John Cena, a WWE wrestler turned actor, recently starred in the Nickelodeon film “Playing with Fire”, which debuted on November 8th. I went with my family to see this movie when it debuted, and I was impressed.
Let me start off by saying that going in to see this film, I tried to not get my hopes up. My family had originally planned to see the “Joker” but it along with many other movies was sold out. So, we opted to see “Playing with Fire” instead.
From my experience with John Cena’s work, I thought that this film would be sort of a goofy movie that was geared towards kids, since the production label was Nickelodeon and Cena’s past in the ‘Fred’ movies. But I was shocked to find myself really enjoying this movie, with its sappy and funny moments.
The movie centers around John Cena’s character, Jake Carson, the fire superintendent and his underdog team of firefighters save a trio of 3 siblings, they are in for some teachable moments. The stern Jake Carson learns to find love both platonically and romantically. He finds love platonically with learning to love and care for the 3 siblings, who were almost trapped in a cabin fire without their parents around. In return, the kids learn to love and care for Cena as well, and there is a lot of mischief and fun around for everyone.
For romantic love, he decides to give Dr. Amy Hicks, played by Judy Greer, with whom he went on a few dates with prior to the movie setting, another try. With the support of his 3 friends and firefighters, Mark (Keegan-Michael Key) Rodrigo (John Leguizamo) and “Axe”, dubbed this because of the axe he carries around, played by Tyler Mane, he is able to find a ‘positive’ ending for all of this.
Throughout the movie, the actors relied on physical humor like Cena’s character falling or someone getting covered in soap, but there were some heartfelt moments as well. One moment that comes to mind for me is when “Axe” who could be described as intimidating, forms a close bond with the youngest child, Zoey (Finley Rose Slater) and shares over a make-believe tea party. The trio of firefighters also connect with the children by the means of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and is seen watching the television show and playing with the figurines many times. This may not be a coincidence, since the franchise is owned by Nickelodeon as well.
Overall, I did end up enjoying the movie more than I thought I was going to. I was not the demographic in mind, and neither was my family, but it was entertaining to watch. I wouldn’t actively watch this movie on my own, but it was heartfelt and funny.
