movie knows exactly what it is.

For anyone who struggles with movies where children fight adults like Marvel stunt doubles, Playdate won’t convert you. But if you’re down for a chaotic, sun-drenched, dad-centric comedy with bursts of stylized violence and TikTok absurdity, this is an easy watch. It’ll do extremely well with the “Mother Mafia” crowd — the wine-glass-in-hand Prime Video faithful.

We gave Playdate a 2.5 out of 5 here at Horror Movies Uncut. It’s not reinventing anything, but it’s fun, it moves, and it delivers exactly the film it promises.

Streaming now on Amazon Prime.

Directed by: Luke Greenfield

Written by: Neil Goldman

Produced by: Luke Greenfield, Jason Benoit, Sean Patrick O’Reilly, Mark Fasano, Jeffrey Greenstein

Executive Produced by: Alan Ritchson, Dan Spilo, Neil Goldman, Michelle Meyers, Alexis Garcia, Matthew Goldberg, Lee Broda, Jamal Sannon

Starring: Alan Ritchson, Kevin James, Sarah Chalke, Alan Tudyk, Benjamin Pajak, Banks Pierce, Hiro Kanagawa with Stephen Root and Isla Fisher