Mayday review: Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh's Cold War comedy falls flat
The film, directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, stars Ryan Reynolds as a Navy pilot who crashes in Russia and is taken in by Kenneth Branagh's ex-KGB agent. The comedy struggles to find humor in its 1987 setting and delivers a heavy-handed message about understanding enemies. The A.V. Club gives it a D+.
The film is set in 1987 and pairs Ryan Reynolds’ Navy pilot with Kenneth Branagh’s ex-KGB agent, who idolizes American pop culture. Directed by the team behind *Game Night* and *Dungeons & Dragons*, it leans heavily on period references like *Top Gun* and Van Halen, while employing elaborate VFX sequences from WETA. A subplot involving the pilot’s ailing father (David Morse) hints at deeper character work that the review suggests remains underdeveloped.
Daley and Goldstein previously earned praise for balancing action and comedy, but here the humor reportedly relies on Reynolds’ detached persona and Branagh’s earnest Russian accent. The review notes the film’s visual style—frictionless camera moves and weightless action—as technically ambitious yet visually jarring, with some shots feeling uncannily artificial. The Cold War setting is used less for satire than for a heavy-handed lesson on humanizing adversaries.
This review could influence audience expectations for a high-profile streaming release, potentially dampening early viewership among fans of Reynolds or the directors. The critical dismissal may also reinforce a broader trend of nostalgia-driven Cold War comedies struggling to resonate with modern viewers, who might find the era’s politics too distant or the messaging too simplistic. Industry observers may see this as a cautionary example of star power failing to compensate for weak scripts.