Playing with Fire

"0% contained."

2019 1h 36m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 774

FamilyComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A crew of rugged firefighters meet their match when attempting to rescue three rambunctious kids.

“0% contained.”

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Cast

John Cena
Jake
Keegan-Michael Key
Mark
John Leguizamo
Rodrigo
Tyler Mane
Axe
Brianna Hildebrand
Brynn
Christian Convery
Will
Finley Rose Slater
Zoey
Judy Greer
Dr. Amy Hicks

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Andy Fickman
Writers: Dan Ewen, Matt Lieberman, Dan Ewen
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 7 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CAST

Did you know

219+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Andy Fickman, shot by Dean Semler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Nathan Wang. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

John Cena and Keegan-Michael Key and John Leguizamo carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "0% contained.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt9134216 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Andy Fickman directs. Dean Semler behind the camera. Nathan Wang scores. Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 7 years ago.
2219+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
3Directed by Andy Fickman, shot by Dean Semler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Nathan Wang. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6John Cena and Keegan-Michael Key and John Leguizamo carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "0% contained.".
8IMDB entry: tt9134216 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Dean Semler
Original score: Nathan Wang
Editing: Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir
Production design: Brent Thomas
Costume design: Monique Prudhomme
Makeup / hair: Anne Carroll
VFX supervisor: Patrick Neighly
Sound: Drew Webster
Stunt coordinator: Corbin Fox
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $29,900,000
Box office: $69,412,425
Return: 232% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Playing with Fire (2019)

Also by

Andy Fickman

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

SWITCH.2019-11-26
★ 4/10
Paramount has proved themselves with ‘Instant Family’ and this year's ‘Dora and the Lost City of Gold’, showing they can really work some magic and create really funny, wholesome, heartwarming live action family films, and ‘Playing with Fire’ could have been in that bunch if it wasn’t so cheap and derivative. While Cena charms, the rest of the film isn’t that hot. - Chris dos Santos Read Chris' full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-playing-with-fire-put-out-this-flaming-mess
JPV8522020-02-02
★ 6/10
Perfectly harmless movie squarely aimed at kids, but I did manage to chuckle a few times even with the overacting. Also helps that I do genuinely like the cast, John Cena and Keegan-Michael Key. Nothing I'd be keen on watching again, but still was an okay time-waster. 2.75/5
Kamurai2020-10-23
★ 6/10
Decent watch, probably won't watch again, and can only recommend for younger audiences. Nickelodeon has done some weird things, and putting together this cast is one of them. It's a great cast, but it's not really what I could consider a kid's movie cast. I don't think any kids would know Dennis Haysbert or Judy Greer, and I kind of hope they wouldn't know John Leguizamo, Keegan-Michael Key, or Brianna Hildebrand, but they might know John Cena if they know wrestling. There is a lot of things that happen in this movie with very little happening at the same time. It's actually a sweet (if ridiculous) concept, but for most of the movie there is very little weight to it other than laughing at the misfortune of these good civil servants. A lot of the jokes are too "grown up" without being good, or too "kiddy" for me to enjoy. I'm not saying it isn't funny for bubbles to fill a room, but context still helps (see "Just My Luck"), and using that as an example, there is actually a good sequence of misfortune right before the bubble scene that sets it up so I know they know how to do it, but they chose to do it another way. For what should have been really good just came out decent.