John Cena finally made his Fast and Furious 9 Instagram debut this week while possibly replacing The Rock in the franchise. Is he also taking a huge page out of his fellow WWE household name’s launch-a-movie-career playbook? During the aughts, The Rock (who was going by Dwayne Johnson professionally at that point) starred in a slew of family flicks, including The Game Plan (actually a good movie), Tooth Fairy (not so much), Planet 51, and Race To Witch Mountain. Fast forward to 2019, and Cena’s starring in Playing With Fire, which follows in the same tough-guy-taking-care-of-kids tradition as Johnson as well as Vin Diesel with The Pacifier and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop. It’s not a tumor, but this trailer is, well, something.
Cena’s finishing move is a fireman’s carry, and he previously dressed up like a sexy fireman on Maya and Marty, but he’s not entirely skilled in the art of fighting fire in this movie. Or maybe we can blame it all on Keegan-Michael Key and John Leguizamo’s characters while witnessing this moment.
From the synopsis, it looks like Cena and friends get their butts handed to them by some rascally youths:
When straight-laced fire superintendent Jake Carson (John Cena) and his elite team of expert firefighters (Keegan-Michael Key, John Leguizamo and Tyler Mane) come to the rescue of three siblings in the path of an encroaching wildfire, they quickly realize that no amount of training could prepare them for their most challenging job yet — babysitters. Unable to locate the children’s parents, the firefighters have their lives, jobs and even their fire depot turned upside down and quickly learn that kids — much like fires — are wild and unpredictable.
Playing With Fire arrives on November 8, 2019. Here’s a poster.
