Playdate

No Spoilers.

The basic premise of Playdate is one that has been used, tried and tested in at least a dozen movies i can name off the top of my head.

ie'Family move in next door and attract curiosity from there neighbours by odd or suspicious behavior.'

Because these types of films are not new to the genre, there storyline can be stale and formulaic.

However with good performances and a solid screenplay, the antagonist of this movie is ambiguous throughout which leaves us wondering who to trust.

I find that in poorly made movies, the actors respond to situations differently to the way i would or the way reality would dictate.(making it unbelievable) The poorer the movie, the more unfitting and ridiculous the actors respond.

Basing the movie on the unbelievability of there performance I would give it a 5.5/10, although that's not standard for the whole cast.

The end of the movie leaves a few unanswered questions, which is fine as long as it doesn't leave holes in the story, this one doesn't, but i find a bit of resolve would help the conclusion.

I went into this movie with fairly low expectations, but in the end I was left extremely disappointed.

The build up of this movie was slow but thanks to the acting it kept me interested. It's a recognisable situation, family gets new neighbours & don't know if they're trustworthy. We all worry who our kids play with at some point. During the movie you're left wondering who's to trust and who's not. So far, an OK movie experience. The slow build up made me look forward to the ending, in suspense. Then comes the plot. Which is so incredibly weak & not answering many questions -if any- that left me feeling i wasted my time. Personally I absolutely can't stand movies to end with this many unanswered questions. It feels as though the writer had some good ideas for a story but was suddenly out of inspiration when it came to the end. Also, some things are just not realistic. Without giving any spoilers away, the apparent ease at which an APB is warranted left me astonished. There's plenty of stuff in the last part of the movie that had me scratching my head, which I can't get into without giving spoilers away. I'm sure you'll know what I mean when you've seen it.

Huge disappointment for me this one. 2/10.

It's not that "Playdate" is a bad flick. It's just so plain vanilla horror/thriller stock stuff that it makes watching paint dry seem downright rousing. The only mildly intriguing dynamic here is that evil resides mere steps away next door in this cookie-cutter L.A. burb.

So how well ya know your neighbors there, huh?

I only watched this because I like Richard Ruccolo, who plays the dad. The dude is capable of much more than the suburban husband role he's stuck in here (and in Rita Rocks, although that was enjoyable). At least he showed physical courage when it was called for; that was nice to see.

I can't tell whether my response to the drawn out slow plot was, as likely intended, anxiety or, more likely, annoyance.

The "nice" family's reactions to the new neighbors, once things start to get odder and odder, are completely non-credible. Bad script. People, even nice white people in the suburbs, don't let their niceness overcome their sense of danger when their only child is involved.

Twas nice to see Mr Ruccolo, even here, but if he were not in the flick, I'd have turned it off after ten minutes.

While the credits roll, a young boy is chased to the edge of a cliff. He falls over the edge and looks dead...

Two years later, we meet Southern California brunette Marguerite Moreau (as Emilie). She quits her job to spend more time with husband Richard Ruccolo (as Brian Valentine), their young daughter Natalie Lind (as Olive) and "Hunter" the family pooch. A new family moves in next door, from Denver. They are blonde single mom Abby (as Tamara) and her two sons, Julien Lacroix and Aidan Potter (as Titus and Billy Moor). This new family sends off creepy vibes, which irk Ms. Moreau. Her little girl has a "first official crush" on young rough-playing Potter. Moreau notices her neighbors have bruises and a man caught trespassing demands the return of his son...

Of the cast, devoted mother Brammell is most engagingly mysterious. The younger children are more silly than intriguing; most parents would separate the mismatched pair before they separated themselves. Older son Lacroix uses his hair to play the moody, distant teenager. Director Andrew C. Erin keeps it moving, though. He and his crew effectively uses close-ups to have characters abruptly enter a scene, or has them slither around in the background. By the end of "Playdate" we have a sufficient idea about what has happened, but there are some details which remain too sketchy. Kraig Wenman's original story may have been trimmed. It's not incomplete, just vague.

**** Playdate (2012-04-28) Andrew C. Erin ~ Marguerite Moreau, Abby Brammell, Richard Ruccolo, Julien Lacroix