Prime Video’s new crime thriller starring Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo is another addition to the ‘dual life of a secret agent’ movies. Directed by Thomas Vincent, Role Play (2024) does nothing different other than simply swapping the usual narrative and making it appear as though the woman is the main character. The film centers around Emma Brackett, a perfect wife and mother whose life turns upside down when her professional life makes her the central face of a huge bounty from international killers all around the world.
Please note: the article contains spoilers; reader discretion is advised.
Role Play (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Emma (Kaley Cuoco) is a doting wife to Dave (David Oyelowo) and a mother of two wonderful kids. She has created a perfectly balanced life, enjoying the daily nuances of being a working woman. However, little does her family know that Emma is not the ‘top-shot’ professional she presents herself to be but a hired assassin. After returning from one of her ‘trips,’ Emma finds out that she has a bounty on her head, and in order to clear her name, she is expected to go on another business trip.
Meanwhile, consumed by her demanding professional life, she forgets about her wedding anniversary. When Dave surprises her with a sexy role-play costume, she suggests that the two of them meet at the hotel bar the next day as complete strangers, and this could be their way to spice up their time together.
The following day, Dave’s sister, Molly, babysits their kids, and Emma dresses up all sexy, waiting for Dave at the agreed-upon hotel bar. While anticipating Dave’s arrival, a man named Bob Kellerman (Bill Nighy) offers her a drink to get to know her better – subtly dropping hints that they are professional acquaintances.
After Bob leaves Dave and Emma to mind their business, Dave ends up getting completely toasted on shots, leaving him dozing off in their hotel room. In the meantime, Emma decides to ‘take care’ of Bob after seeing him as a professional hazard.
What does Dave learn about Emma Brackett?
Things soon turn south when Emma decides to visit her handler, Raj, after giving him a recap of what happened at the hotel. Meanwhile, Dave starts panicking when he finds out that Bob is dead, and the police can connect the death with both of them as they were the last people Bob was seen interacting with.
However, Emma tells Dave to wait until Monday as she has an important trip to Boise, where she is needed immediately. The next day, Emma promises her family that she will be back from her trip in a few days and will meet Dave at the airport. As promised, Dave goes to see Emma at the airport but is soon escorted by the detective in charge of Bob’s death.
At the police station, Dave finds out that Bob, aka Robert Kellerman, was an international killer, and he was killed by his wife, who is also an assassin for hire. Special Agent Gwen Carver, who has also been on the lookout for Emma for quite some time, shows him Emma’s real identity as Anna Peller, and her last location was recorded in Berlin. Dave, at first, laughs at the information until the truth starts settling in. He goes back home, and in Emma’s belongings, perfectly hidden in the attic, he discovers her different disguises, passports under alias names, and stashed guns.
How is Agent Gwen Carver related to Emma?
Agent Carver then visits Dave at the house, and it becomes evident that her intentions are elsewhere and only concern Emma. While Carver is busy talking to him, attempting to extract any close information about Emma by subtly poisoning his mind with small talk, we see Emma in Berlin meeting Raj. Just when the two are trying to get away to a safe spot, Agent Carver’s men find her, and a chase ensues, eventually resulting in Raj’s death. When Carver learns about her location, she leaves Dave, promising him that she will make sure the family is well-protected. Dave has his suspicions and finds a working number in Emma’s belongings, and it turns out to be Raj’s cell phone.
Unable to think things through, Emma hears Raj’s cell phone ringing, and she picks up the call. It is Dave on the other side, and he demands answers from her. Despite Emma’s warning, Dave decides to leave the kids with Molly and arrives in Berlin, where a man takes him to a German hotel bar where his wife is waiting for him.
As Dave demands the truth, Emma reveals that her father was an ex-secret service agent who built a private organization – Sovereign, along with an intelligence agent named Gwen Carver. Carver took Emma in as a child when her father was killed and manipulated and trained her to be an assassin. However, when Emma came of age, she figured out Carver ‘is’ the bad guy, so she left the organization, and that’s how she met Dave and her life shaped afterward. She gives new identities of the family to Dave and tells him to stick to the plan when Sovereign men come into the picture.
Role Play (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Does Emma really kill Dave as per Carver’s orders?
Carver’s men enter the bar, and the couple gets shot with tranquilizers. Emma wakes up in an open confinement in the middle of a forest. She walks out to find Carver and her kids playing with a puppy. After the kids are gently taken to the other room, Carver explains to Emma that she must kill Dave and join back Sovereign to build the organization that her father foresaw. Emma, who is well aware of Carver’s manipulative games, agrees and waits for Dave to be released to her.
Emma takes a walk with Dave into the woods and tells him that they both are under a sniper’s watch. She asks him to hold her like the old times and whispers in his ear that she is going to kill him as per Carver’s orders. Before Dave can react, she shoots him, and he falls dead on the ground. One of Carver’s guards comes in to collect the body, thus confirming Emma’s task for Carver. When the guard tries to put Dave’s body in the corpse suit, Emma shoots the woman in the head, perfectly camouflaging herself behind the tree to hide from the sniper’s aim. She then goes and kills the sniper, too, making a clear path. In a very expected twist, it turns out that Emma had instructed Dave to play dead in order for her to make the path clear to reach Carver.
Is Emma able to save her family from Carver’s game plan?
When Carver doesn’t get through the comms of the other guards keeping an eye on Emma, she starts panicking. Before her bodyguard could gauge Emma’s next move, Emma had already taken control of the situation. While Emma is busy handling business with Carver and her bodyguard, Dave, on the other hand, goes to the kids and waits patiently for his wife to join them. Emma kills the guard, and as Carver tries to run away, Emma follows her, and a brief fight ensues, leading to Carver getting shot by her protégé.
Carver demands Emma to finish her off, but Emma doesn’t want to waste a minute a leaves her dying slowly. She leaves Carver and heads back to the family, and the four leave the Sovereign compounds along with the little puppy. The ending of Prime Video’s Role Play (2024) shows Emma planning to drive the family to someplace safe and unknown, but we can assume that the new Canadian identities will probably take the Brackett family to Canada.
Role Play (2023) Movie Review:
Role Play is the kind of movie that has an overtly predictable storyline. If I am to point out what actually happens, it can be encompassed as – Role Play begins with an intro to Emma, who exhibits a boss-lady vibe; twist 1 – she is an assassin, followed by workplace complications and a need to protect the family. Sporadic action sequences ensue, extensive dialogues about what was and what could be, and ultimately, nothing truly unfolds – the end.
The format of these secret identity movies on OTT platforms is so formulaic that it seems even the creators don’t take it seriously. So, considering it within the template itself – the film lacks action, one-off hilarious gags, or any genuine excitement.
Role Play does the biggest disservice by draining the joy of watching Kaley Cuoco on screen. She has been put at the center of this lackluster role whose sole aim is to put her in an action movie that could play off her sites. Sadly, the way it has been written is far away from crafting a fun, action-comedy.
Although the presence of veteran actor Bill Nighy in a scene initially sparked hope for a turning point in the movie, his role didn’t contribute significantly. Despite forgiving the film’s flaws, it has the potential to make it onto the watch list for those who might use it as background noise, purely for the sake of Kaley Cuoco and her expressive hazel eyes.
