John Cena has built a small but impressive body of work in his short acting career.
Cena is the latest wannabe wrestler-turned-actor, a hulking hunk of muscle who, in the WWE world, where he can engage with an audience as a barely- can let his personality shine. It's not that he's particularly skilled as an actor, but he's been shrewd with his roles, choosing roles where his comedic chops--"Blockers," "Trainwreck," and "Sisters," to name a few--can mask his lack of range.
As Jake Carson, Smoke Jumper, he's the straight man, always oak-stiff and straight faced. Raised in the facility he now runs--his dad was legendary in his field, and trained his son to be his perfect successor, Jake speaks with the cadence and diction of a military man and, because this is Nickeolodeon world--he still somehow keeps friends who don't question his choices and personality even as they show theirs.
His buddies--reports, all of them--are Mark (Keegan-Michael Key), whose loyalty to Jake runs deeper than his own dignity; Rodrigo (John Leguizamo), who is there to cook and laugh, and begins the film as the backup pilot, a firefighter with no confidence he can actually fight fires, and Axe (Tyler Mane), a silent giant, thus named because of his choice of tchotchkes.
When the four rescue a precocious brood of children (Brianna Hildebrand, Christian Convery, and Finley Rose Slater), they find themselves in a pickle they can't handle. Their parents are out of town, so the first responders must care for them overnight in their headquarters.
Meanwhile, Jake hopes to get a big promotion, and Commander Richards (Dennis Haysbert) wants Jake for the job. All Jake has to do is fill out his online application, and ace the commander's visit.
Hilarity ensues, as you can imagine.
This film is Nickelodeon true and true, where the kids are fun-loving and the adults are all serious and stodgy, though we all know there's a kid in there somewhere yearning to break loose, and it's hardly a spoiler to say that they certainly will all do just that, just in time, just when it counts the most, in the sappiest way it possibly can.
Also being Nickelodeon, we're going to get silly sight gags that are standard in films like these. Here Cena takes pratfalls into walls, deals with dirty diapers and rooms full of soap suds while his friends alternately sneer and smile at the kids. His performance isn't particularly good, nor is his choice of projects. This one is likely destined to a spot in the bottom of the filmography of all involved.
The jokes are predictably manufactured and mostly horridly bad. The presence of a-list actors here (albeit giving it a half effort) is puzzling, and smacks of making one for the kids. And I haven't even mentioned Judy Greer yet, assuming the role of love interest for Cena. While she's given little to do but roll her eyes at the guys, and be vaguely matronly to the kids.
Playing with Fire" isn't a movie you're likely to remember too long after the closing credits roll, and you probably won't have a particularly great time while you're watching it, with the exception of a moment or two.