Devil's Playground: A whole lot of waiting for a fish

Is it worth your time?

If you enjoy watching professional anglers sweat under the sun for two hours, you’ll be in heaven. If you need a narrative or, say, a point to the whole thing, you’re going to be bored out of your mind within the first fifteen minutes. It’s a niche hobby film, plain and simple.

Joe Cunningham clearly loves fishing more than he loves making movies. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean the editing has a real 'home video' vibe to it. Sometimes the camera just lingers on a calm patch of water for way too long. I found myself checking my watch, wondering if the fish were ever going to actually bite.

There’s a specific scene where they spend what feels like an eternity prepping the bait. It’s oddly hypnotic, but also deeply tedious. You can practically smell the salt and the old boat oil coming through the screen. 🐟

The struggle is real

When the action finally happens, it’s frantic. It’s not graceful. It looks like a wrestling match against a creature that doesn’t want to be caught. It reminds me of the chaotic energy in Roaring Lions on the Midnight Express, though with significantly fewer lions and way more humidity.

I appreciated that they didn't try to add a fake dramatic score over everything. It’s mostly just the wind and the motor humming. It makes the moments of silence feel actually earned, rather than just lazy filmmaking. Still, there’s no real arc here. You start, you fish, you end.

• The close-ups of the fishing reels are surprisingly detailed.
• The sunburns on these guys look genuinely painful.
• I’m still not sure why some of the audio levels fluctuate so wildly.
• There’s a weird moment where someone drops a sandwich and nobody picks it up.

If you compare this to something like The Pony Express, the pacing here is almost glacial. It doesn’t pretend to be high art, which I respect. It’s just a guy showing you big fish. That’s fine. It’s just... a lot of waiting for a pay-off that happens in about thirty seconds. 🌊

The movie gets slightly better when they stop trying to be 'cinematic' and just show the messiness of the deck. It’s messy, it’s loud, and it’s honestly pretty gross by the end. If you want a movie that makes you feel like you need a shower afterward, this is it.