Former CIA spies Emily and Matt are pulled back into espionage after their secret identities are exposed.

Chuck says:

I’m going to give writer/director Seth Gordon the benefit of the doubt and assume that he wrote the script for “Back in Action” on a dare. I’m imagining it involved a challenge coming up with a movie that did not contain a single original idea.  If that were the case, then he completely succeeded in accomplishing this dubious goal. The other thing I am going to assume is that a very large check was dangled in front of Cameron Diaz or that she was extremely bored. Those could be the only two reasons why the actress would come out of her 10-year retirement for this lackluster affair.

Though “Action” is nothing more than a retread, at least it doesn’t have an air of desperation about it. It’s obvious all involved are having a good time and the sense is that a page was taken from the Adam Sandler production playbook. That’s when a performer gathers his family and friends together to make a movie that takes place at various destination locations. In a sense, it’s a vacation the studio pays for.

Joining Diaz is Jamie Foxx, the duo playing Emily and Matt, a pair of married spies who have gone into hiding after faking their deaths. Their suburban bliss is disrupted when an altercation they’re involved in is recorded and put on social media. Before you know it, their old foes come knocking on – actually smashing in -their front door. Suddenly, they find themselves on the run, their two teenage children, Alice (McKenna Roberts) and Leo (Rylan Jackson) in tow, confused and surprised by seeing their mom and dad kick butt and take names with impunity.

Ostensibly a remake of Mark Wahlberg’s “The Family Plan,” the movie hums along, hitting every expected beat with, it must be said, professionalism and energy. The action sequences, of which there are many, are imaginatively rendered, while the cast is invested in this ludicrous exercise, bringing a sincerity to the material it doesn’t deserve.

On that note, Foxx and Diaz are very good together, their chemistry natural and easy, their repartee snappy and fun. Equally effective are their interactions with Roberts and Jackson, the child actors smart, responsive and appealing. The likability the quartet exudes helps the film over its rough spots and had me wishing they’d be reunited in a movie with a better script.

Glenn Close shows up for a quick paycheck as Emily’s English mother, while Kyle Chandler is criminally underused as their CIA contact. And kudos must be paid to Jamie Demetriou as Nigel, a hapless wannabe spy who’s a legend in his own mind. The actor embraces the character’s fear and ineptitude, bringing a bumbling humor to the film’s tensest moments that’s a welcome respite.

“Back in Action” is the very definition of a popcorn movie.  Slickly produced and disposable, it’s the sort of film you’ll find yourself glancing over at while working on your laptop or stopping to occasionally chuckle over as it plays in the background. That it’s hardly memorable will prove useful to the next filmmaker who decides to recycle its plot once again.

2 1/2 Stars

 

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