By George & Josh Bate
Comedies, especially buddy comedies that blend humor and action, have been few and far between in recent years. Long gone are the days in which films like Rush Hour, Beverly Hills Cop, and Midnight Run were commonplace at your local megaplex. An advertisement for the new The Naked Gun movie even lamented the lack of mainstream comedies released nowadays. Serving as a riotous throwback to this bygone era is Playdate, a new buddy comedy from director Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door, Let’s Be Cops) and starring Kevin James and Alan Ritchson arriving November 12 on Prime Video.
The HoloFiles recently had the opportunity to interview Greenfield about his new film, working with Kevin James and Alan Ritchson, the importance of making comedies relatable, the film’s myriad of inspirations, crafting action sequences inspired by Paul Greengrass and Michael Bay, the use of licensed music, the film’s unexpected appeal to cinephiles, and more.
Playdate follows recently unemployed accountant Brian (Kevin James), who struggles to bond with his new step-son (Benjamin Pajak). When Brian agrees to a seemingly innocuous playdate with the charismatic and slightly bizarre Jeff (Alan Ritchson) and his son CJ (Banks Pierce), the father/son duo soon find themselves in the middle of a chaotic scramble to stay alive from a team of ruthless mercenaries. What ensues is an rollicking adventure that sees the inept Brian and strangely prepared Jeff tackle their fatherly insecurities (+ plenty of bad guys in the process).
In our interview, Greenfield discussed his reverence for comedies of the past and his desire, in making Playdate, to craft a throwback comedy with contemporary appeal and genuine emotion. “I wanted to make an action comedy of the types I grew up on,” Greenfield said. “Midnight Run is probably one of the best action comedies ever…it combines comedy, character, but a lot of heart and a lot of pathos.” Like Midnight Run, Playdate couches its humor in a bonkers, yet emotionally relatable story. “I love kind of doing that in my movies, because I think, if you don’t bring in heart and pathos and relatability, it won’t hit home to audiences,” Greenfield continued. “You’re not going to relate to the characters. And this movie’s bonkers. It’s crazy. But underneath it, it’s about the connection between parents and kids and the insecurity of parents of, ‘Are doing the best job possible? Are we making the same mistakes our parents made for us?”
To ensure that the emotional beats land as well as they do, Greenfield employed a delicate balance of licensed music and an original score by Jeff Cardoni and Charlie Nguyen Kim. “One of the most important things to me in movies is putting the right songs emotionally in a movie,” Greenfield remarked. “I am inspired by songs and what is the mood of the scene. I was brought up on Oliver Stone and Scorsese and Cameron Crowe, who utilize songs so well. I never care about lyrics. All I care about is the mood of the song.
From “Boogie Shoes” by KC and the Sunshine Band to “Rhythm of the Night” by Corona, Greenfield utilizes all kinds of well-known hits to enhance the emotional resonance (and fun) of each scene. “I know these songs way ahead of time so that I then know exactly how I’m going to shoot to that song, how I’m going to edit to that song. I mean really utilizing music to the mood.”
Speaking to the importance of music in Playdate, the film utilized the talents of music editor Curt Sobel, who temp scored the film by drawing on his extensive knowledge of movie music to create a placeholder score for the film, in addition to editor Joe Matasik, who Greenfield endearingly described as “a fucking genius.”
Greenfield revealed that there is a director’s cut of Playdate with “a hell of a lot more songs in it.” He revealed That Girl Next Door is the only movies in his 25 years as a filmmaker that he was able to secure the rights for all the songs he wanted to use.
In watching Playdate, viewers may think the film is a big-budget action comedy due to its production value and number of impressive set-pieces, but this is not the case. “It’s not a big budget movie,” Greenfield stated. “Everyone thinks it is. It’s not.” Despite being “handcuffed with budget,” Playdate looks, feels, and sounds like an expensive summer flick, a testament to the work of Greenfield and his team.
Another unexpected facet of Playdate is a reverence for cinema that seeps into every scene. References to Reservoir Dogs, Forrest Gump, and The Bodyguard are just some of the little easter eggs and tidbits that cinephiles will enjoy pointing out. One of the most humorous references comes as Alan Ritchson’s character tries to occupy kids in the back of his minivan by having them watch a DVD. The DVD of choice, you may ask? The Silence of the Lambs, of course. Greenfield revealed, however, that the scene originally had the kids watching the chainsaw scene from Scarface. Whether you’re occupying your young kids with Hannibal Lector or Tony Montana, the scene still plays hilariously.
Greenfield also incorporated a reference to a classic from his own filmography – The Girl Next Door. “I never intended that at all,” Greenfield said. “That was a last second change. Because I wanted the most inappropriate sex movie and immediately my head went to Basic Instinct.” While seeing innocent kids watch Sharon Stone’s infamously revealing scene from Basic Instinct would have been funny, we’re glad Greenfield stuck with them watching The Girl Next Door as it makes for a nice little meta reference to the filmmaker’s career.
Evidencing the painstaking and overlooked work that goes into making movies, Greenfield described the homage to Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now that features in Playdate. “The villain, his name is Colonel Kurtz,” Greenfield said as he described Playdate‘s villain being named after Marlon Brando’s character from Coppola’s classic. “We spent so much time [with the Apocalypse Now homage]. He gets introduced by a black and white photo, and we spent so much time shooting that exactly the way Coppola did when the Colonel gave Martin Sheen the picture of Marlon Brando.”
While overt references to classic films are sprinkled through the film, Greenfield also drew on more subtle influences to make Playdate, especially for its myriad of exhilarating action scenes. “This is the most action I’ve ever done and I wanted to shoot it,” said Greenfield. “I love action movies. I’m really influenced by Paul Greengrass. Obviously, I love the way Michael Bay shoots. I think Bad Boys 2 has one of the greatest car chases.”
One of the film’s most memorable action sequences is a car chase that sees murderous mercenaries chase Ritchson, James, and their kids driving in a mini-van blasting “Rhythm of the Night” by Corona. Greenfield discussed how he engineered the scene. “We’ve seen 10 billion car chases,” he said. “We get bored, so then I was like, ‘Well, wait a minute. This movie is about parenting. It’s about suburbia. Why not have the most dangerous car chase inside suburbia where little girls having a lemonade stand could be killed. And instead of using a tense score or aggressive song, let’s go ‘Rhythm of the Night’ and have Alan’s crazy character singing the song to it.'” The opening sequence of Beverly Hills Cop, which shows a massive 18-wheeler destroying Detroit, was a reference point for Greenfield in constructing this memorable chase scene.
And, like Beverly Hills Cop, Playdate is anchored by some great action comedy performances. The film couples together comedy legend Kevin James and Jack Reacher himself Alan Ritchson, a team-up that results in tons of great laughs. Greenfield discussed how he approached balancing improvisation from James and Ritchson with the screenplay penned by Neil Goldman. “We do spend enormous amounts of time, months, if not years, on dialogue and giving it the right pace and giving it timing.” Greenfield continued, “I believe in getting the script as fucking perfect as you can so that they’ve got great material and then let them do their own preparation, their own stuff. That’s the magic.”
As the year winds down and audiences are inundated with dense, often dour awards films, Playdate serves as a refreshing palette cleanser that will remind you of an era of buddy comedies that (hopefully) returns soon.