Sorry ‘Reacher’ Followers, The Prime Video Sequence Is not Alan Ritchson’s Greatest Function

For a man who simply appeared to hit his breakout position not too long ago, Alan Ritchson has truly been quietly kicking round in movie and tv for many years. You could not keep in mind that the human-shaped semi-truck (that’s a praise) everyone knows and love at present was as soon as Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesor the — ahem — small man from New Lady. In reality, in case you don’t depend his pre-fame look serenading Paula Abdul on American IdolRitchson truly obtained his begin working primarily as a comedy actor.

And whereas he’s greatest identified nowadays for taking part in Jack Reacher on Amazon’s hit adaptation of Lee Youngster’s Reacher novels (beforehand tailored into two unpopular Tom Cruise films), Ritchson’s greatest position in years truly got here in a stunning place: The 2025 Prime Video motion comedy Playdate. Whereas not an enormous hit with critics, the film was a streaming success, and it was a greater expression of Ritchson’s abilities and expertise with comedy than any of his different current tasks.

What’s Alan Ritchson’s ‘Playdate’ About?

It’s nearly underselling it to say that Playdate has a ridiculous premise, however it’s positively ridiculous. It appears easy on paper, at the least: Kevin James performs a stay-at-home stepfather attempting to attach together with his spouse’s son, who (god forbid) isn’t superb at sports activities. He quickly meets Ritchson’s character, Jeff, one other stay-at-home dad who’s constructed like a human-shaped semi-truck and has a son of his personal who’s tremendous good at roughhousing and enjoying sports activities however appears emotionally indifferent.

They arrange a playdate for the 2 children at a Chuck E. Cheese-type attraction, however whereas there, they get noticed by armed unhealthy guys who assault and attempt to seize Jeff’s son, CJ. In the course of wacky automobile chases and different motion sequences, Jeff reveals that he’s an ex-special forces soldier who’s on the run for breaking CJ out of a secret authorities facility. It’s the identical type of setup that each motion comedy hasthe place an motion man groups up with a flabbergasted common man (like Collateral if it had extra jokes), however the saving grace is that Ritchson commits not simply to being an motion man however to being the type of weirdo who would become involved in a scenario like this.

He’d most likely learn like a sociopath in a extra regular film, singing within the automobile with two children within the backseat whereas being attacked by mercenaries, however the identical may very well be stated for lots of people in quite a lot of comedies. The forged can also be padded out with another heavy-hitters from comedies, with Sarah Chalke (Scrubs and Rick and Morty) enjoying James’ spouse and Stephen Root (Barry and King of the Hill) as Ritchson’s dad. Paul Walter Hauser even exhibits up, enjoying a personality named Galifinakish, which looks as if a bizarre casting joke that did not repay.

So, whereas everybody likes Ritchson as Reacher and lots of people need to see him placed on the cape and cowl for a future Batman filmit might be a waste to not let him stretch his legs in some extra (higher) comedies.